After competing the challenges at Clifty Falls State Park (see previous post, if you missed it), we decided to relax a bit at Spring Mill and take things more at our own pace. There are lots of things to see and do in this park, though, so we stayed pretty busy during our 4 night stay!
We started our visit at the park’s Grissom Memorial that honors Virgil “Gus” Grissom who was an astronaut in the 1960s, and the second man in space. He was a native of nearby Mitchell, IN and we enjoyed learning about his life and contributions to NASA’s space exploration. We were so interested in what we were learning that we forgot to take any photos! If you want to see it, though, our video on the area will have a short part showing the memorial. Additionally, we had a very special experience while at the memorial. An elderly gentleman approached us while we were looking around and asked us if we remembered Gus Grissom. We explained that while we had certainly heard of him, he lived and died before our time. The man then proceeded to introduce himself as Gus’s brother, Lowell. He is the last remaining Grissom sibling (he is currently in his 90s) and currently lives in St. Louis, but was just back for a visit. He chatted with us for several minutes about what it was like being Gus’s brother, and what their parents thought about having a son who was an astronaut. We asked him if there was anything he would like people to understand about his brother, and he replied that anything that needed to be said, had already been said. We are so grateful for the opportunity to talk with someone who was so close to what we were actively learning about. It helped us to understand what we were seeing and understand the sacrifices made by the families of those who have worked so hard in our history to advance science!
From the Grissom Memorial, we drove over to the Lakeview Activity Center, right on the shore of Spring Mill Lake, where there are exhibits explaining the parks flora, fauna, and landscape. The dock area on the lake was a peaceful place to spend a few minutes.
We also enjoyed a visit to Spring Mill Inn, where we looked around at the common areas, and later enjoyed a delicious buffet-style meal in the restaurant. One word of caution about the Inn…Parking is in a lower parking garage area that is tricky for larger vehicles, or on the top level which has a weight restriction, that we exceed. Neither of these options are great for our giant Ram 5500, so we had a little bit of an issue with parking for our visit.
Karst topography is the name of the game here at Spring Mill, so that meant sinkholes and caves EVERYWHERE. During the summer season, there are Twin Caves Boat Tours that go into Twin Caves, but unfortunately our visit in October meant we missed out on that. We were still able to hike down to see the entrances of the caves and where the boat tours start, though. During our visit we also saw the entrances to Hamer Cave and Bronson Cave, and were able to go a short distance inside Donaldson Cave! Unfortunately, we didn’t realize the trail we were hiking would take us to the entrance of Donaldson Cave (the only one that individuals are allowed to explore on their own without a permit), so we weren’t prepared with flashlights. Otherwise, we would have loved to do some further exploring! In addition to the caves, there are TONS of sinkholes! They don’t show up the best on camera because it is hard to get good depth perception, but take our word for it…when they say there are 100 sinkholes per square mile in the park, we believe it!
And last, but definitely not least, we visited the Pioneer Village and Grist Mill. This is a village founded in the early 1800s and the buildings contained within the village are a combination of original structures, reconstructed buildings, and period-specific buildings from other areas that were moved to this location. There is everything from an apothecary, to a tavern, to the original grist mill that serves as the centerpiece of the town and still grinds corn! We actually saw it working during our visit! Wandering in and around the different buildings were a highlight for us and we spent a good portion of the day looking around and learning about the way of life in the 1800s and how different it is from the lives we live today!
Spring Mill State Park has been a highlight of the different state parks we have visited in the eastern part of the United States! There is so much to see here. It just goes to show that you don’t always have to travel far from home to find interesting sights and learn new things! We definitely recommend a visit!
Until next time!
