Valparaiso, IN

Day 7, July 14

Today was my day with my daughter and grandsons.  I told Erin I'd come by at noon when Ethan was up.  That gave me the morning to get refamiliar with downtown Valparaiso, IN, a town of around 34,00 on the eastern edge of "Chicagoland."  Its icon, Valparaiso University, is a private Lutheran university that gave the town its image of an upscale town unlike other NW Indiana towns of Chicagoland.  It's developed into a diverse, family-oriented town in the last two decades.

I pulled into town just before 7am, driving around the courthouse square.  Nothing was open yet and the streets were barren.  I was surprised to see my favorite coffee shop, South Bend Chocolate Cafe, no longer in town.  They made the best cappuccinos.   Perhaps it was victim to the coronavirus pandemic.  In its place is a Soup Company now.

I found a different coffee shop, Liquid Roasters, right on the main throughway, Lincoln Highway.  Two other people were waiting for the shop to open at 0655, so it must be good.  The interior is modern, the employees friendly, but my vanilla latte was just ok.  I didn't find it  strong enough for my morning needs.

The pups waited patiently in the Honda while I had my coffee.  I needed to now give them their morning walk.  The downtown area is very walkable, with a small gazebo, splash pad, benches, flower gardens, pavillion that make public gatherings enjoyable.  Colorful flowers dot the street corners. We only walked a mile around town as city traffic was getting heavy and I wanted to try out a real trail away from asphalt.

I had time to try out other trails nearby and settled for the newly-developed Creekside Trails network west of town.  These trails are in addition to the existing country club; trails of various difficulty that add up to four miles of singletrack paths ideal for mountain bikers.  But like other dirt trails in the area, parts of the trails were closed off to mud.

I followed a white-blazed connector trail that led to "Clifford's Way." This route followed the southern perimeter of the golf course.  The old white men on the course were oblivious to my nearby presence. The golf courses here in the region are busy!  Old men here still like to play that game. 

Biting yellow flies kept attacking me, however, making this walk unbearable very fast. Both hands quickly swelled up.   The flies were  biting my scalp as well. Even the pups were getting attacked by these flies.  The dogs weren't enjoying this so I cut the walk short. I don't know how I'm going to survive a week of these biting insects.

Three miles were good enough for a morning walk for the pups.  It was time to stop by Erin's place.  She is off on Wednesdays but is busy with the two younger boys.  Owen has physical therapy in the afternoon and little Ben, who is only four years old, tags along.  I stayed with Ethan in the house but when she returned with the boys we had a late lunch of pizza and sat outside to watch the kids play in the yard.

My dogs, sadly, did not greet Erin's dog Macks very well.  Both dogs barked non-stop so I put them in the car to calm down.  At least it was cool enough for them to stay in the car for a few hours, but when the sun came out for a few hours, I took them out of the car and tied them to the back deck where they continued to bark whenever any of the neighbors' dogs came too close.  This did not please Erin who chastised me for bringing two aggressive dogs on this trip.  The elderly neighbors next door weren't too happy with all the barking, either.

"I don't want to sound mean, but I can't have you staying here with those dogs."  Ouch.