Pumpkinvine Bike Trail--a Real Treasure

Sparky decided to ride the Pumpkinvine bike trail last Saturday. It was a beautiful day....sixties with a light breeze and no clouds.  If you start at Abshire Park, in Goshen, it would be about 32 miles all the way to Shipshewanna and back, depending on whether you go all the way to the end of the trail in Shipsee, which would be a little more, closer to 34 miles.

Elkhart has a quilt garden tour every year, called the Heritage Quilt Garden Tour. There are usually 16 garden plots. You can get more information here. There is a quilt garden right there at the 75 acre park at Abshire. It was newly planted but in a month or so, it will be even more beautiful as it fills in. Each quilt garden site has a placard, telling you what the pattern is and what the flowers are to create the quilt pattern. At this location is the "Sunburst" pattern and here are the flowers: Happy Trails Rosita Protulaca, Cocktail Vodka Begonias and Clear Crystal White Alyssum.

Sparky was not going to ride all the way to Shipshewanna, but as she started out, it was so fantastic and she was enjoying her Trek bike so much, she just kept going. A lot of times when Sparky does a long ride, she forgets that if it is so easy going one way, that usually means she has a tailwind and it's going to be hard slogging, coming back in a headwind. Not today. It was fabulous, coming and going.

Lots to see today...some pictures are not easy to come by. Picture five Amish girls in long dresses and white bonnets, walking down the asphalt bike trail in bare feet.....New colts out in the fields...

A really big turtle out sunning himself....

Sparky saw several farmers with the old fashioned draft horse drawn plows, where they sit way out on a seat suspended over the field with the plow or hay rakes. This gentleman seemed to be having trouble with his hay rake (?), so then his wife handed the baby over to him and she got on and continued.

Got to see some cows up close and personal...they backed off when Sparky got just a little bit closer to the fence to say hi. Guess they are a little shy of strangers. (Sparky was a farm girl in another life, Eldo thinks, as much as she likes cows and likes being around them, she doesn't even mind the smell!)

Got to see a little field of purple lupines in Shipshewanna right by the trail. They are such a beautiful, tall, stately flower. The spider wort, second flower photo, are now popping up all along the trail.

On the way to Shipshewanna, there were three little Amish kids having a lemonade stand. They were cute as little buttons, and doing a booming business. At one point, one of the boys went and got fresh cookies to add to their stand. Sparky asked permission to take their photo. Fifty cents a glass, and what a bargain! It was delicious!

As you cross over into the newly completed portion of the Pumpkinvine, you pass Moody's ice cream shop, a great place to stop and take a breather. (AHA! That's why it takes her so long to do the trail, exclaims Eldo.) Sometimes she stops, and sometimes she doesn't! You cross a county road right as you come out of Moody's a little to the left to continue on the trail. If you want to stop and sit on a provided park bench for awhile right there, you'll see many Amish buggies traveling the county road carrying their Saturday shopping supplies, or maybe hauling a small trailer behind. There always seems to be a little one peeking out the back window.

Sparky would love to get more personal photos of Amish life, but is always hesitant to take photos of them. It's been sort of a common belief that they do not wish to have their photos taken. But their lives are changing to become more modernized, that's for sure. Some Amish have cell phones now, some use powered lawn mowers and tractors, washing machines and solar power. It's kind of sad to see that lifestyle changing, but the gap between modern technology and the old Amish lifestyle is narrowing due to necessity, we suppose. Their life is still simplified, but enhanced with some things that will make life a little easier for them. It's a little bit like we seniors, struggling to keep up with the pace of technology, yet leaving a lot of it behind for the younger generation to figure out or teach us how to use it. Sparky yearns sometimes, for the days when life was a lot simpler and we didn't have cell phones or the internet, we played outside all the time and ate ice cream pushups from cardboard toilet paper holders, haha.   

And with that, we will see you next time...Wait for it....IN ALASKA!

Small Town Living

 Not exactly sure how you define "small town", but since we have moved back to Elkhart, IN, there are a LOT of things we see that you might not normally see in bigger towns so we are just gonna go with Elkhart and the surrounding areas as small town living....Here we go.....Some little jaunts around the area that we have taken lately....

The South Side Soda Shop, Goshen, IN...This is a family run retro diner in Goshen that was started as a grocery store in the early 1900's. In the 1940's a soda fountain was installed. In the 1980's, the shop was restored and in 1993, a dining car was added to give it a more '50's vibe. 

It has been featured in several publications, Gourmet Magazine, and was featured on Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives with Guy Fieri. The interior is definitely vintage. It's not like some retro diners with reproduction decor, this one is definitely a step back into time. Check out the juke box! There are many items that make you wonder how old they are!

The decor is definitely from the past.....

We enjoyed a simple burger dinner, nothing too special, just good home cooked food, but it was just kind of fun to immerse ourselves in a different vibe and the prices were reasonable. The seating area is decorated in a lot of different ways with  painted murals or displays of school spirit, or random bulletin boards.

We didn't try the ice cream, but there were a lot of choices. Bet it was good! The little dishes are those traditional metal ones.

If you like pie, this is the place for a BIG top loaded meringue on your pie.

And of course, there is the soda fountain. 

Something else we experienced lately... A small town parade! We happened to visit Shipshewana on a Saturday morning a couple of weeks ago, and ran into the tail end of what seemed to be a little farm parade. It wasn't Memorial Day yet and we really didn't know what the parade was all about, but it was fun to see lots of Amish turn out to watch it. 

Not only were they watching, they were in the parade floats as well, throwing out candy to the crowd, much to these two boys delight! (above photo) This gentleman had a farm DOG walking a "treadmill" to churn butter! Didn't know if that was just for show, or if his dog really did do churn butter duty!

A vist to Kryder Gardens in Middlebury which is right on the Pumpkinvine Bike Trail and worthy of a picnic stop or a rest stop at least. The gardens are GORGEOUS in mid May and the volunteers who keep it beautiful are to be commended. So many beautiful flowers and plantings! There are water fountains and statues and artwork there a well. Sparky loves stopping in one of the many shaded bench areas to reflect a bit before heading back out onto the Pumpkinvine Trail. It's a small town treasure, for certain!

And how is Eldo? (really, Eldon, but doesn't Eldo sound a lot cuter? a name given to Eldon by his granddaughter. Sparky calls him Eldy around the house.) He's doing well. Round 2 of physical therapy after hip replacement is underway. Eldy is getting in stretchy band exercise for golf swing/hip movement. He is very mobile most often without his cane but carries it with him just in case. In about another two to three weeks, the doctor says he can get out and swing a golf club ! Yay! 

And so, life goes on for us in our senior years...Day by day we take it. You never know when life is going to throw you a curve ball. So we take it and run with it, or hobble as the case may be, as each day is different for us physically. Sparky has bad sciatic problems still, but we just sort of soldier on. Maybe she will be pursuing physical therapy soon, even though she has tried it before. It's time to revisit that again. Sparky is also finishing up subbing at school...She really loves that job. This past week, her class of little first graders couldn't manage to remember Mrs. Sparks, so it was "Mrs. Sparkles" and "Mrs. Sprinkles" all day long. Why they couldn't say "Sparks" we have no idea! 

Sorry for the repeat from FB but just had to share for the memory books: Sparky got to help a second grade class release butterflies this week after they nurtured them in the classroom. One little girl decided she would pick a dandelion in case the butterfly was hungry once we made our way outside. Lo and behold, the butterfly liked that idea. The little girl exclaimed loudly, "LOOK! The proboscis is coming out. He's going to take a drink!!!" And it did. Second grade. Proboscis. I'm impressed.

Two more weeks of school to go, then summer break. A family reunion on the Sparky side is in August in Charlevoix. That will be fun! Until later....

                                Sparky and Eldo