I'm always looking for new places to take the dogs. I've seen the sign on Route 20 for the past few years but never looked it up. I just thought it was a botanical garden and dogs would not be allowed. Well, I finally looked into Brinka Cross Gardens online and dogs are allowed on a leash. This place has a great story and we finally stopped to check it out late last month.
Yeti loves a good story so here it is...Bill Brinka and Basil Cross lived on this property for more than forty years. They developed and curated four acres of gardens and 21 acres of forest on this land. Bill passed away in 2001 and Basil died in 2006. The Porter County Parks and Recreation bought the property and turned it into a public park. They are currently expanding the park with a recent acquisition of 36 acres adjacent to this park.
So here are some pictures I took while wandering on the trails of Bill & Basil's backyard.
It was a hot and humid morning and the bugs were very annoying as we walked the trails through the forest.
It's not often you find old stoves in the forest. Since I'm a history dork, I looked up Atlanta Stove Works. They made cast iron stoves for almost 100 years (1889 - 1987)
We walked along most of the intersecting loop trails through the woods.
Then we found several buildings on the property.
The gardens are all in this area near the buildings.
Late June is a bit past prime time flowering for our area, but there were some flowers to see.
I love the contrast of light in the reflection.
We walked through and around the gardens. I took pictures of plants that looked interesting to me.
I took Yeti into the Hostas Garden.
The path is a bit overgrown in some areas and Yeti stopped until I led the way.
After a little research, I found out that hostas do flower.
He loves standing up to get a better view.
I love the flowers and the giant leaves on these plants.
There are a wide variety of shapes and colors on the leaves.
You have to pass through a little enclosed porch to enter the hostas garden.
You know I love informative signs.
This is an incredible place to visit, I would love to have lived here.
I've been trying to make the best of our strange year. I also try to document as much as I can because we are living in historic times just like 102 years ago...without a World War occurring...at least for now, let's hope it stays that way.
Again with the signs, I think it is interesting which groups join together to protect places like Brink Cross Gardens.
Since we were only a few minutes away from Lake Michigan, we stopped for a quick swim at Kemil Beach. I love the sky in this picture and Nola dropping a duece makes it even better.
The girls in the lake.
Yeti waiting for me to put my camera in my backpack.
Beach scenery with a great sky.
A wet and cool dog.
Christy made daiquiris with strawberries from our garden. It was tasty on a 95 degree day.
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