The 2025 Heritage Trail Quilt Gardens

"Creativity and Structure" in Goshen on Main Street

"The Sunburst" Abshire Park, Goshen

It's that time of year again, when Elkhart County plants its beautiful Heritage Trail quilt gardens all over the county. They start planting in May, opening May 30th, and the season runs through September 15th. This year there are 16 quilt gardens and 12 quilt murals. Each year that we have lived here, Sparky and her chauffeur (Eldo) make the rounds all around the county, following the handy dandy map that is provided online, which she prints out. See the map here: quilt gardens map  You can actuallly make it a fairly economical trip gas-wise, if you plan carefully!

One of Sparky's perennial favorites (haha, did you see what she did there?) is the garden at Das Essenhaus in Middlebury....This one is called "Burst of Joy"....If you drive to it in the middle of the day, or late in the day, you can stop by for a traditional Amish style home cooked meal. They have a fabulous bakery on premises as well.

Each quilt garden has a signpost telling what flowers are used and a vivid description of why the particular flowers were chosen. Unfortunately, Sparky cut off the vivid description on all the signs, focusing on what kind of flowers were used!

One of the most challenging gardens to view is the "Just Wingin' It" garden at the Elkhart Environmental Center. It's four birds and difficult to see the lines of distinction, like the birds' beaks for instance. But still, an amazing floral feat!

There are over a million blooms total in the gardens and gigantic quilt murals to see as well....

Bonneyville Mill Park mural

At Bonneyville Mill County Park, not only can you see one of the quilt murals on the big red barn, but you can see a beautiful dahlia garden just beginning to bloom in July....The garden was just beginning to show its colors when we visited.

Dahlia at Bonneyville Mill Park

Speaking of dahlias, this quilt garden at the Wellfield Botanic Gardens in Elkhart must have been planted a bit later than many, so it is just getting started. 

"Giant Dahlia"

Here are few more of Sparky's favorites--a trip to Shipshewanna to see this one at the Farmstead Inn, called "Goosetracks". 

"Goosetracks"

"Flying Swallows" at Ruthmere Mansion in Downtown Elkhart...

Can you see the "Sweetgum Leaf"  tree in downtown Bristol, IN?

It is really fun to take a road trip that lasts less than a day if you are in the area and want to see quite a few gardens in a short time span. 

And there are more gardens to be seen, these are just a few of Sparky's favorites. We highly recommend taking this road trip if you are in Elkhart County during the summer months. It's a wonderful trip down nostalgia lane to see the Amish farms, towns and small town living in northwest Indiana. There are great places to stop and shop and eat in each of the towns along the route--Elkhart, Middlebury, Goshen, Shipshewanna, Bristol, Wakarusa, and Nappanee. Hope you enjoyed today's quilt garden tour!

Hay, There!

 Did you know that culinary tourism is becoming more popular? The US boasts many unique drink and food trails all over the country. In all our travels, we have heard of the Kentucky bourbon trail, salsa trails (in Arizona), the Boise potato trail (Idaho), the margarita trail in New Mexico, (how did Sparky miss THAT one??!), a pork tenderloin trail in Indiana, (oh, yes, there is such a thing!), the North Carolina Oyster Trail, the Macon Bacon Trail in Georgia, the Buffalo Wings Trail in New York, and many many more....winery trails, whiskey trails, farm to table trails, a BBQ trail in Alabama AND the Beer City Air Trail in Grand Rapids, MI, home to over 40 craft breweries. (HOW did I miss that one?! wonders Eldo.) 

But if you aren't a foodie, and live in northwest Indiana like we do, you can check out another kind of trail, the 2024 Straw Hay Bale Art Trail in Shipshewanna and Middlebury, IN. Both towns are decorated up the wazoo with all kinds of all decorations--TONS of them! while you are driving around the towns looking for the hay bales, be sure to check out the beautiful and whimsical fall decorations in both towns.

"Be the 'I' in Shipsee"

It's part of the Autumn Adventure in the   fall in Shipshewanna and Middlebury, IN. Two towns, 24+ festivals and events in the area, and 30 giant hay bale pieces of art, depending on the eye of the beholder. On Sunday morning, we headed out to Middlebury and Shipshewanna to see how many we could find. It was a BEE-YOU-TI-FUL day and here was our first one:

"Thank you for your BEES-ness" says the sign where there were two of these cute bees in front of the shops at La Guana. There were MANY hay bales to be found in Shipshewanna. Quite a few creatures...."Henry the Panda"....

"Jack the Mouse and His Cheese" at the Heritage Creamery....

"Farmhouse Frederick the Steer" at the Farmstead Inn in Shipshewanna....

"Bacon the Pig" at the Ace Hardware store in Middlebury....

Some famous characters....Stuart and Bob of the Minions...(Sparky LOVES the Minions!)

Some popular fair food items...popcorn and pies....

"Life is Short, Eat the Pie!"

And a "Cheeseburger in Paradise"....

This little camper above, "The Mini Morton Camper" was out in front of the Morton House in Shipshewanna, right downtown. So cute! It was Sparky's favorite of all of them. There were many more. We saw about 26 out of the 30. It was fun driving all around Shipshewanna and Middlebury. They are small towns and the art bales were easy to find. You can find a map to all the hay bales artwork here: https://visitshipshewana.org/straw-bale-art/

We hope you enjoyed our little travel adventure this weekend! Thanks for stopping by to have a read....

                                    

                                    Sparky and Eldo

Charming Charlevoix and Shipshewanna

It's been a long time since Sparky saw her family, so in early August we went to Charlevoix, MI to a small family reunion. Charlevoix is a charming harbor town surrounded by three lakes--Lake Michigan, Lake Charlevoix, and Round Lake. It's a small town, population of about 2300 people, but it most certainly is charming and a lovely place to visit. We were only there for two days, so we missed lots of possibilities of things to do. It's only 48 miles to Mackinac Island, and 17 miles to Petosky. Had we had more time, we would have definitely explored a lot more of the area!

One of the coolest things about Charlevoix is the "Mushroom Houses".  They were a series of houses designed and built without blueprints by architect Earl Young, back in the early 1900's. The houses are affectionately nicknamed "gnome" houses or "hobbit" houses. If you look carefully, there is a gnome sitting in the second window to the right in the photo below.

They have signature cedar shake roofs, wide wavy eaves, exposed rafter tails, and are a horizontally designed build instead of vertical. They are designed to blend into the landscape as well. There are 26 residences in Charlevoix and 4 commercial properties in downtown Charlevoix that are mushroom houses. They are made of limestone, fieldstone, and boulders found in northwest Michigan. The nice thing about these houses is that you can see a great many of them clustered in parts of town and it is definitely a walkable tour.

One of the coolest ones is called the "Thatch House". The original walls were set in 1919. In 2013, Michael Sietz purchased the house and put his own spin on it. The roofing material is real thatch, designed to last for over 60 years. He renovated the inside to make 6 bedrooms, 5.5 baths, with three fireplaces and two living rooms. You can rent this house! No idea what that costs, but it's a year round vacation rental.

The Thatch House

 Several of them are near the hospital in a section of town called "Boulder Park". Here is a map showing the clusters...

In the short time we were there, Sparky took some daily walks to the Mt. McSauba Recreational area. There was a challenging 18 hole disc golf course there, dunes along Lake Michigan, a .7 loop hiking trail on a beautiful wooded trail that wound in and around the disc course and the beach. 

silly Eldo!

While we were there, we enjoyed eating at the Weathervane Restaurant, another Earl Young design, and watching the drawbridge go up about every half hour. The food was fantastic at the Weathervane Restaurant and the views of the channel with the boats and ships passing right outside the restaurant made dining there a pleasure.

We had a wonderful time with family...It was a lovely visit full of laughter and love. Here is Sparky's extended family....

Anything else you want to add Sparky? asks E. Well, while in Charlevoix, you could take a ferry to Beaver Island, the largest island in Lake Michigan, but we didn't have time to do that. For a small town, there a lot of places to visit  and some fine eating establishments as well. All too soon, we had to return home as Sparky needed to start school with an early first day long term subbing assignment.

Once back in Elkhart, it didn't take Sparky long before she made her semi-weekly trip to Shipshewanna, to get holiday crafting ideas, view sewing projects in her favorite fabric stores, and get a fresh homemade pretzel at JoJo's Pretzel shop. Look at how beautifully decorated Shipshewanna is for fall!

Here is a fun vignette of scarecrows....

Sparky's favorite....

And that's the latest from Sparky and Eldo...Happy fall, y'all! See you down the road.....

Life is One Long Ride, Enjoy the Journey

Sparky LOVES riding her bike, as anyone who follows our blog knows. This post is yet another tribute to one of the nicest bike trails in the US, the Pumpkinvine Bike Trail leading out of Goshen, IN to Shipshewanna, with some other trail spurs along the way. Even though it is not a Rails-to-Trails, it's a beautiful paved path most of the way. Because some day Sparky is going to be too old to ride, she wanted to make another post about riding the Pumpkinvine in late October so she can look back on these photos and reminisce about the different seasons on the trail....Here is what she saw on her 16 miles today from Goshen to Middlebury and back.

Less than two weeks ago, the trail was a canopy of mostly green leaves. Now, it's all shades of yellows, browns and oranges. The trees changed so fast!

Riding the trail, the carpet of leaves on the ground would change from a swath of yellow.....

To browns in another section, then oranges, and reds yet in another section of the trail, even a swath of green.....

The flaming sumac are predominate on the trail now. With many of the trees having shed their leaves, the sumac really stand out.

The farmers have harvested their corn but the soybeans are still standing....

There was a section of trail that had raindrops still glistening on the leaves, the patterns were cool! No matter how she tried, she couldn't capture the sparkle of the dew drops, when looking at them without the camera phone, they looked like rhinestones on the leaves. Through the lens, ordinary raindrops. Nature is so beautiful, especially on this trail. Even decaying leaves (at left) look cool.

Not only are there the usual fall colors, there was a small shrub or bush that was PINK!

If you're been following us, you might remember Rocky the Trail Snake? Someone with a little whimsy started a painted rock snake with a head and about three rocks way back in the early summer. They posted a sign about adding to him with a link to a FB group for him. "Rocky" has grown to a length of over 160 rocks by now and is about 26 feet along at the side of the trail off on the berm. He has been lovingly attended to by someone sweeping away the fall leaves so you can see how he's grown. Here is a section of the newest rocks. People are so clever with painting them!

Somebody added a really big rock with a Halloween theme painted on it, two ghouls with "return of the living" painted on it.

Soon Rocky will be hibernating but it has been fascinating to see his growth and the participation of the riders and walkers along the trail, as they added cool additions to his tail.

Another cool thing about the trail is they have regular events and others scheduled to use the trail. There is a running race this weekend, Sparky saw some runners on the trail today getting their mileage.

We are really enjoying fall's beauty... A big cold front is coming in soon...Highs in the FORTIES, lows in the twenties and thirties for the next two weeks. We are ready. Bought an ice scraper, Sparky bought her boots and we are stocking up on fall and winter clothing. That's something we really didn't need while we were traveling out on the road, following the sun and staying where it was warm most of the time.

Sparky will probably change her tune when the first icy sleet comes to Elkhart, IN, but she has lots of crafting projects ready to go for those bad weather days, and she is subbing a LOT, keeping very busy. Eldo is doing lots and lots of research about all kinds of things. 

The latest on the rig is it has been painted, but a part is still on hold! Probably another couple of weeks before we can pick it up. We are having it winterized and not traveling anywhere at this point in time, we are going to settle in for the season.

We know we won't have any travel stories for awhile, but occasionally, we will venture out of Elkhart and will keep you posted. Thanks for reading and staying with us, if you are!