A Tale of Two Road Trips

     Typically my blogs talk about our adventures on one day. Last year we had our Wednesday trips that were #WackyWednesdayWanderings. This year they've changed to Thursday for our #ThrillingThursdayThingamajig. This week, Drew took Friday off so we got out add a #FunFridayFieldtrip. What an amazing couple days it was!

     As we headed to our main destination for the day, we made a stop in Fairmount, IN which is where James Dean grew up. He is buried next to his parents in a very nice (and quite large) cemetery in town. After successfully locating his grave, we headed down the road to our destination. On our Thursday trips, we've decided to spend our time exploring the wonderful State Parks Indiana has to offer. Before this week, we had visited three of the parks. This week found us at Mounds State Park in Anderson. When you first enter the park, there is a large visitor center with interactive games, nature displays and a wildlife viewing area. We didn't even have any children with us but still enjoyed exploring this area and learning about trees and animals found in Indiana. The visitor center also has very nice bathrooms. Just outside the visitor center is a children's sensory garden.

     After leaving the visitor center, we headed towards the trails to explore. To think that the earthworks around the park were built centuries ago by the Adena-Hopewell Indians was pretty astounding. Archaeologists believe the oldest one was built in 160 B.C.!! Due to erosion over the years, the mounds aren't nearly as tall as they once were. But it was fascinating to think about what religious ceremonies may have been held around those mounds. If you're looking for a good place to go hiking, I highly recommend Mounds State Park. The trails are fantastic and well-marked. If you look carefully, you can find several fresh-water springs along the trails as the water makes its way from the top of the mounds to the White River that runs along the edge of the park. All in all, I would say the visitor center was the neatest part of the park. But the fact remains, Indiana has some great parks for hiking!

     We hadn't eaten breakfast so decided we should have a late lunch/early supper. We typically like to find local restaurants when we travel. But many are still carry-out only. So we opted to go to Cracker Barrel. Food was delicious and service was outstanding! If you visit the Cracker Barrel in Anderson, IN ask for Casey. She's an amazing young woman who is headed to nursing school in the fall. She'll take great care of you! After dinner, we headed to Ivanhoe's for ice cream. This little drive-in has been a staple in Upland, IN since the 1960s. I've never had food there but I can tell you their ice cream is outstanding!

     After a good night of sleep, we got up Friday morning for another adventure. I honestly can't tell you how Drew hears about some of the sites and places of interest he knows about, but he gets us to some neat things! Friday was no exception.

     We headed for Kokomo, IN to see a few things before heading to our main destination for the day. First of all, I have to say that I've driven through Kokomo a few times on my way to Indianapolis but had never really seen the town except for what you can see from US 31. It's really a nice little city. We stopped to take pictures of Storybook Express which is a cool little convenience store. We didn't go inside because the neat part of it is outside. The whole building is a unique blend of bricks and other random materials. Look for a bowling ball, giant outlet, large metal spring, butt end of a pig and other intriguing things.

     Just a short drive from there is Kokomantis, a 17-foot praying mantis statue. He even has his own Facebook and Twitter accounts. From there, we went to Highland Park to see some other giants. This time they came in the form of Old Ben, the world's largest steer. He was born in 1902 weighing in at 125 pounds! Looking at this stuffed steer, we couldn't help but imagine the fear we'd feel seeing this guy come across a field towards you. Next to Old Ben is a giant sycamore stump. This tree was 100 feet tall with a trunk 50 feet in diameter when it was broken down to this stump by storms. Pretty sure this stump would take up our entire yard! We grabbed lunch to go at Ray's Drive-In. The fries were delicious and so we our sandwiches. Drew's tenderloin was literally as big as his face!

     Now for our main destination of the day. From Kokomo, we drove about 30 minutes to nearby Logansport, IN to France Park. We didn't have a lot of time to check this park out but definitely plan to go back! They have hiking and biking trails, fishing, primitive and modern campsites, a lake in an abandoned stone quarry with a nice beach, a 24-hole disc golf course and a beautiful waterfall. I'll be honest and say the waterfall is what had me most excited but the beach was beautiful as well! We're very anxious to go back and spend more time at this gem. Along the way home, we stopped to see the Chief Menominee Memorial Site. It may just be a 17-foot tall granite monument along a remote country road. But when you stop and think about the Potawatomi who walked this "Trail of Death" to Kansas in 1838, it's pretty impressive.

     As you can see, we had a busy but fun two days! 509 miles, 15 different Indiana counties, tons of laughs and countless memories. It was well worth it! Just a couple funnies from Drew...we were driving on a very hilly road with lots of twists and turns. Drew said, "This road is very funny!" After I looked at him with a puzzled look, he said, "Yep, it's very 'hilly areas'!" (Hilarious). Then, we drove past a wheat field. He didn't miss a beat before he said, "You should play heavy metal guitar in the middle of that field. Then you'd have shredded wheat!" See why I love adventuring with him so much?

To Infinity and Beyond

     Today was our second summer adventure but the first one we got to use our new hashtag for. When we first set out on our #thrillingthursdaythingamajig we never imagined it would lead us to where it did. No, we didn't literally travel to infinity but we sure made an infinite number of memories! Here goes...

     We went to the lake to see the sunset last night and got home a little before midnight. We finally settled into bed about 2:00 this morning but we still up and ready to go by 9:00. We knew a couple places we wanted to go so headed that direction.

     We were planning to take US 33 all the way to Bluffton, Indiana but ended up driving through the country because of a road closure. The detour was going to make us backtrack way farther than made sense. But my trusty navigator pulled up his map and got us going. Of course, I was ready for another cup of coffee before we got to Bluffton. Drew knows I like to go to local coffee chops when we travel instead of chain stores. So he looked up coffee shops and found one in downtown Columbia City. Brewha Coffee House is a quaint little shop in an old brownstone building. They have a nice selection of hot and iced coffees. I selected an Americano with peppermint, received my drink and we were quickly on our way.

Fire Tower

     Next up was lunch. One of the son's of Drew's childhood pastor owns a little place in Markle, Indiana called The Pickle. Yes, we both made the comment that "we're in quite a pickle now!" Why wouldn't we? For being a pretty small place, we couldn't believe the wide selection of meals on the menu! Drew got a breaded tenderloin (big shock there!) with fries and I got a bacon, mushroom, swiss burger with buffalo tots. Oh mylanta!! Our food was delicious! I wish I would have gotten an order of buffalo tots to go because they were just that good! The service was great, food was delicious and we both left with full tummies for $20! Not bad!

View from Fire Tower

     Our next stop was one of the two main places we wanted to go. Last week, Drew sent me a text saying, "Did you know there's a state park in Indiana that has bison?" Ummm...no! No I didn't know that! My first question was "When are we going?" Here we were, headed to Ouabache State Park. If you think it's hard to spell that, I will tell you it's super easy to say. Just say "Wabash" and you've got it! First of all, let me tell you this is the 4th state park we've been to this season and Indiana knows how to make state parks places you want to go back to! This park has hiking and biking trails, picnic shelters, a large recreation building that can be rented for group gatherings, a 100' fire tower that you can climb and get a 360° view of the park (yes, I climbed to the top!), a nature preserve, tennis and volleyball courts, a lake for swimming and boating (they even have boats to rent) and bison! It was so worth the drive!

     We headed off to Berne, Indiana because there is a cider mill made by one of Drew's ancestors. Swiss Heritage Village is an outdoor museum dedicated to the Swiss settlers who first came to the area and went on to form the city of Berne. We got there just as they were closing but after explaining that we had traveled from near South Bend to see his ancestor's cider mill, one of the tour guides graciously walked us out to the site of the mill and gave us a brief tour. We certainly plan to go back and take the full tour as there is a school, cheese house, barber shop, sawmill, doctor's office and other buildings along with a museum dedicated to the history of the city and its original settlers. Just down the street from the Village is the town square with a large clock tower. Take time to walk around the square and into the clock structure as there are plaques telling about the history of the clock. It's a beautiful little area with benches and a small picnic area.

His ancestor once stood here

     We stopped in at The Filling Station Coffee Haus just because I like supporting local coffee shops whenever possible. It's definitely a place I want to visit again! The coffee was delicious and the atmosphere was very relaxing and welcoming. Check it out if you're in the area. We had accomplished the two main tasks for our day. But we had one completely spontaneous thing we added. I hope you're sitting down because this part is crazy!

     Ya know those signs along the highway that tell you how many miles it is to the next couple cities or points of interest? If you're traveling and your husband says, "It's only 22 miles to the Ohio state line. We should drive across the line just to say we did!" you'd better believe him. You will definitely be driving across said state line. Now, if you grew up in a family that stopped in Celina, Ohio to stretch their legs at Grand Lake every time they went to visit their Buckeye relatives like I did, you might say something like "Hmmm...I wonder how far it is to Celina from here." That of course leads to another 14 miles of driving before you're standing lakeside. Yes, we totally did that! We couldn't stay long because that put us 3 hours away from home and we still hadn't had dinner.

     We headed towards Indiana and made our way to a gas station in New Haven, IN for drinks and a quick bathroom break then went through the drive-thru at Chick-fil-A on the north side of Fort Wayne before driving the rest of the way home. We stopped in Nappanee to take pictures of the crosses on the hill next to Nappanee Missionary Church as the sun was beginning to set. It had been another great day but we certainly were thankful to make it back home safely after another wonderful adventure!

Sunsets, Celebrations and Sightseeing

     This week marked two big events: the start of our summer adventures and our 28th anniversary. Drew's day off has changed this summer so our weekly adventures will be on Thursdays instead of Wednesdays. But this week our anniversary was Friday, so he took the day off so we could celebrate together. We had no idea how we would spend our day but we knew how our time of celebration would begin.

     My heart has been aching to see a sunset. With the beautiful forecast Thursday, we decided to head to our favorite sunset spot at Silver Beach in Saint Joseph, Michigan. When Drew came home from work, we headed out and went through the Arby's drive-thru for dinner. We made it to Saint Joseph early enough that I could enjoy a little time on the beach before sunset. Of course, the sky was so beautiful that I was focused on taking photos. God put on an amazing show and gave us an absolutely breathtaking sunset! Once the sun had disappeared below the horizon, we headed into town to get ice cream to eat on the way home. It was a wonderful way to spend the evening!

     Friday morning, Drew had to go into work early in the morning to take care of a couple things and then back home to "attend" a manager meeting online. By 10:30, we were on our way. We knew what city we were headed to and one thing we'd be doing there. Since we met and married in Fort Wayne, we knew that was the perfect spot to be on our 28th anniversary. Proving that our bodies are used to hour-long drives, we needed to stop halfway for a bathroom break...and I was ready for more coffee! We stopped at Wire & Steam Coffee Co in Warsaw. This local coffee shop is a great place to stop! It's a very welcoming place as you walk in the door. It's filled with lots of artwork and relaxing places to sit and enjoy a coffee, smoothie, tea or pastry. I got my nitro cold brew with peppermint, Drew got a mango bubble tea (something he had never tried before!) and we headed out.

     Our main reason for going to Fort Wayne was a lunch date. So we headed to Dairy Queen. Yes, you read that correctly. Our anniversary lunch date was at Dairy Queen. See, that was where we had our first date. It was a double date and we were both dating other people. But it was on that double date that we fell in love with each other. From that night on, we talked almost every night on the phone. While we wouldn't officially be a couple until more than a year later, that one night at Dairy Queen was what started it all! So, we grabbed our lunch from the drive-thru and headed to a park down the street from our first apartment. After lunch we drove around University of Saint Francis where we first met and then Foster Park near where I went to college. Honestly, that all was special enough. But we still weren't done!

     We headed to Lagro, Indiana (a town that I had never even heard of until recently) to Salamonie River State Forest. There is a nice area for fishing as well as plenty of areas for camping. They have a primitive camping area where there is literally nothing but an area to pitch a tent and build a fire. There a many different trails. I walked the Three Falls Trail which features three waterfalls (one isn't along the trail and I was wearing flip flops so I only saw two.) It was very peaceful in the woods. After my little hike, we headed towards home.

     We didn't get too far down the road before Drew said, "Would you like to climb up Hanging Rock?" We had stopped by the natural historic landmark last year but I was unable to climb the rock as it was too wet and muddy. Long story short - this is the site where an Indian princess threw herself off to her death when her beloved was  killed in war. I climbed the 65' up to the top of the rock for a stunning view of the Wabash River. Then I went back down to the riverbank to get photos of the side of the rock. It's definitely a hike I'll do again. But next time I'll wear tennis shoes instead of flip flops. But the memories and the view were sure worthwhile! Once I could breathe normally again, we headed to Interurban Ice Cream for a sweet treat. The ice cream was delicious and the people were great! If you're in the Huntington/Wabash area, I highly recommend you stop by!

     Well, there you have it. Our first adventure of the summer is in the books. We're anxious to see where the rest of this summer takes us. Stay tuned!
   

Sunday Spontaneity

     Some days we just feel like sitting on the couch and watching movies is all we feel like doing. That's exactly how we felt today. In fact, we came to get comfortable and watch movies. But there was nothing on Netflix that caught our attention. Drew mentioned going to check out the Wabash River and look for eagles since so many have been sighted around that area. Somehow it turned into one of the most amazingly spontaneous trips ever!

     I don't know any couple that would look at each other on Sunday night at 4:15 and say, "Let's drive an hour and 40 minutes to check out a park!" But that's exactly what we did! A few weeks ago, after my 3rd trip this season to Indiana Dunes State Park, I decided to invest in the State Park pass which gives us free access to Indiana State Parks until December 31, 2020. We decided to check out Mississinewa Lake which has also reported many eagle sightings. 

    

      While we didn't find any eagles, we found a stunningly beautiful state park! They have campgrounds that looked very well cared for, scenic trails for hiking or biking, a beautiful lake with a large beach, huge picnic area with grills, pavilions, areas for fishing and an archery range. While the beach and picnic area were very busy, they weren't crazy. They have plenty of picnic tables scattered throughout the large picnic area as well as along the edge of the beach. Drew found one of those spots and sat to take photos while I explored the beach and lake area.

     The beach was pretty clean and was actively patrolled by park rangers. I will say I wasn't crazy about the sand on the beach because it was that kind of stuff that almost seemed more like tiny pebbles than sand. But when there is a lake on the other side of it, I'll trudge through it to get there! The water felt pretty warm compared to the waters of Lake Michigan which I had been in the day before. There were lots of people swimming, many playing in the sand and some just walking along the beach. There was plenty of room for everyone and social distancing was easy despite how many people were there. 

     After we sat by the lake awhile, we moved on in search of these eagles we've heard are there. We didn't find any eagles. But we saw a beautiful fishing area with some adjacent walking trails. There were hawks flying all around and I eve saw a tree filled with vultures! It was really a peaceful little area. Again, it was busy with lots of people fishing. But it was quiet and relaxing. 

     We took a lovely country drive much of the way home. We chatted, we laughed, we just enjoyed being together. It was wonderful! Yes, we spent more time traveling that we did at the park. But that's mostly because we left home later than we typically would for a road trip. I look forward to spending more time exploring this little gem in Indiana. Oh, added bonus: we were almost home but pulled off the road to capture an absolutely stunning sunset!