Travel: Houseboats, caves, wine and food await at Patoka Lake | Lifestyles – Travel Leave a comment

For a trip to the other side, ply the waters to the Hoosier Hills Marina where you can dine on pizza, wings, nachos, calzones or their special sub sandwiches on the wide deck overlooking the water.

And just a quick note of reassurance. If you do choose to travel and stay on a houseboat, be assured, they’re much easier than you’d image to navigate on the lake and to dock when returning back to the marina.

Patoka Lake Marina offers a variety of cruises aboard either its 60-foot Patoka Voyager or the double-deck Patoka Pride. There’s a two-hour sunset cruise, wildlife cruises for sightings of ospreys, beavers, deer, river otters, loons and hopefully an eagle or two, wine cruises with vino from the nearby Patoka Lake Winery and other Indiana wineries as well. Catered cruises feature wine, cheese and dessert. In the fall when the leaves turn shades of yellow, red and orange, climb aboard for a fall color cruise.

Not far from the marina, sample wines ranging from sweet to very dry at Patoka Lake Winery on the covered deck or in their tasting room. When it’s hot, wine slushies in flavors such as blueberry pomegranate, peach Bellini and strawberry, to name a few, really hit the spot. The winery is open year round, so when cold weather arrives, order the mulled wine. And, of course, there’s a gift shop to take home a bottle or two as well as a slushie mix.