Fort Harrison State Park 10.24.09

We had only a short bit of time, so we decided to make our next stop in town. We thought the park wouldn't be that cool, since it's in town, so we figured it didn't matter if we only had a couple of hours. We were wrong! Ft. Ben is cool! It's a lot bigger than we thought and even has horseback riding.

We headed east on Kessler Blvd., which is also 56th St., and passed by Jerry Hostetler's house, featured in the book Weird Indiana, which we had purchased at Turkey Run. It's a giant, overly decorated house, which was added on to, and added on to, and added on to, for 30 years. This resulted in a 55,000 square foot mess, which you can see if you drive on 56th St., just east of Binford. The park is just north of 56th St. off of Glenn Road. The park was a military training facility until the early 90s and it was made into a state park in the late 90s. Many of the facilities within the park have been modified from their original military purposes. The dogs came with us this time, and at the parking lot, we followed the dogs off onto a deer path down to Fall Creek. We walked the deer paths for a while and saw what were quite sure were discarded military items, such as bombs. See photo.

We also hiked the Fall Creek trail, which as you may imagine, follows Fall Creek. It offered good views of the creek and some woods. The yellow foliage was bright and colorful. We were surprised to find some decent sized hills in the park, a sizable lake, and horse trails. The day we were there, it was Great Dane Day, and we got to see about a dozen of these horse-sized canines, though when Jesse asked their owners if we were on the horse trail, they were less than amused. There were a couple of other trails, as well as a paved bike path. We also saw some cool playgrounds for kids. We intend to go back in snowier weather so we can enjoy the badass sledding hill, which appears to be a former gun range. We checked out the horse barns, which appeared to have been barracks formerly. The horses have as nice as accommodations as the soldiers!

Since we misjudged the coolness of this in-town park, we do want to return, perhaps to ride horses and definitely to go sledding. There is also an Inn just outside the park gates and it would be fun to check out as well.

Ft. Harrison State Park
5753 Glenn Rd.
Indianapolis, IN 46216
317.591.0904

Prophetstown State Park 10.23.09

After a month's hiatus, we finally made it to our next stop on the tour. We visited Prophetstown State Park over Fall Break. It is located in historic Battle Ground, IN, near Lafayette. We took 65 N to SR 25 E and then North on 225 through the town of Battle Ground. The directions on the DNR website don't take you through the town, so you may want to find your own way. You also get to cross the Wabash on a very cool retrofitted train trestle bridge if you go via 225.

A quick note about donuts: If you are ever on 65 in the morning near Lebanon, you absolutely must exit on SR 32, go East for a 1/2 mile and stop in at Titus Pastry Shoppe. These are the best donuts ever! The best of the best is the chocolate cream filled. Ooooh. Donuts. Mmmmm.

Anyway...

Prophetstown was founded in the 1800s by the Indian chief Tecumseh as a training ground for warriors. During a great battle between the Indians and General William Henry Harrison, the town was torched. It was rebuilt for educational purposes. The land was bought up from homeowners and farmers in the early 1990s and made into a state park in 94. There are a few miles of trails, an interactive, working 1920s farm, and the rebuilt Indian settlement.

We left the dogs at home for this one, though after we were there, we kinda wished we would have brought them, because they would have enjoyed it. We started our adventure with a hike on both trails available. The trails featured views of the five-acre lake, Harrison Creek, a swamp, and prairies. We also took a side journey off the trails and across Harrison Creek, which was a bit flooded. Jesse had to de-shoe to make the journey for us both. See the photo on that one! Though the trails were fairly limited, they were fun and got us a good tour of the park. During our hike, it started to pour down rain and we had to seek refuge in an old barn near the lake. It proved to be water-tight and we enjoyed our rest.

After the hike, we made our way to the 1920s farm and checked out the houses on site as well as the barns, blacksmith shop, chicken coop, horses, hogs, cattle, sheep, and other farm implements. There was a very friendly border collie that was totally into fetch. Also, the homes were kits from the Sears & Roebuck catalog delivered via train in the 20s. The larger home was decorated in 20s vintage. It was awesome. You can tour both houses. Upon approaching the implement barn, we saw a wagon marked "Likens Farms, Anderson, Indiana". This was the very wagon that Jesse used to ride in as a kid when he would work with his friend Bobby Likens on the family farm.

After the visit to Prophetstown, we headed back into Battle Ground and followed the signs just 2.1 miles to Wolf Park, locally known as Woof Park. It costs $7 for a 45-minute tour of the enclosures which hold many wolves. There are also foxes, coyotes, and bison, as well as a gift shop and learning center. It was cool to see the wolves, but we thought the enclosures were kind of small and it would have been better if the wolves had more of a free-range type environment. The park offers a sponsorship program where you can choose an animal to sponsor and then you get to feed it and pet it and visit it one-on-one. The park started in 1967 and has been offering tours since the early 70s. The tour guide was extremely knowledgeable about all the animals.

Back in Battle Ground and very hungry, we visited TC's Restaurant & Tavern, one of two dining choices in town. TC's was half bar, and half family dining area. The server was very friendly and the food was quite good. The dining area featured a lot of memorabilia from the former Battle Ground High School basketball teams; the town's high school students now attend Harrison. We sampled the buffalo chips, pork filet, and NY strip, as well as the cole slaw and dinner salad. The buffalo chips and pork were the highlights. Our dinner, with no alcoholic beverages, totaled around $30. If you do visit TC's on a weekend, you may want to make reservations or get there early, as all the tables were reserved for the night when we were there. We just happened to be eating at 4:00, what we like to call "Grandma Dinner Time."

We didn't have time to visit the Battle Ground museum and monument, just east of town, but it looked cool and we will go back if possible. It was a good trip.

Prophetstown State Park
PO Box 327
Battle Ground, IN 47920
765.567.4919

Wolf Park
4004 E 800 N
Battle Ground, IN 47920
765.567.2265
www.wolfpark.org

TC's Restaurant & Tavern
109 N Railroad St.
Battle Ground, IN 47920
765.567.2838

Titus Pastry Shoppe
820 W South St.
Lebanon, IN 46052
765.482.1740