Our Private Retreat

Pastor Dad and I felt the need to get away for a little quiet time this weekend. That old adage "if you don't come apart you'll come apart" was ringing in our ears.

Therefore, since Pastor Dad was scheduled to preach at a friend's church in Indiana this past Sunday he decided to leave a day early and stay at the inn at Clifty Falls in Madison, Indiana. I'm so glad he invited me to go along for this day of rest. :)

There are 4 falls in Clifty Falls State Park but we saw none of them. The deep snow that blanketed our own home on the High Hill last week also hit Madison, Indiana and closed most of the roads inside the park. As much as I enjoy seeing beautiful waterfalls, it wasn't necessary in order to experience the serenity of our little private retreat. Besides, in order to see the falls one must hike great distances through rugged terrain and park signs proclaim that any limbs that fall to the ground should be left there to become part of the humus. That's fine as long as we're just talking about trees!

So instead of taking pictures of waterfalls I took pictures of the scenery as seen from inside the inn:

We did take one short hike from the inn to an observation tower less than half mile away. I took a picture of Pastor Dad standing at the top:

And he took one of me:

Near the inn we encountered another bright couple out enjoying the sunshine:

As we were leaving the park we saw "mini falls" on the cliffs over the roadway. Even though they aren't the ones for which the park is named, they presented themselves as a worthy substitute. And as such they seemed to bid us a hearty, "Thanks for coming! We hope you enjoyed your stay with us!"

We surely did!