Indiana trip--day 1

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

My dad arrived to take care of the cats, plants, and house, and we left around 10:30 a.m..  I felt good leaving everything in his capable hands and knowing that the cats would be loved.  It was a fun ride.  We listened to Mr. Stinky Feet's Road Trip, as usual, and did a couple mad libs.  I asked for a noun, and Mike said "crack" and for the next noun, Sarah said "heroin".  Mike said he was referring to a crack in the road, but it was too late.  The rest of the mad lib had a decidedly druggy theme.  Sarah still has her injured middle finger in a splint (from her random shaking-out-a-homework-cramp injury), so when she holds that hand up, it looks like she's making a rude gesture. When a semi cut us off, Noah yelled, "Show him your splint, Sarah!"  We had a long discussion about whether we would be in the same time zone in Indiana.  We also weren't sure if Indiana is doing daylight saving time. Sarah announced that her phone said it was 1:08, and the van clock said 12:26.  We said even if Indiana is in a different time zone, it would be off by exactly an hour, not some random number of minutes.  We ended up deciding that Sarahland is in a different time zone from the rest of the world.  Random road trip quote from Sarah to Noah: "My brain noises are more entertaining than your music."

We arrived at the hotel (Comfort Inn and Suites in Porter, IN) at 1:30 and were shocked at how cold it was outside.  It was in the 70s in Illinois but was only 55 here!  We had to wait about ten minutes for the hotel clerk to appear.  When he finally showed up, he had a bloody tissue hanging out of his right nostril.  Mike just looked at him and asked, "Do you have an issue?" which made me and Noah laugh.  He told us we couldn't check in until 3:00, so we drove around exploring the area.  Our first stop was the visitor's center, where we picked up some maps and brochures.  There were some activities, like nature rubbings, puppets, etc.  It was a nice place.

Then we tried to find the dunes and/or the beach.  We found the entrance to the state park, but there was an entrance fee, and we didn't want to pay since we weren't planning to stay long.  We followed the signs to a learning center, but that ended up in a strange camplike place where Sarah rode this turtle:

and then we left, having never found the learning center.  We came back to the hotel and saw a missing persons flyer.

I took a picture of it and made a mental note to keep my eye out for him.  We settled into our room (223).  It's a cheap hotel but nice enough and meets our requirements.  On our way to the pool, I saw a guy who looked like the missing guy in the flyer, so I held up the flyer next to him and asked, "Is that you?"  He said, "It's my brother."  Then a news camera showed up and started doing a story on the missing guy.  I hope they find him.

We had a good time playing in the pool.  I was glad I remembered to bring a ball and frisbee.  The pool and hot tub were nice and clean.

I took some flyers of the missing guy to distribute when we went to dinner.  We ate at this place called "Country Pride Restaurant".  Mike's meal came with a salad bar, which he didn't want, and all I was going to order was the salad bar, so the waitress just let me have his and didn't charge me. It was a good salad bar with lots of vegetables and beans.  Noah ate way too much (his whole meal plus two trips to the salad bar and soup) and was pretty miserable when we got back to the hotel.  He said, "Is it possible that I ruptured my stomach? Because it really hurts."  Sarah said, "You're just pregnant with your food baby."
Boys are watching Cubs on TV and girls are getting ready for bed. Big storms coming overnight with high winds and heavy rains.  Hope we can get out and do some hiking tomorrow.