Our Indiana Stay

We needed repairs on the RV, so the next stop combined a visit with son, Tom and the repairs.  We chose to stay at the Play-Mor Campground in Bremen, IN.  Bremen is located in Amish Country, where you are more apt to see horses working in the fields than tractors.

The campground is in a rural area, with a small lake on its property.  Our site was not far from the lake. 

We arrived on the last day of an annual Woodcarvers Convention.  As soon as we were parked, we walked over to the large hall to see what everyone was working on.  Some of the projects were very intricate, and everyone was friendly and eager to share.

This gentleman was working on a Wedding Chain with extremely small carved links.  He said he  began with the idea of making one for each granddaughter as a wedding gift, but might decide to let each one just pass it down to the next as they wed. J

This man does layered landscapes.

There were large carved pencils,

a few gourds,…

but the most interesting to me was the carved yams!   The carver was quick to tell us they have to be air dryed, not in an oven, or you end up with baked yams.

The finished project did NOT look like yams.  The ones on stands had been created over a year ago….hard as a rock and looking very detailed from all the shrinkage.

We spent a leisurely week at the park, several days including enjoyable visits from Tom.   

  

Indiana Dunes State Park and National Lakeshore

INDIANA DUNES STATE PARK

We were staying only about 40 miles from Lake Michigan, so we took one day to drive to the Lake.  Having visited Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore in Michigan, we were somewhat disappointed with the Indiana Dunes area.  That may have been partially due to the weather as it was very hot and humid.  Had the weather been better we would have explored the area far more than we did, but it was easy to see that Indiana’s dunes are far less impressive than those of Michigan.

We entered the State Park first, and drove to the beach.   Indiana’s beaches and dunes are formed by winds coming off Lake Michigan that drop sand when the wind hits existing plants and dunes.  All of the trails in the park involve dune climbing to some degree.  Due to the heat, we decided against hiking.

Instead, we chose to walk along the beach.

   

There is a huge stone beach house that has been let deteriorate.  Pictures at the Nature Center attested to it’s former affluence when it contained a dining facility overlooking the waters of the lake.  Now, it is but a shell containing only a tiny snack bar and restrooms facility on the bottom level.

We then drove to the National Lakeshore, which is not simply or quickly done.  The national property seems to wind in and out of privately owned land, and much of the roads were under construction.

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INDIANA DUNES NATIONAL LAKESHORE

Our first stop was at the Visitor Center, hoping to find a video or slideshow to better acquaint us with the park.  Unfortunately, an earlier storm in the day had knocked out power.  Running on minimum power from a generator, the park attendants were unable to show us the video.

As the day was still heating up, we again decided to walk in a shaded area, rather than on the sand and dunes.  We drove to the preserved Chellberg farm, dating back to a Swedish community of the 1850’s.  A short hike through the woods took us to the clearing containing a “sugar shack”, barn, house, etc.  The trail then completed a circular trek through the woods back to the parking lot.  For a short slideshow of our hike, click on the photo below: 

We did not take the time to drive the additional 13 miles to the National Lakeshore beach area.  Later we wished we had, when we were told it was much nicer than the beach at the state park.  Perhaps on a future visit ….

Potato Creek State Park

  During a recent visit with son, Tom, we spent some time in nearby Potato Creek State Park.  An unusual name for a state park, isn’t it?  Native Americans once collected plants with potato-type roots on this area’s creek banks.  The early settler’s English translation for the native name for the plant was “wild potato”, leading to the name Potato Creek.

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Later, a man made reservoir was built on the creek, due primarily to the dreams of a man name Worster.  Darcy Worster kept the dream of a park alive in the minds of state officials by sending them his hand-crafted insects periodically to “bug” them about creating a park.  Finally, in 1969, they agreed, and the 6 square miles finally officially became an Indiana state park in 1977.

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We enjoyed watching a masked bandit loot the birdfeeder at the Nature Center.

 

The Quaking Aspen trail gave us a chance to cool off in the shade of the  woods.

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