I'm going to be taking off here within the hour for my three-hour trip to Indy. Regardless of plans with Sharon, I have to visit my bank anyway, so at least I'm getting that out of my way. Weather permitting I may camp out at Fort Ben Harrison on the north side of town before seeing her early the next day.
Heavy rains all across the state yesterday will have flooded many of the trails in the Hoosier National forest, a large acreage of now old-growth trees have taken over when the state bought up failing farmland from settlers in 1929. At one point Indiana's trees totalled 87% of the terrain, now it's barely 17% because of land "development" and other modern requirements. The heavy loam soil will create great muddy tracks!
Central Indiana is hilly as this land is the edge of the Appalachian foothills. For truly hilly lands the Ohio river valley is best and some of this state's best hiking trails (and great wildlife views) are in the southern half of the state.
But for now, I'm just going to go down there and run some errands and visit with my old college friend. Visiting her is a "must do" while I am here. Other things that I have planned for my visit here include
1. Go shopping with the kids. Did that yesterday.
2. Hike the lakefront with Sadie, especially the 10-mile perimeter of Indiana Dunes State Park, the "Region's" best hiking trail.
3. Spend a day in Chicago. The museums are always a hit.
4. Take Sadie on Chicago's lakefront trail, an 18-mile paved trail along the city's pertty lakefront.
5. Visit Sharon
6. Visit Bloomington and its new brewpub. I graduated from Indiana University in 1983 and have been back there twice.
7. Visit Lindie and Mikel in Lafayette.
8. Hike the Cowles Bog trail with Sadie, a comfortable six-mile loop hike that starts out at a bog and ends at the beach and a great place to view pre-dunes and beach flora. As soon as it dries up, this little trail would be perfect as it's close to where the kids live. I always liked this trail because parking here was free. Afterwards I could walk old town Chesterton.
9. Sample Hoosier beers in Lake County. I got two brewpubs done yesterday.
10. Take money out of my bank in Indy to pay for this trip.
11. Hike a long trail in the Morgan-Monroe State Forest. I don't think I've ever hiked this forest before, despite it being so close to Bloomington. Its vast wilderness and backcountry had me intimidated in my younger years. A woman was murdered there while I was in college, which always gave me the creeps.
12. Walk around old town Hobart, Valparaiso and Crown Point. I've done CP and Valpo but still need to check out Hobart. The new brewpub there was supposed to open last February but now opening day has been postponed to after July 4th.
13. Get Eric his long-overdue birthday present. I owe him that. I'm thinking of a nice laptop he could use while in Minnesota.
14. Walk around Highland, IN. The rain yesterday kept me from truly enjoying the old neighborhood. Perhaps I could catch a foreign movie at the town's Highland Kennedy Theater, an old theater that specializes in Indie and Foreign Movies.
15. See the sun rise over Lake Michigan.
16. Find a used book store to see if I could get some money for some of the used books I brought along.
17. Try out some regional pierogies. Afterall Whiting, IN boasts the best pierogies in the Midwest and holds a Pierogie Festival every July.
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