Indiana- part 3

We woke up Friday morning in Evansville and the Central time zone.  It was the only time the entire trip that we spent in the Central time zone, and boy did that hour time difference throw off our day.  But more importantly, we had reached a very big day, Mina's birthday!  

Our first stop of the day was Angel Mounds State Historic site.  We arrived at the grounds when they opened at 10am and spent a little over an hour exploring the area before leaving town to continue our journey for the day.  

We took a lovely drive through Southwestern Indiana as we headed toward Spring Mill State Park.  Along the way, we stumbled across Jug Rock and made a quick stop to check it out.  It's a pretty cool rock formation. 

We arrived at Spring Mill State Park, home to the Virgil "Gus" Grissom Memorial Museum.   Gus Grissom was born in Mitchell, Indiana, which is also the location of the state park.  It was interesting to see the artifacts from his career as an astronaut.  

The State Park also has a nice historic village which I spent some time exploring.   The weaving demonstration and the mill were both very interesting.  

The Park also has some nice hiking trails which the girls and I enjoyed exploring.  We really enjoyed our time at this park.  It has a lot to offer and was well worth the stop.

It was late in the afternoon when we finally left Spring Mill to head toward Bloomington.  While the original plan was for a quick visit to Bloomington and the Indiana University campus, we arrived much later than I had expected and the town was bustling.

We drove around town until we found a parking spot and then got out to explore.  We discovered this nice hiking/biking rail trail right in town and had to follow it for a bit.  

I'm always amazed at the quirky things we find while exploring.  Apparently Bloomington is the future birthplace of Star Trek Voyager Captain Kathryn Janeway who will be born in May 2336.  I also appreciated the helpful map ensuring I knew exactly where we were in the universe. 

One of my favorite landmarks in town was this beautiful county Courthouse.  

As we walked around town, the girls were greeted by hoards of college students, including one very drunk young man you ran up to us very excitedly proclaiming that these (GSPs) were his dream dogs.  He and Mina became fast friends.

Eventually we walked away from downtown toward campus, which was also very busy.  Little did I know that I had shown up in town on graduation weekend.  I found out later that the Big 10 Men's Tennis Tournament was also in town for the weekend.  

After a short walk around campus, we headed out to find ice cream to celebrate Mina's birthday. 

I found a very popular ice cream shop, and the girls patiently waited in the car while I waited in line.  And then we enjoyed our ice cream at the park across the street.  The ice cream was great...especially the Ceylon Cinnamon Ice cream.  Yum!

At this point, we needed to find a place to stay for the night.  It was already 8pm and I was ready to settle in for the night.  I decided staying in Bloomington made the most sense, and I found a room right in the heart of downtown.  It had been such a long day: we were all happy to get settled into our room!

We started out Saturday morning with another walk around town.  It was a peaceful morning walk at first, but quickly we were in the middle of a bustling town.  The farmer's market brought a crowd downtown and we enjoyed some of the benefits of that-including the La Petit Cafe's breakfast window.  

We were out and about for several hours before we headed back to the hotel for a little break.  The girls napped and I relaxed for a bit.  After looking at the weather forecast for the day and seeing that everywhere I was supposed to go had rain in the forecast, I decided we'd just spend another day in Bloomington and make the most of the day before the rain moved into town.

After a good nap, Mina was ready to go again and it was time for lunch so I did a little research and found a great dog-friendly patio just a couple of blocks from the hotel.  The sun was shining and it was a great day to sit on the patio for a good lunch and a couple of drinks.  The girls were very well-behaved and several people stopped to stay hello to them.   Two more people told me that GSPs were their dream dogs too.  

After I finished lunch, we headed off for a walk on campus.  The forecasted rain had held off so we were going to make the most of the extra time.

This campus has to be one of the prettiest I've ever visited and we enjoyed exploring it.

While we were out exploring, a few sprinkles began to fall, so we turned to head back to our hotel.  

Those sprinkles didn't turn into much so when we got back to the hotel, we spent some time sitting outside in the courtyard.  Eventually we moved into our room and settled in for a quiet evening.  A thunderstorm moved through around 6pm, but the rain was gone after about an hour, so I ordered a pizza and walked the few blocks to pick it up while the girls napped at the hotel.  When I got back, we all ate dinner and then enjoyed a quiet evening in our room.  We had had an excellent in Bloomington and I was so glad we had spent the extra day.

We were up and out the door for the girls' morning potty walk by 7am.  The city was so peaceful and we only saw a couple of other people.  We enjoyed the quiet walk.

It was then back to the hotel so I could get packed and ready to leave.  Our vacation was coming to an end and it was time to start our trek toward home.  While I showered and packed, Mina decided to climb back into bed for a nap.

With the car packed, I made one last stop at the Bloomington Bagel Company, which was right next to the parking ramp, to grab breakfast and then took the girls on one more short walk before loading up the car to start our travels.

Just 15 minutes from Bloomington, we stopped at the McCormick's Creek State Park for an adventure to keep the girls happy for the remainder of our trip.  This State Park has some nice trails, a fire tower that you can climb, and a waterfall.  Unfortunately, just a month a go, the park was devastated by a tornado.  While you couldn't tell at the front of the park, much of the back of the park, including it's campground were destroyed by the tornado.  Many of the roads and nearly 8 miles of the approximately 11 miles of trails in the park are closed for repairs.  

The fire tower, which is near the entrance, was untouched during the storm, so we were able to take the trail to visit it.  I left the girls tied at the bottom so that I could make the climb up.  When I got back down, Mina was convinced that she wanted to try to go up the steps too.

The trail for the waterfall was just a short walk from the fire tower trail so we walked over to check out the waterfall too.  This is a pretty little waterfall and I'm glad we made the visit.  We then walked back to our car to make the drive to one other short trail through the woods for one last walk.  It was then time to get back on the road.

We continued our drive North through the countryside of Indiana through rain, and even a little hail.  While the rain was not constant, it was present most of the drive.  

We had a couple more stops that I wanted to make along the way.  First was West Lafayette and Purdue University Campus.  I knew we'd need a spot to stretch our legs and I love a good college campus walk.  We drove around campus, found a parking spot, and then got out for a walk.

The storm clouds were looming in the distance so we didn't stay long but we did get in a good 30 minute walk.  Maybe we'll head back another time for a longer visit.

Just a short drive away from campus is the historic Tippecanoe Battlefield.  This was an important battle in the War of 1812.   As a history nerd and lover of presidential history, I had to stop here.

There s a lovely monument and several informational signs around the grounds.  It was an interesting stop for a short visit.

I also loved the old gate at the entry to the battlefield .  I'm so glad that there are others out there that find value in maintaining these historic spaces.  

After a quick stop, I was back in the car and on the road toward home.  I had several miles of driving on US Route 24 through small towns and lots of farmland.  I couldn't resist getting this picture of a rain storm moving across the fields.  I love how you can see the rain falling in the distance.

We had finally reached the end of out road trip through Indiana, and as I settled in for the drive North on I-69, Peaches settled in for the rest of the trip too.  

We had a great week on the road exploring lots of new spots.  The landscape of Indiana did not disappoint.  There are so many interesting features and lots of good hiking and we saw a lot during our time there.  While the weather over the weekend forced me to change plans and I had to skip a couple of state parks that I was really looking forward to visiting, we can always go back to visit those another time.  

The girls and I had a great trip, and I can't wait until we can get back on the road to explore more new areas.