Indiana Road Trip 2002 Part 2

Indianapolis, Brown County, and Spring Mill

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All photos © 2007-2011 by Robert E Pence

Spine of a substantial and growing greenway system, the Monon trail runs 10.5 miles from 10th Street to 96th Street,
where it continues for another five miles as the Carmel-Clay Monon Greenway. Along the way, it passes the Indiana
State Fairgrounds and connects with the Central Canal Towpath, the Fall Creek Trail, and the White River Wapahani
Trail. The trail is well-designed and maintained, with adequate width, paved surface and good signage, and heavily used.

White River State Park brings together many of the city's entertainment and recreation venues, including the zoo,
Indiana State Museum and Eiteljorg Museum, all located within walking distance of the state capitol and Monument Circle.

About an hour south of Indianapolis, Bloomington is home to Indiana University. The 3,750-seat IU Auditorium houses
the world's largest pipe organ and features 20 panels of Thomas Hart Benton's 1933 mural depicting the history of Indiana

Noted American Impressionist painter Theodore Clement Steele built the House of the Singing Winds in 1907 on a hill
in Brown County, east of Bloomington. The property is now T.C. Steele State Historic Site.

My camper. I enjoyed it but I wasn't getting enough use out of it lately to justify the money I had tied up in it, so I sold it
three or four years ago. Probably just as well, considering what it would cost to run the four-ton beast now and the
increased cost of camping in state parks.

Brown County comes as a surprise to those who, when they think of Indiana, envision endless miles of mostly-flat fields
of corn and soybeans interspersed with subdivisions near the cities. These views are from within Brown County State
Park. The mostly hardwood forests make Brown County a popular tourist destination during fall foliage season.

Spring Mill State Park, near Mitchell, Indiana features a restored early-19th-century pioneer village centered around a
working 1817 grist mill with a stone mill powered by a large wheel driven with water from a spring in a nearby hillside.
The park has trails, lakes, caves, and an inn noted among local people for good food

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