Day Trip under Duress: Spring Mill State Park

Do you remember what life used to be like, when you could roll out of bed on a Sunday, look at your two grumpy teenagers staring at tiny little screens, decide that enough was enough, and drag them, furious and loudly complaining, out to the car and take them on a spontaneous day trip to a public space?

What a luxury that was!

Honestly, as stir-crazy as this pandemic sheltering in place is making us, the kids would probably still have to be dragged, furious and loudly complaining, if I tried to take them on another day trip to Spring Mill State Park--Will, because dogs aren't allowed in the pioneer village or caves and so I wouldn't let Luna come on this particular trip that we took last summer, and Syd, because other than in-person ballet classes and visits her friends, both of which she is devastated to be without, she is the biggest homebody in the world, is NOT stir-crazy, and even 39 days into sheltering in place has no desire to go anywhere where ballet or her friends are not.

Maybe when it's safe to stop sheltering in place Matt and I will leave the kids home and just go back to Spring Mill State Park by ourselves!

On this particular enforced day trip, we mostly hung out in the pioneer village, dodging the historic reenactors by sneaking in to explore the buildings whenever they popped out of them:

Here I am, pretty excited to be on an adventure out in the sun. Notice that there are no grumpy teenagers in the frame!

Fortunately, even grumpy teenagers can't outlast an entire day of fresh air, sunshine, and interesting places to explore. Eventually, Syd found that checkers was calling our names--

Look! She's smiling!

 --and by the time she'd beaten me thoroughly, Will and Matt had wandered off to their own adventures and Syd and I wandered away, too, discovering...

...A COTTAGE GARDEN!!!!!!!

I am OBSESSED with historical gardens. They make me burn with envy. I cannot get enough of pretending that I can copy them.

Because of that, when Matt and Will came back from their wanderings they figured out exactly where to find us!

I can never get them all to smile and all hold their eyes open all at the same time.

 

I... don't know why this particular teenager is wallowing in the historic cottage garden, actually. She doesn't look grumpy, though!

Here's an old stagecoach route that Will was absolutely revved up about following uphill for so long that I'm pretty sure it was her revenge for me forcing her into this day trip:

It doesn't look it, but it was REALLY STEEP! Poor horses! Poor ME! 

 Here's an interesting rock that Syd spotted in the creek:

And here's just one tombstone from the historic cemetery that I also dragged the children through, mwa-ha-ha:

When we're finally allowed out in public again, I'll drag my furious and loudly objecting children back here, because even though we spent the whole day, we still didn't see the Gus Grissom Memorial or tour the caves!