Prior to our arrival at the recreation area, we decided to do some canoeing on the Blue River courtesy of Cave Country Canoes. Erin plans to begin her big camping trip with a float down the Blue, so since we were in the neighborhood, we decided to give it a whirl. It's kind of hard to see on this map, but we took the half day trip on the upper portion of the river, just north of the outfitter's Milltown base. We had a great time, and the weather, which had rained on us all the way from home down to the southern end of the state, ended up being perfect while we were on the river. We were successful in keeping the canoe upright during the whole trip, but we did hit one set of rapids that left me soaked. All in all, we had a very nice trip, and I'd highly recommend the experience to anyone looking for a canoe trip in southern Indiana. Not only is the scenery on the river itself beautiful, but watching our fellow canoers chasing wild turkeys along the shore, smashing beer cans on their foreheads, and wearing bathing suits that MIGHT have fit back when Dukes of Hazzard was on the air made it all that much more fun.
After our canoeing experience, we drove on down to the recreation area to look for camp sites. This has turned into a very stressful endeavor for Erin. Originally she had planned on having the trip at Land Between the Lakes, and its combination of scenery, the lakes, hiking, and relative remoteness made it ideal for her trip. The only problem was getting chaperones to commit to being six hours away from home for the week. So the solution was to move the trip to Indiana, and recruit yours truly for at least one night of chaperoning. It didn't seem like it would be hard to find a patch of Deliverance country in Indiana on which to camp, hike, and swim in a lake. But it has turned out to be difficult to find all those things along with a somewhat secluded camp site. In any case, she found the perfect campsite near Celina Lake on Saturday, only to find that it was already reserved for the dates she needed. Just as the weeping and gnashing of teeth set in, I suggested we head south a few miles to Tipsaw Lake. As we approached the turn for Tipsaw, we noticed that the road sign for the lake pointed to the right. To the left, it pointed to the Branchvillle Correctional Facility. Maybe Erin can offer a craft session on making a shiv. While not quite as ideal as the sites she found on Celina, the sites we saw at Tipsaw could do the job. In the end, I think Tipsaw will be the winner, but there's at least one more weekend of driving available between now and then, so we'll see what happens.
After leaving Tipsaw Lake, we headed up the middle of the state to have a look at Patoka Lake. Neither of us had ever been to Patoka, and while Erin had already checked out the potential camping availabilities and decided they probably wouldn't work, we figured since we were in the general vicinity... Patoka is big, remote, and from what we saw on Saturday, covered with boats and jet skiiers. Erin has a fixation on eventually owning a lake house, and Patoka would be a candidate, but it's a long drive from Indy. We'll see... I have enough trouble maintaining our main house.
From Patoka, we headed for home via French Lick. I was interested to drive through French Lick to see the renovations being done to both the French Lick Springs Resort and West Baden Springs Hotel. If you've never been to these two hotels, you really should stop in if you're ever in southern Indiana. The West Baden Springs looks like something that belongs on a mountain top in Europe, and it originally was referred to as the Eighth Wonder of the World. Currently both resorts are being restored, and an adjacent casino is being built. I was surprised by the amount of work being done, especially on the French Lick Springs. All the streets around the hotel are torn up, and it looked like every window in the place was out. The new casino sits right out in front and to the side of the original hotel, and it looks relatively huge as well. Here's a link to pictures of the restoration, and here's another link to a webcam of the restoration site. It'll be exciting to check this place out in a couple of years, since my whole life, the area surrounding these two rather amazing structures has looked like a study in decay. I was sad to note that my favorite liquor store in Indiana -- French Liquors -- had apparently closed. Au revoir, French Liquors.
Following French Lick and dinner in Bedford (yes, we were THAT hungry), we headed for home. Here's a map of our route.
We broke the 300 mile mark for yet another weekend. I've gotta get me a hybrid if we're going to keep this up. I love my Hyundai, but it chugs gas like a '76 Grenada. Hopefully we're done with the cross state treks for a while, although I do have to say that I've enjoyed seeing some parts of the state that I haven't seen previously.
The trip was the big part of our weekend, but on Friday night we made another trip to Rustic Gardens with some friends from church. Yours truly won this round, beating his charming wife by many a stroke. Our friends found the place as bizarre as we did, but I think everyone had a good time. Mini golf was preceded by dinner at the Fountain Diner, one of our favorite little hangouts in Indy. We had our wedding rehearsal dinner at the Action Duckpin Bowling alley upstairs, so it's always sentimental to go back down there.
On Sunday, our parents all returned from their cruise in the western Carribbean. We were glad to have everyone back, and Erin's parents didn't seem to mind that we slept at their place and ate the majority of their food. It sounds like they had a great trip, and Erin's aunt and uncle got me a T-shirt which begs, "Where the hell is Belize?" You gotta love that.
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