Highlights: Evansville USS LST Ship Memorial /Evansville Museum of Art, History, & Science / The Reitz Home Museum /Craig Witsoe’s & Lynn Johnson’s Cars & Collections / WWII Museum / Driving Tour to French Lick

Cost: $150 per person includes all museum admissions and meals through Saturday evening. Registration Required by end of day Friday, October 13.

A $139 per night plus tax hotel room block is reserved at the Holiday Inn Express, 20 Walnut Street, Evansville, IN. Call and ask for “Cadillac”. Email:   frontdesk@hxevansville.com, Book a Reservation:  1 888 HOLIDAY (1 888 4654329), Contact Front Desk:  1-812-7736655

FULL SCHEDULE

Friday, October 20

• 11:30 CST     Travel and meet up for Lunch at Bar Louie / 7700 Eagle Crest Blvd. Evansville, IN (private room in back)
• After lunch travel to USS LST Ship Memorial / 610 NW Riverside Dr, Evansville, IN | USS LST 325 is only one or two World War II LSTs to be preserved in the United States.  Commissioned 10/27/1942 it served in North  Africa, Italy, England, France, and Ireland.  It participated in Operations Husky and Overlord (Sicily and Normandy respectively). It was a day from sailing to the Pacific when the Japanese surrendered and the war was over.  After World War II it also served in the Greek Navy.
• Next stop is Evansville Museum of Art, History, and Science/ 411 SE Riverside Dr, Evansville, IN
• 4:00 PM CT Check into Holiday Inn Express / 20 Walnut St.  Evansville, IN
• 5:45 CST Travel to Dinner at Angelo’s Italian  Restaurant / 305 Main St. Evansville, IN 47708

Saturday, October 21

• Buffet Breakfast Included with Room
• First stop 10 am CST: Walk from Holiday Inn Express one block to Reitz Home Museum for docent led tour of Reitz Home Museum / 112 Chestnut St, Evansville, IN | The Reitz Home Preservation Society is Evansville’s only Victorian House and is noted as one of the country’s finest examples of French Second Empire architecture.   Built by John Augustus Reitz from Dorlar, Prussia who came to America to find better business opportunities and a more “republican” form of government.  John Reitz built a sawmill that produced more lumber than any other in the country, and he became know as the “The Lumber Baron”.  The house includes authentic period furniture, much of it original,  arranged as if the family is about to return.  The house has received several preservation awards and was featured in a 2000 HGTV produced national television show that included homes from Frederick Vanderbilt, Alfred I. Dupont, and John D. Rockefeller.
• Travel to Lunch at Bru Burger / 222 Sycamore St. Evansville, IN
• After lunch travel to Lynn Johnson’s and Craig Witsoe’s Collections  / 4707 N St Joseph Ave. Evansville, IN | Craig and Lynn have their collections in buildings adjacent to each other.  Craig’s collections is around 20 Cadillacs and Lincolns from the 60s through 80s.  Lynn collection include a Model A, ’54 Corvette, ’55 T-Bird, and younger and unique cars to include a Rolls. Lynn’s collection also includes a large collection of 1900 era tools and machinery, pedal cars, small motor bikes, and signs.
• After tours travel to Evansville Wartime Museum / 7503 Petersburg Road Evansville, IN 47725 | Evansville Wartime Museum is the place to visit for the surprising, interesting and world-changing story of our community’s involvement in winning WWII. The stories we tell come from home front workers and battlefront warriors — these are the people who were there. You can also explore the history of Evansville during WWI, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War in our exhibits dedicated to those times.  A restored  P-47 fighter plane made in Evansville is on display , as well as a 1943 Sherman Tank, and the opportunity to jump in the cockpit of a Gleim Flight Simulator.
• Travel to Dinner at Nisbet Inn / 6701 Nisbet Station Road, Haubstadt, IN
• Travel to Holiday Inn Express

Sunday, October 22

• Check-Out & Breakfast: Holiday Inn Express (Buffet Breakfast Included with Room)
• Driving Tour to Lunch at 33 Brick St. / 480 S Maple St., French Lick, IN
• Travel Home after Lunch