state parks project, part 3: turkey run

After we got our fill of eagles, we headed to Turkey Run State Park, where we had brunch in the inn. It was delicious, and only a little terrifying when Henry and I were going down the buffet line and he managed to set a piece of waxed paper (separating layers of pancakes) on fire with the warming candles, then brush the flaming paper against his shirt. "Henry!" I yelped. "Are you on FIRE?" And of course, until the second I said something, he didn't realize that he was, in fact, playing with fire. I patted his shirt down quickly with one hand while grabbing the paper away with the other, and before long everything was back to normal. Whew!

After brunch, we set off on a very, very, very muddy hike. More than once I almost left my shoes behind when I lifted up my feet. We went down 70 helpfully labeled steps, through a muddy clearing, up a few unalabeled steps, and made our way across a suspension bridge. After that, we explored rock formations and ice formations and trails galore. This was probably the longest hike of the weekend, and we were all pretty tired by that point, but we didn't want to stop because there was something gorgeous around every rock, every bend in the trail. We didn't even get to a waterfall, but the things we did see more than made up for that.

Including this woodpecker, who was completely unimpressed with the gaggle of humans oohing and aahing at it from the ground below.

And here is where I tell you that we were so impressed with the setting and beauty of the Turkey Run Inn that I came home and immediately started looking for deals to stay at other state park inns. We already had one reservation, and I'm not gonna lie, we have more now. There are seven inns in the state park system. I'm not saying we *have* to stay at them all this year as part of our state parks quest ... but man oh man would I love to!

See also: SPP 1, SPP 2.