A Few Weeks in Indiana

We started our Indiana time at Chris and Jeanne’s.  On Memorial Day several of the immediate family gathered for a meal and to listen to the Indianapolis 500 race. 

When you live near Indianapolis, the race is not broadcast on live TV , so you are forced to revert to the “Retro” way and listen to it on the radio.  Actually, that’s a tradition still kept alive by many families in the state, dating back to when it was only available on radio.

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After lunch, the pool competition was fierce. :-)

 

The next month was spent camp hosting at McCormick’s Creek State Park.  This was our 5th year to work at the park.

It was a busy month, for in addition to camp hosting, we had two graduations to attend.  Granddaughter, Alyssa, graduated from high school on June 2,

and grandson, Cameron, graduated from high school on June 3.

The month also included a visit from granddaughters, Sara and Emily, and great granddaughters, Grace and Molly.

      

We moved back to Chris and Jeanne’s July 1 for another week’s stay, and our annual  summer Christmas celebration, this time “Christmas in July”.

23 family members gathered for the day.  Although the outside temperature was 103 degrees, we had a great time.

  

   

Afternoon brought more pool competitions.

The six weeks in Indiana passed quickly, and it was time to move on with our summer trip.

A Soggy Month

Life at McCormick’s Creek this month has been damp, to put it mildly. We have had more days with rain than without. Friends, Mabel and Benny Smith, are camp hosting with us. We had planned to hike all the trails throughout the month, but there have been few days when the trails were not too muddy to walk.

We’ve enjoyed several visits with the family, though, and were able to walk on a couple of those days.

Chris, Jeanne and Cameron brought Dakota with them.

Chelsey and Alyssa climbed the fire tower. Grandpa and I decided our legs couldn’t handle all those ladders anymore.

A few of the rains have come with hard storms. A few days ago, lightning hit several trees in the park. This one was split from top to bottom.

Just a few feet over, the bark was blown from the tree in the right photo in a random pattern, throwing bark even across the road into a site there.

We did manage to hike the trails a couple of times with Benny and Mabel, but on this one, Ron and Benny had to lay additional rocks in the streams for us to be able to cross. Benny and Mabel will leave at the end of this month. Ron and I will stay through July.

Flood of 2008

We arrived at McCormick's Creek on May 22, just in time for Memorial Weekend and a full campground.

Life here at McCormick's is usually quiet and peaceful, but this past week has been quite different.

Last Wednesday, another storm, in what seems like an endless line, hit the park, with rain and straight line winds. Two large trees fell across major roads in the park, and numerous other trees and branches came down.


Clean up was not completed from that storm when another hit on Friday evening. In the course of less than 12 hours, 9-11 inches of rain fell throughout central Indiana, causing major flash flooding. The destruction has been tremendous throughout the area.
The park itself is named for McCormick's Creek, which runs through it. Normally a small stream, families enjoy the "water playground" formed at the falls.
Usually it looks like this on a typical summer day, with people on the banks, in the water, and even climbing down the falls.
The creek is usually shallow enough to cross by stepping on the stones. This photo was taken just a week before the storm:
We took the next photo on Thursday morning after Wednesday's storm. Note the large dead tree wedged in the falls on the upper left side:
Saturday, the falls were even higher, and you'll see even the tree has washed away:

This is the area normally crossed by stepping on the rocks.

We had park roads closed...
and a few sites flooded...
But the flooding in the park was insignificant to the losses by families all across the area. Many are without power or water, and hundreds have lost everything. For a slide show of photos taken throughout the area by a local news team click here .
Thanks to all of you who called to check on our safety, and please keep the flood victims in your prayers.