After the essential cups of coffee, Stephen and I set out for a day trip with his parents on Saturday morning. What a beautiful day! We drove up north to a rock quarry that was having an “open quarry” for its employees and the public. Stephen’s dad works for the company, Irving Materials, Inc., as their network administrator, so he knew some of the employees. We ate barbecue sandwiches under a big outdoor tent and then piled into a van for a tour down in the quarry. In this quarry they mine limestone for gravel and concrete. It was 270 feet deep. Although the tour was short, it was neat to see the equipment in action, including some gigantic loaders and trucks.

When the tour was over, we decided that the day was too pretty to head straight home. So, we drove to Bern, IN where Stephen lived for a couple summers when he worked in the engineering department at RedGold, a tomato packing plant. Bern is a quaint mixture of Swiss heritage and Amish culture. In Amishville we browsed the gift shop, visited the barnyard animals, and drove amongst the horse drawn carriages.

On our way back home, we stopped off for some ice cream cones to make the day complete. Indiana is such a great place to be in the fall!