Brown County State Park | Brown County, IN

While we were in Indianapolis we spent some time chatting with a woman who told us about Brown County State Park and that it was not far from Indianapolis - we decided to set up camp at the park for a couple nights. As we were driving through the long, winding roads and thick trees to get to the campsite it was easy to see the park's beauty - so many birds and squirrels and some very awesome outlook vista points.

To pick up camp food we went to the only local grocer to be found for miles and had a good laugh when we realized how much our organic-loving selves missed our local Whole Foods and Trader Joe's - haha! But it was really cute to see how every single person in the store knew one another.  And everyone was so nice and talkative toward us that, for a few seconds, Taras was legitimately stunned and didn't know how to react - he just stood in the checkout line, smiling awkwardly!

Sleeping at night was fairly restless because we had a raccoon friend who frolicked around the campsite, scrounging for food as we tried to sleep. We had actually seen the raccoon while we were hanging around the fire at night - he got super close and hardly budged when we pointed the flashlight at him.  Taras slept fine; I did not, as I was convinced the raccoon was going to eat me.  One morning we woke up to find little raccoon dirt footprints in our camp chairs - I couldn't decide if that was creepy or kind of adorable... the verdict is still out.

We did one good hike through the park - it was early morning and the birds were out to play, along with a lot of squirrels. The woods were crisp and cool and there were beautiful sun rays shining through the trees. Taras kept me entertained by telling long stories about his boyhood in Russia - how they would go into the woods to pick mushrooms and how they'd build fishing poles out of sticks.

A morning run through the park, lounging in the hammock, reading, and cooking (I'm loving the process of prepping food and setting the table) made up the rest of our time. We really welcomed this downtime, even if I did struggle a bit with our first experience of no 4G!

-Amanda


Taras's backpack is by George Guest, an awesome Boston-based company. 

For travel updates as they happen, follow us on facebook, twitter, and Instagram (@amandabouzakine).

Have tips on where we should go, what we should see and do? Submit suggestions here or e-mail us!  We're in Montana for the next few day then will be spending time in the Pacific Northwest.