Turkey Run - Part One

So! I don't think I told you this, but amid all the madness that was our last week, I had to send my laptop in for repairs. One of the hinges broke, so I can't open and close it. (Sort of key for a laptop.) I only had a few days left on the warranty, so it had to go in, and as you can probably imagine, I can't breathe without it. Ryan is (as always) gracious and allows me to use his, but it's just weird doing work on a computer that isn't yours. So just give me grace this week if anything looks wonky!

MONTHS ago, Ryan decided he wanted to go hike at Turkey Run State Park, which is a pretty popular state park here in Indiana. (It's not terribly far from the Illinois line, actually.) He thought it would be really fun to invite his friend Shawn to go along, because they had such a great time skiing together at the beginning of the year. (It probably was a kind way of saying he'd like a brave buddy - HA!) We talked about this trip when we were out with my friend Amber earlier this year, and she said she thought it sounded fun. I thought if RYAN had a buddy, I needed a buddy, right? So we asked her if she'd like to come too, and we'd just make it a whole fun day with friends. Everyone agreed! (I'll just come right out and say it, because I don't want anyone to get the wrong impression: this was NOT a setup! Literally just a bunch of friends hanging out.)

I was pretty nervous in the days leading up to Saturday, because the forecast wasn't amazing. High winds and some rain in the forecast. We had no alternative date we could go that would work for all four of our schedules, so this was it. We were so excited when the day ended up being stunning. It was pretty cool outside, requiring lots of layers for all of us, but it was sunny and did not rain at all until after dark, when we were driving home. Then it snowed. Oh, Indiana. You slay me.

I would also like to point out that four layers that end in a puffy vest make me look like a puffalump. I'm not as fluffy in real life as you're about to see. LOL!

Here's our group before we got started for the day:

I can tell you right now that I won't be able to keep the whole day in order from all the various phones and cameras we used, so I'll just pick some of my favorites to share with you today and then I'll come back with a few more tomorrow.

We lost the boys right away. They had the best day catching up with each other. So this was pretty much the view Amber and I had most of the time. Ha!

(This kind of day was pretty perfect, actually. We both had the chance to hang out with friends without having to be apart from each other. Marriage/friendship WIN!)

I almost forgot this one. They requested this photo:

Indiana, for all of its weather ridiculousness, blows my mind, because it has such a wide variety of scenery all wrapped up in one state. How crazy is it that I live in flat cornfield land, and less than two hours from home, I can find views like this?

Unbelievable.

Yeah, I hiked with the good camera. A few times, I questioned my decision to do that. :)

 I tried not to demand TOO many group photos, but as trip historian, I had to honor my duty...

 MAJOR props to Ryan and Shawn for carrying the lunch/drink/snack pack the first half of the day.

 My favorite adventurer:

Every trip has its memorable moments. Map-reading was one from ours. So of course I had to sneak this picture:

Because I tried not to overly force the photos of others, I just grabbed a few selfies with some of my favorite views.

(Hopefully anyone who saw these being taken understood  I was appreciating the scenery. I saw one pretty seasoned adult posing on the trail with her phone straight above her head, her lips all puckered, completely flirting with her Snapchat filter, I'm guessing. It was a very odd sight in the middle of all the rugged.)

Speaking of rugged, most of the trails were just that. SO many rocks to climb over.

 I climbed through all these without breaking myself or my camera!

 Amber was sweet to take this. I love it.

 Panoramic view of that area we climbed through.

Just a little more for you today and then I'll wait until tomorrow to make you read more! :)

We thought we were going to be too late for peak leaf season. Turns out we were too early! (Have I mentioned Indiana is unpredictable?)

 Weird head on tree:

 THEY HAVE A COVERED BRIDGE! (This county actually has like 31 covered bridges or something like that. We did not have time to tour the county AND do the park, so we'll have to go back for the official county tour. I do want to see, well, all the bridges.)

 I adore covered bridges.

 This family was cleaning up to leave, or so I thought. But they just kept cleaning and up and cleaning up, so I gave up and took my picture.

 Amber took this. She said it looked like the cover for an album. So I guess we're a band now. We named ourselves Punchbowl Chuck. I'll have to tell you more about that later.)

This is Punchbowl Chuck, signing out for today.

Come back tomorrow.