Thinking Out Loud Thursday - November 8, 2018

Welcome to Thinking Out Loud Thursday! Today I'm remembering the trip we took last weekend so that's what I'll be thinking out loud about today.  Last Friday we drove over to Parke County, Indiana with a goal to see some fall foliage and covered bridges.  Both were successfully accomplished!  Here's how it went down ~

Friday morning my parents, Eric and I loaded up and headed out.  Parke County, Indiana is an easy 3 hour drive from our house.  I did forget that Indiana was on Eastern time, so we lost an hour on the way there.  We arrived around 1:00 pm and got settled into the waterfront cabin we rented for the weekend.  Then it was off to see some bridges!

We ordered a map ahead of time from the Parke County website (HERE).  They have five driving routes, all leaving from the Rockville Depot parking lot, that will take you past twenty plus bridges.  We chose to do the Brown Route first and, after following the details on our driving route, came upon Melcher Bridge.  This bridge was built in 1896 and has stood the test of time.

The Brown Route, which is 24 miles long, also took us past Sim South Bridge, Phillips Bridge and Mecca Bridge.  Each of the other routes ranged from 33 to 36 miles in length.  I'm not going to lie - I felt like we were on a huge scavenger hunt trying to follow the map and search out this hidden treasures placed in the back roads of Parke County.

We decided we had enough daylight to knock out one more trail so we left the south side of the Depot parking lot to conquer the Red Route.   As we hit the back roads, the trees were so brilliantly colored.  I just had to stop the car and use them as a picture backdrop. 

Right in the middle of our red route journey, we came upon what ended up being my most favorite bridge of the weekend.  The Bridgeton Bridge had a flowing waterfall by it and a scenic mill just to the side.  Picture perfect!

With two routes under our belts, we found our way back to the cabin and enjoyed the white chili I brought from home.  Saturday's weather sounded warmer with more sun than we experienced on Friday so we went to bed looking forward to a fun Saturday in store.

We were staying on Raccoon Lake and watching the sun rise was everything I had hoped it would be.  For those few moments that the sun was just right verified the choice to stay where we did was a good one.  

We decided to stop by the honey shack before starting a bridge route.  This little place was adorable!  It's a self serve house of honey.  You picked out the honey you wanted and left cash or a check in the money box.  It's so refreshing that they have so much trust in humans shopping at their store that they can leave the money box unattended.  We bought honey.

 

After the Honey Shack, we found breakfast at Benjamin's in Rockville. We had enough food for breakfast to definitely keep us fueled through most of the day!

With very full bellies we hit the Brown Route.  We detoured off the route slightly to visit Peachy's Amish Store and an Amish variety store called Swarey's.  We bought some killer fudge at Peachy's! 

On Saturday we conquered two more routes and saw some amazing bridges.  It was fun walking across these structures and just imagining the history that has passed over them.  

We visited my favorite bridge one more time to get even more pictures of it because the 4783473 I
had already took just wasn't quite enough.

Sunday started with another gorgeous sunrise over the lake. It was also a day to celebrate because it was Eric's birthday!  We had one more route to cover before heading for home.

This was our last day to follow the map and arrows across Parke County.  It had been so fun search and seeking out the covered bridges.  Each time we found one it felt like a small victory.

Overall, this was a great weekend and we made wonderful memories with my parents.  I can't believe this charming place is only 3 hours from our house and we hadn't been there before!  So glad we found it and experienced all the charm.    

Now it's your turn.  What are you thinking out loud about today?  Link up and share!

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