Day Trip adventures

One of my favorite things to do on a free day is to take a day trip adventure somewhere. In the past, we've gone to Columbus, IN, Brown County, IN, Parke County, IN, and Savannah GA (while visiting family locally) Our strategy on these trips: Drive to the central city in the area, find the visitors bureau, and ask the enthusiastic volunteer at the center to show us on the inevitable brochure what the best walking/driving route is to see the local sites. The aforementioned brochure always has a map with sites on it and a short description of the historic significance of the sites. I love being able to walk around the town that, were I driving through uninformed, would not give a second look. With this free resource and knowledge from the locals, I'm able to know what to look for along the streets, and my stroll through the city takes on new meaning- and it's fun- like a scavenger hunt. All in all, it ends up being a very frugal 'vacation' of sorts, costing only gas and whatever meals you eat out (we packed a lunch and ate at a local place for dinner this weekend)

One of my favorite 'scavenger hunt' memories- along the route in Savannah, GA that the nice lady at the visitor's bureau told us to take, there was a park where "the bench at the bus stop" in Forrest Gump was. We walked all around the park looking for it, surmising whether it was one bench or another. Seeing the house of Juliette Gordon Low (the founder of Girl Scouts) on the same trip was neat. Another trip, we happened upon the home of the author of Ben Hur (in Crawfordsville, IN) This weekend, in Madison, IN, we saw the house of the guy who suggested the name "Indianapolis" for Indiana's capital city. We also happened upon a car show. Who knew?