My Birthday Weekend // Part Three

 Since we had finished our favorite trails inside Turkey Run the day before, we decided that instead of heading back inside Turkey Run Park, we would drive over to the Narrows Covered Bridge just on the outside of the park and then we would spend the majority of our day a few minutes away at Shades State Park, which also has a few shorter rugged trails and is far less busy.  We have also never been there together as a family so it would be a great opportunity to explore somewhere new.

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But first, the Narrows Covered Bridge, where we spent a few minutes walking through the bridge and watching people canoe or float down Sugar Creek River from the large boulders that overlooked the river.

Noel remembers coming to Turkey Run as a high school student and watching a couple of his friends climbing to the top of the covered bridge and then jumping into the water down below.  They have fortified the inside of the bridge a lot more now and it's almost impossible to get to the roof of the bridge...

...but I remember being a young kid and watching others doing back flips from the rocks along the side of the river.  Apparently there have been quite a few drownings so they have signs posted everywhere that jumping and swimming are no longer allowed.

There wasn't a lot to see or do at the bridge, so after a few minutes, we loaded back up into the van and made the drive over to Shades where we walked trails #4 and #5 back to back -- both of the trails were pretty rugged walks through the canyon and they both had ladders, much to Nolan's delight!!  After a quick drive to another parking lot, we finished out the day walking trail #2, which was also a nice rugged trail.  

Again, these pictures are not in any particular order

'Need a good stair work-out?  Trail #2 certainly had lots and lots and lots of stairs!

Everyone had worked up a big appetite by the time that we left the park, so we drove into the nearest town to get gas and to find lunch.  I looked online and picked "Barefoot Burgers", which seems like a pretty neat place close to Wabash College.  It was pretty empty by 3:30 in the afternoon when we found our way in, but the atmosphere was cute and the burgers were great!

As we were leaving to head home, we saw this cool mural on a building outside and this gentleman was taking pictures of it with a bike in front of it.  When Noel told him that he really liked his bike, the man offered to let Noel take it for a ride.  Actually, he pretty much insisted that Noel take it for a ride, so Noel rode it around the parking lot once or twice so we could finish our trip home.

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After a 2.5 hour drive home (and a few naps being taken in the van), we arrived home so I could open my presents and then we ran out to Culvers to grab the flavor of the day.

Melayna made me a card with a really sweet message inside.  Marissa wrote a sweet note and will take me to lunch of my choice before heading back to college.  Morgan bought me some "organic / clean" cleaning products that I had been looking at online.  And Noel bought a beautiful hand-blown glass hummingbird from a shop that we visited while we were in Colorado last summer.  It was a huge surprise as I had no idea!

What a fun weekend!  I am truly blessed!