sculpture bench

Dennis answering a call

quilt garden tree of life

tree of life

mysterious tree carver sculpture


Day 13 July 20 PumpkinVine Trail
 
We expected this trail to be really nice and it didn't disappoint.  It was named after the curvy, twisty vine by the same name.   The trail was paved and again nicely maintained.  Midway through the 16 mile trail was Middlebury Indiana where there was a beautiful garden, a quilt garden, and a tree of life sculpture.   The stone sculpture of the mysterious carver was installed in honor of an unknown carver who apparently carved some faces in the woods.  Along the trail many of the trees planted had identification plaques.  We've never seen that before, a tremendous volunteer effort.  Again the weather cooperated and we missed the threatening rain entirely. 

We rode the length of the trail to Shipshewana, 16.8 miles, which was an Amish community full of shops and restaurants.  Lots of Amish buggies and huge, beautiful Amish farms dotted the landscape.  We had lunch, walked around a bit and headed back to Goshen.  We couldn't pass up a stop at Mooey's ice cream and sandwich shop.  One of the biggest single dip waffle cones I have ever had.  I almost couldn't finish it. 

We had a 3 hour drive to Bellefontaine, Ohio and then tomorrow on to Springfield Ohio and the Alum Creek Trail. (a hall of fame trail)



 

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