Saturday, April 6, 2024
Joyce and Gayle rode the train overnight arriving at Crawfordsville, IN around 8 am. Ed and Janice met the train and took them to The Lake House. Although cold, it was a beautiful day so after breakfast and a nice nap, we went to Cecil M. Harden Lake State Park and walked on some trails. Very nice with lots of wildflowers blooming. We returned home and enjoyed sitting outside in the sun drinking mimosas. We had vegetable beef soup for dinner and went to bed a little on the early side.
Sunday, April 7, 2024
We woke to sunny skies that turned rainy during the morning but left the lake around noon to visit Turkey Run State park. We drove through Rockville on our way but decided not to stop because we wanted to hike at the park before rain began again. The park has interesting cliffs and eroded gorges and nice hiking trails. The Mansfield sandstone rock was eroded by glacial melt. The Michigan glacier came as far down as 8 miles south of the park. We hiked on drier trails for a couple of hours seeing many spring ephemrals in bloom including Virginia bluebells, spring beautys, cut leaf tooth wort, wood phlox, squirrel corn.
After leaving the park, we drove through Amish country in route to Mansfield where we ate a late lunch at the Mansfield Village Bar and Grill and we watched the Women’s Basketball final game. We also saw a couple of covered bridges during our travels. Later, we watched a movie before retiring for the night.
Monday, April 8, 2024
Solar Eclipse Day!! We awoke to sunny skies with only a few high thin clouds coming in during the day. After breakfast, we took a couple of walks through the community. Ed warned us to be back before dark!
We set up chairs in the turret in the yard, donned our special eclipse glasses and watched the eclipse. As it progressed, we got a little chilly and then at the moment of totality, we removed the glasses and saw the beautiful darkened sun surrounded by a ring of light. We were able to watch about 2 minutes and then we saw the diamond ring glow brightly. We felt we had to put the glasses back on then to protect our eyes. Then we sipped mimosas and watched the eclipse proceed to its conclusion.
Since the weather was so gorgeous, we decided to go for a drive and a walk both below and on the dam for the Cecil M. Harden lake. Then we had a nice dinner out on the patio and stayed out till dark.
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
We decided to go walk on a Rail Trail in Crawfordsville today but first, we took a warm up walk in the neighborhood after breakfast. We saw deer and a bluebird and many spring ephemeral plants and other birds. We ate a light lunch and then left for Crawfordsville with Ed at the wheel. He drove us on many back roads through huge farm fields with generally well kept beautiful farm houses.
At Crawfordsville, we walked about 5 miles on the rail trail, mostly through residential areas. We finally saw both bloodroot and trillium in bloom. We turned back near the trail’s end at the bridge over Sugar Creek. The trail was a bit longer than usual for Janice and Ed (and perhaps for Joyce and Gayle also) and we were tired. We went to a downtown bar and grill and had a nice meal and a lot of laughter. Jolly drove us home safely right as Jeopardy was ending!
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
With rain in the forecast, we planned a trip into Rockville to browse the antique stores. We started at Red Racoon, a boutique only a couple of miles from the lakehouse. Then we went on into town. We stopped by Cora’s, an antique and second hand store. We went to an old fashioned 5 & 10 type store (G & M Variety), then to another boutique called Ruby’s. After lunch at The 36 Saloon, we explored a 3 story antique store and each of us bought a few small items.
We came home and had a late dinner of soup and sandwiches and then watched a movie. Another great day!
Thursday, April 11, 2024
This was our last day in Indiana with a train to catch at 10:30 pm from Crawfordsville. We went back to Rockville to finish some browsing and took walks around the neighborhood. Janice and Ed took us to catch the train. It was dark and kind of creepy hanging out there till the train came. We chatted with another passenger going to Cincinnati. The train trip was noisier this time with a couple of talkative passengers and also an Amish family with many children seated near us. Otherwise, the trip went well and we arrived back at Prince with no difficulty. Our car was still there and we drove back to Joyce’s.
