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.
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| 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!
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.
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.
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.
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