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?