Category Archives: Parks

Hiking, Parks

Shades State Park ~Waveland, IN

06/11/2018 Danielle Huddleston 2 Comments

Shades State Park is right next to Turkey Run State Park.

And after finding this list of 10 best hikes for the state I wanted to make sure we checked it out!

It was a really pretty place to hike and we only saw a few people while there.

It was one of our hikes that I would consider more of a fail though.

The gnats were crazy!!!!

And the hike that was recommended was closed.

There were a lot of steps.

I thought if we walked along Sugar Creek a bit in the open the gnats would not be as bad.

I was wrong.

I was ready to through a blanket over my face and call it good.

My boys liked the trail we took back up though.

You pretty much are hiking up a stream.

Which made for a difficult but beautiful hike.

Little bit did great!

I was trying to smile…

Ha!

But if I opened my mouth at all the gnats would get it in.

I did find the Devil’s Punchbowl to be really pretty!

You can actually park really close to it but we did not know that so we stumbled upon it after already doing a lot of steps.

I took the three with me that wanted to check it out and Nick stayed with the other two.

It was nice and cool down there which was nice.

Now to go back up all those steps 😉

I would like to go back to this park when the gnats are not as bad.

I think it would be amazing in the fall.

Has anyone been to this park?

When is the best time to go in your opinion?

Camping, Parks

Turkey Run State Park ~Marshall, IN

06/09/2018 Danielle Huddleston Leave a comment

We stayed at Turkey Run State Park while visiting family in Indiana.

I have visited a couple of times but staying there was a great decision.

Being able to go on these hikes early in the morning(well as early as I could manage to get my kids out of the rv) was amazing. We were able to beat the crowds and see the hollows in peace (as peaceful as you can get with 5 kids). I just kept asking myself “why did I not come here all the time when I lived here?” I grew up close to this beautiful place and only came a couple of times! Loved watching him help her. If we stay again we will choose a different camping spot though if we can.
This one was close to the road (so loud) and was not near the playground or nicer bathrooms at all. Sunday morning we went to “Turkey Run Hollow.” It ended up being a perfect hike for a Sunday morning.

I wish they had church in a place like this.

I decided checking out the Log Church at the park on a Sunday was pretty perfect also. We made the mistake of leaving the dogs food out one night while we were there.

It was in a sealed container but I heard lots of growling in the middle of the night and we found it completely empty the next morning…

Oops.

They have a nice little nature center at the park. My sister, her husband, and my niece came out to hike with us while we were there! My parents came to see us also while we were there.