Covered Bridge Festival

There's only a couple more days to attend the Covered Bridge Fest in Parke County.
This something we do nearly every year.
My parents started going when I was young & now James & I carry on the tradition.
We'd go just the two of us, years ago, when the boys were too small too enjoy it.
We'd get some of their Christmas gifts {guitars, cowboy hats} while they weren't with us.
Once they got bigger, they had lots of fun going, but now that they are working,
schedules are harder to get lined up.
But it's always a good time, no matter what.

In case you aren't familiar with the Covered Bridge Fest, here's a link where you can read all about it.

In addition to being picturesque, Parke County, is the covered bridge capital of the world,
& boy do they know how to put on a festival.
It's in its 57th year & reigns as Indiana's largest,
running for 10 days with a vendor for almost everything imaginable.
Course there's food booths galore & I'd say as many folks go to eat as to shop.

The yard sales & barn sales on all roads leading to Rockville & Mansfield are plenteous
& you could spend a whole day {or more} just stopping & browsing all the antiques & collectibles {junk}.

For whatever reason, I didn't think to bring my camera, but James snapped a few shots.
Here we are at Mansfield ... it was a perfect weather day.

We've been when it's super chilly ...
even buying scarves & gloves after we got there cause we were freezing after a while!
This day was perfect -- 68 & sunny.

For as many years as we've gone, we usually only go to Mansfield.
It's plenty & takes the whole day, as it is.
While we were sitting taking a rest break, a lady sat down beside us
& she asked if we every went into Rockville.
We told her that we have, but there's not much there so we generally skip it.
She said her favorite stop was in Bridgeton, which we'd never even heard of.
After hearing all about it, we decided to cut our time at Mansfield short & head to Bridgeton
for a new experience.
And we are SO glad we did!!
It totally reminded us of how Mansfield used to be before it got so big.
I think it's our new fave.

Here are a few pics from Bridgeton.

There seemed to be a lot more antiques & handmade craft items, which we really like.

After we left Bridgeton, we attempted to find an Amish dry goods store in Rockville.
It turned out to be a dirt road adventure extraordinaire!
After stopping at 2 Amish home, one with a greenhouse & bakery & another with a huge pumpkin stand,
we got better directions & finally arrived at the store -- only to find a handwritten sign that said,
"closed today".
We had to laugh but were sad it wasn't open ... it looked like a nice store too.

The unexpected find was this covered bridge out in the middle of the country on a dirt road.
Isn't it pretty?

As we drove across,  James took some shots.

To finish off the day, we stopped for dinner in Avon & tried a new restaurant called Charbono's.
Well, the restaurant isn't new, we just hadn't eaten there before.
James had mahi mahi & shrimp & I had a margarita pizza.

It was really good & I'm sure we'll go again.
This is me with my wind-blown & sun burnt nose look ;)

So hopefully you'll get a chance to go on over & make a fun day of it =)
If not this year, plan to go next.
You'll enjoy it.
 

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