Of Waterfalls and Rainbows

Let me start by saying that moving isn't easy. Going through 25 years worth of stuff, throwing things away, packing other things in boxes is hard work. Deciding what to keep and what to get rid of becomes exhausting. Loading up my Honda Accord with boxes until there's only room for me to drive it so I can transport it all to our new home gets overwhelming. So we've decided that we need to commit to working a chunk of the day and then taking a bit of a break to adventure. We certainly don't intend to travel every day. Some days, our adventure will be to the couch for movies. But yesterday, we went on a road trip. After getting a bunch of work done in the morning, getting some boxes packed, taking a car load of boxes over, and filling a couple trash bags, we loaded up in the car to head south. The forecast isn't looking good for days. Yesterday was no exception. The forecast looked a little sketchy. But it looked better a little further south. We left with blue sky and white clouds but could see heavy rain in the distance. We drove through several downpours but made it to Logansport, IN to find beautiful weather. It was so well worth the drive! So, last summer we kind of stumbled upon a beautiful little county park in Cass County. France Park is a lovely little spot in Logansport. They have very nice camping areas, a beautiful lake, fun hiking trails and a stunning waterfall. The waterfall was what attracted us to this park in the first place. But since that first visit, we've been exploring the park a little more each time. I've hiked quite a bit and found that they actually have 3 waterfalls. The largest one is very impressive. The smaller two are tucked back in the woods, accessible by winding trails through the woods. It's a beautiful hike along the creek. The main lake has a nice little beach and is surrounded by beautiful rock walls. The lake was made in an abandoned quarry and the water is so clear. But there's also another lake we found hidden back in the woods. It's usually a great place to see lots of birds and geese. Yesterday we realized it was home to hundreds of water lilies and dozens of spiders, ladybugs and dragonflies. What a beautiful sight!

When we finished at the park, we decided to head to Peru, IN for a late lunch. We recently found a place called Harvey Hinklemeyers. They serve pizza, subs and sandwiches. Their sandwiches are huge and the prices aren't bad. Besides, they have tater tots on their menu so they can't be bad! We liked it enough the first time we went, we wanted to go back again. So, we had a nice late lunch and headed on our way. We drove around Peru a bit to see if there were any parks along the Wabash River. We couldn't find any with a view of the river so we headed north. Drew is great at looking on the map as I'm driving and he finds places to check out along the way. Yesterday was no exception. We headed towards Bourbon, IN. It was a little out of the way but the park we found was a nice little park. It's caled The Wall Historic Park. It was a stone wall built in the 1930s as part of the New Deal. It consists of a stone wall and concrete steps that lead down to the river. The wall has fallen apart quite a bit over the years. But the view of the river was very nice. There's a little trail that goes along the river a little way. Continuing my day of wildlife views, I saw a couple beautiful frogs along the path. While this was a cute little park, I think the highlight of the drive there was turning down a narrow country road and seeing a beautiful rainbow! It's not often you can clearly see every color of the rainbow. But we could on this one. When we stopped to take pictures, it looked as if God has just plopped the end of His rainbow ribbon down in front of a grove of trees. It was so pretty! While we had no plans of driving through heavy rain, seeing menacing skies in the distance or even being on the remote country road, God reminded us that He always has a plan for us. The rainbow was His sign of a promise to never again flood the whole earth. But His promises go so much further than that. He promises to always walk with us through every circumstance of life and to carry us when we need it. The minute we saw that perfect rainbow, I knew there was a reason we went that way. It went far beyond going to see a little park way off the beaten path. It had much more to do with the fact that God knew I needed that reminder that He is with me through the good, bad, easy and hard times of life.

Adventure Time!

It's the beginning of summer break which can only mean one thing...it's time for two crazy lovebirds to venture out into the world and enjoy time away. It seems like last summer was 3 years ago. I know we're not the only ones who feel like we've been through the wringer. But I feel like this summer's adventures are more exciting than any before. That doesn't mean we're going any place outrageously exciting. It just means this summer feels more relaxed than ever before. Drew still hasn't recovered enough from Covid for the doctor to release him to go back to work. That means instead of feeling like we need to stress over the weather and whether or not it'll be good for the one day a week we'd have together, we can just pick a day...or two or three to adventure. We can see which days have the best weather and plan accordingly. We don't have any sort of plan of what places we'll go or anything. This is our summer of spontaneity. Six days ago, I walked out of school to begin summer break. We spent the weekend caring for two of our grandchildren. We went to DeFries Calendar Garden, Krider Garden and Dutch Creek Animal Farm. We had been to both gardens with the girls before. But we had never been to Dutch Creek. It was outstanding! You can take a wagon tour where you get to feed animals or drive through in your own car. You can still see all of the animals from our car so we chose that option for our first visit. The girls loved looking for all the different animals as we drove slowly through. When we got to the end, we went into the walk-through petting farm. Both girls absolutely loved it! When it was time to leave (because they had closed for the day and were being incredibly patient), Clara's response was, "That makes me so sad we hafta leave. I wanna stay here with the animals!" I think it's safe to say she'll be glad to go back again...and again and again. In checking the forecast, today looked to be the best weather day of the week. So we decided we'd have this be our travel day. We chose one of our favorite state parks - Oubache State Park. It's about a 2 and 1/2 hour drive from home. We decided we'd stop at a couple other favorites along the way to stretch our legs. After getting iced tea and coffee for the trip, we headed to Warsaw's Biblical Gardens. It's a lovely little park near downtown Warsaw filled with flowers, plants and trees all mentioned in the Bible. It's a short walk through the garden but there are so many beautiful things to see. After stretching our legs for a few minutes (yes, I know it was only a 2 hour 30 minute drive to our main destination, but we're old and can't sit that long), we headed towards Huntington. Lunch was our next plan and we were hoping to go to Nick's Kitchen but they closed just before we arrived. So, we went a little farther down the road to Hoosier Drive-In. It was certainly worth the drive, even though we had to eat in the car. From there, we were on our way to Oubache. We've visited quite a few of our Indiana State Parks in the past couple years. But this one very well be my favorite. First of all, it's beautiful! Second of all, there's a 90-foot-tall fire tower to climb and get an amazing view all around the park. But my favorite part is most definitely the bison enclosure. I don't know what it is about bison. But I think they are one of the most beautiful animals! Yes, I know they could tear me apart in a split second. But they're so gorgeous! The park has a great trail that circles all around the enclosure. It's a beautiful walk with lots of spots to view the bison. After a quick stop at Kunkel Lake right across from the bison, we headed off for the rest of our trip. There were two cemeteries about 40 minutes away where many of Drew's ancestors are buried. Many are buried in the first one we stopped at so I walked row but row to find every one of them. His paternal grandparents are buried in the other one so we stopped by there and left a penny for Grandpa. After visiting the cemeteries, we stopped for iced tea and a bathroom break before one final stop for the day. We headed north to North Webster to check in on the Dixie Steamboat and see the beautiful lake. We'll be so ready to ride the Dixie again since it's been two years! It was a wonderful beginning of summer break. If the rest of this summer is anything like today, it's going to be amazing! But first, we need to pack up our home of 25 years and move. That's a topic for awhole different blog post. We've promised ourselves one adventure day a week until we get moved. I'm looking forward to what this summer has in store. Stay tuned!