After our trip to D.C. and ShenandoahNationalPark, Choppy and I spent time at home. It was nice to be there and taking care of various issues around the house, as well as having a few nights in my own bed. Choppy, as usual, ignored her $200 bed in favor of sleeping on the old and somewhat ratty bedspread I used while in college.
While we were home, I had to make a trip to Bloomington. I dragged Choppy with me, so that we could do a little hiking before heading back home (which is a cheaper option than my normal Bloomington side trip to the outlet malls in Edinburgh. Note: The shops aren’t really that close to Bloomington, but outlet malls are like Sarah crack and so I go out of my way to shop there). Our hiking trip took Choppy and I to Brown County State Park, which has a boring name but beautiful scenery, for a quick hike on a hot afternoon. Some pictures from the trip are below.
(And, for those of you keeping track of this sort of thing, I am officially WAY behind on posting about our travels. As in, we’ve taken an entire major trip to the East Coast and I’ve gone to Canada for a week since this happened. I’m hoping to work through the backlog quickly in the next couple weeks, as we are headed to Alaska at the end of July and I would like to be more or less current on posting by that time).
While we are on the road, there is no backseat in the car, as I have filled it with necessary travel items (read: shoes and a cooler of beer). This is Choppy taking advantage of the car in its less-than-filled-to-capacity state by sitting in the backseat. Also? This allows Choppy to spread out and thus more effectively coat my entire car with dirt and grime.Some people refer to Brown County as the “Little Smokies,” which is a bit of a stretch. That said, it’s certainly a beautiful area of the State, even if it’s definitely NOT the normal sort of scenery one expects from Indiana. Then again, the State Seal has a buffalo on it, so perhaps I am missing something entirely about the place (quite possibly the presence of buffaloes in my backyard).Here is Choppy surveying the woods around her. I would say that she is just enjoying nature, but she’s really on chipmunk patrol. These woods were seriously chipmunk-infested, and thus looking for them became a very consuming task for Choppy. Not to worry, as no chipmunks were harmed in the making of this post. Just as no animals have ever been caught or harmed by the less-than-fleet-footed Choppy.Choppy, still on the lookout for chipmunks. This time, not on a bridge, but next to some cool old stone stairs.Photographic evidence of Choppy’s continued failure to get in shape. Here she is collapsed in the shade at one of the lookouts at the Park.And then, to further show her lack of physical fitness, Choppy decided to lie down in this stream to cool down. Which was all fine and dandy until……we got back in the car and the mud from the stream became mud on the passenger seat of the car.
Travels with Choppy 