Hoosier Holiday

We spent exactly one week in Indiana, crossing the border from Illinois at noon on Sunday, August 7th, and crossing into Ohio at noon the following Sunday.  We stayed 4 days in Valparaiso (near Chicago) with Dave's brother Mark and 3 days in Hillsdale (150 miles south) with Dave's cousin Carol and family.

Mark and Carol have several things in common:  besides being born in the same year and living in Indiana, they both married really nice people, have four children, and own very old, lovable dogs.  At both destinations, we enjoyed restaurant dining and outdoor grilling, drank beer, took long nature hikes, washed laundry, watched episodes of Top Gear (which Tanner co-hosts Sunday nights on the History Channel), and learned a new game called Corn Hole.  The latter is similar to Horseshoes:  three points are scored for tossing a bag of corn through a hole in a slanted board, and one point for landing the bag on that platform.

Eric, Rachel & Tucker

In Valpo, we had a brief visit with Mark's wife Pat (before her weekly commute to Delaware for work) and saw nephew Eric and niece Rachel.  Dave helped Mark mix, bottle, and sample different batches of home-brewed beer.  Jane found a dentist to repair a chipped front tooth.  We all visited the barber shop.  Just before we left, Mark led us on a vigorous hike at Cowell's Bog on Lake Michigan.

In Hillsdale, Carol and husband Larry took us to see the covered bridges and historic flour mills of Parke County.  On Saturday, we were joined by cousin Tim (from Indianapolis) and his children, Ronni and Sam, for hiking and picnicing at beautiful Turkey Run State Park.




Tim, Sam, Ronni & Jota



Larry, Carol, Jane, Dave



That evening after dinner, we witnessed the same severe wind and rain storm that collapsed a concert stage 60 minutes later at the Indiana State Fair. 

Larry asked if we ever forgot items at places we have stayed, to which we replied in the negative.  But as we departed Hillsdale, Dave dropped his cell phone on the side of Highway 63 when he got out of the car to clear a leaf from our windshield wiper.  The phone was soon found by a neighbor of Carol's and is being mailed to us in Ohio.