Fall Activities

Bruce fell in love with Conner Prairie when he chaperoned Michael's 5th grade class a few years ago. He still talks about sleeping in the barn and getting a couple of boys literally out of their beds in the morning. Since then it seems we have made at least one trip to the Living History Museum every year.
So it was no surprise yesterday when he suggested we go.
The weather was gorgeous.
We had to renew out membership and this gave us the opportunity to spend the afternoon with James and Bethany. They were going to have their Headless Horseman Hayride in the evening and we stuck around for the ride and upgraded our membership to allow 2 youths and 2 adult guests to come along.
Since the Museum closes at 5pm and the activity didn't start until 6pm, Bethany and I went to McDonald's to pick up something to eat while James and Bruce lined up on the "members" side.
There were three lines and when they finally let people in we were given Hayride tickets for the 6:30pm ride. It was still light outside. We waited for about 30 minutes before they led us to the "loading dock". Two tractor-pulled double-wagons filled with straw were waiting there with movable steps in front to help the riders climb in. Good thing because Bruce was struggling a bit with his bum knee and was using his cane more than usual.
As we were winding through the wooded areas we noticed two horses carrying tall figures hovering around the big farm, and Bruce even saw one going after the first party some way ahead of us. All along the paths, there were spooks. A never to be forgotten one was the skeleton sitting on the pot in an outhouse... Bruce said he had a smile on his face... I only noticed that 'he' was reading the paper!!!
They also had Ichabod Crane's grave along the road...
That's what Grandpa Brindle nicknamed James when he was a little baby... Why? Who knows??? I had never heard of Ichabod Crane until then. A few years later the Disney Channel began broadcasting and it was then that I discovered the story of Ichabod Crane, the teacher who was chased by the Headless Horseman in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow".
Disney's character was tall and skinny, huge nose and ears... NO resemblance to our James, that's for sure!!!...
I found an excerpt on YouTube (part 1 of 6)
Anyway, the rider came after us twice during the hayride and chased us up to the covered bridge, waving his sword.
It was about 15 minutes long and we got back to the starting point where we disembarked.
I think it would have been more fun and more spooky had it been darker...
We made our way through the 'midway'. Bruce bought a cup of spiced apple cider and we went home. The wind was too strong for a lift in the air-balloon but maybe next week they will let it go up.
People were eating popcorn, caramel apples, tents with Halloween themes...
We have plans to go back next week-end with Mike and Mitchell and James and Bethany too.
This goes on for another 2 weeks so we might even be able to take Jon and Sarah, depending on whether Sarah has to work or not. We'll try getting a later ride...

I love Fall. The leaves have begun turning colors: a gorgeous display!
I wish it could be Fall all year long!!!

Run-Away Slaves...

I can't believe it's November already!
Where has the year gone by?
It's been a while since I have been on here... Not that I didn't have anything to share... not by far... We are just too busy!!!
Our latest outing was educational, as we took Michael and his pal Mitchell to Conner's Prairie to participate in "Follow the North Star" event. They offer this activity twice a year in May and November.
I didn't participate but happily volunteered Bruce to accompany the boys as they needed adult supervision and a Mom tag-along didn't sound quite right for these two teens.
A waiver had to be signed before participation was allowed and I must say it had our imaginations soaring... Would there be dogs, would they do anything realistically to have happened to caught run-away slaves?
OOOPs.. I didn't tell you what this activity was about but maybe you have guessed from what I just said. The purpose of this program is to sensitize the participants to being helped to run away on the Underground Railroad.
It was supposed to last 90 minutes but even though their session started at 6:45pm they didn't return until almost 9pm.
Groups of 20 people are taken through the experience every 15 minutes.
No cell phones or cameras allowed, no running, no gum either...
The bottom line was to cooperate and Bruce was not about to play his part. Mitchell got them into trouble by saying they were run-aways and that cost them all three to have to lay down flat on the ground face down... But the boys played along much more easily.
After their orientation, they were taken to be sold at Liberty Corner or somewhere on the grounds, then they were moved around the grounds, meeting different types of people who helped or not. Before leaving they went through a sort of debriefing where they were explained how out of the 20 people in their group, maybe 3 would have made it to freedom.
Some would have been killed, others, injured, some others retaken and who knows what fate would have awaited them then!?
The three of them will surely remember the experience a long time that's for sure.
While I was waiting the guide who got the tour started shared some thoughts about a book she read about a woman who had a baby with her when she escaped on the real Underground Railroad and how the baby started crying and because she could not let the baby cause the group to be caught, she had to smother the little one... Can you just imagine!? "Beloved" is the name of the book but I can't recall who wrote it.
I saw a wonderful movie recently that falls into the subject of this post: "Amazing Grace" - the story of how the slave trade was dismantled in England. A wonderful true story...
Since there were no cameras allowed, I can't share any pictures with you, at least not pictures taken November 5th. But we have been to Conner's Prairie several times this year as we decide to purchase a membership. We went to Country Fair and plan to go again for the Civil War Days in May. I feel like I'm rambling tonight... maybe because it's been so long and thoughts are jumbled up in my head. Maybe this will peak your curiosity and if you live in Indiana, you will want to know more... This would make an excellent Young Men/Young Women activity. In fact there was a group of old Mennonites who went with a later group. They looked the part that's for sure... How lucky they all were that the weather was nice, and that it had been for several days... I can't imagine the boys (and Bruce especially!) putting their nose on the wet ground...
But let's face it, reality would not likely have been stopped by the weather... snow maybe... maybe not... Memorable evening though...