Hoosier Outdoor Experience

I had seen advertised on the news "The Hoosier Outdoor Experience." I looked it up online and thought it would be something fun for us to do as a family. We were up early and headed out to Fort Harrison State Park which is about 20 minutes away. We have gone here before to ride bikes, hike around, and sled (they have an awesome sledding hill). This time we couldn't park in the park due to the amount of traffic expected so we parked across the street and got to ride a tour bus into the park. I knew there were going to be lots of activities to participate in but I wasn't sure how "fun" it would be so we were all heading in with low expectations. Although the kids really wanted to ride horses, which did not end up happening. So we got off the bus and headed over to the information pavilion. We got our map and our first stop was the blow up cave, designed to give participants an idea of what caving is like. I think the best part was getting to wear the head lamps.


Next we headed over to a mountain biking course. The people there were convinced Alexa was meant to be a trail rider. She was a little less convinced but by the 3rd time around the course she decided to try some of the fun "tricks." Dayton and Mackenzie were on bikes that were a little big for them and that made them a little less confident to ride over the obstacles.





Next we headed over to the kayak, canoe experience. We were able to take a trip down fall creek in canoes. Kayaks were available but each person would have to be in one alone or with one other person. That just didn't work out for our numbers but Mackenzie had fun sitting in the kayak before we headed over to the creek. Dayton and I rode with our guide and Mackenzie, Nathan and Alexa were in their own canoe. It was quite the adventure. This was Nathan's favorite part of the day.

After our canoe ride we were all pretty hungry so we went to the tent set up for smore, and gorp making. Gorp is a term I grew up with. Every time we would take along road trip we had gorp. It is very much like trail mix. At this tent we were able to combine Cheerios, peanuts, peanut butter chocolate chips, and yogurt covered raisins. YUM! We also made smores. Perfect to keep us going. Fort Harrison is quite a large park so to make travel from one experience to another a little easier the organizers provided a type of shuttle service. Large benches placed back to back with a cover pulled by tractors. We were told they were borrowed from the state fair. We would finish at one place, hop on our ride and head on over to the next experience.

Which for us was now shot gun shooting and archery.



Yep, we all shot some guns and learned the proper way to aim and shoot a bow and arrow. For the kids and I, this was a first.


I have to brag....On the first pull of the orange disc at the shooting range, I hit it! Smashed it to smithereens, amazing. But that was the only one I did hit. My shoulder was a little sore after but that was because I wasn't holding the gun right the whole time.

Dayton shot a beaver in the eye with an arrow. He was pretty excited about that. It took me a little longer than I thought it would be figure out how to hold the bow and arrow, I'm a slow learner. Alexa and Mackenzie were awesome with the guns and the arrows. I'm convinced we can move to the wilderness and survive with the skills my kids have.

Our final experience for the day found us riding ATVs. What a blast! Dayton and Mackenzie were able to ride the bikes with training wheels and it is a lot harder than it looks but both had a good time. Alexa was a little bummed that she was too big to ride so she and I headed over to the line for a side by side ride. Once our goggles and helmets were one we buckled up and into the ATV and headed out for a super fun, bumpy, dirty experience. It was so fun. Alexa got to ride twice and the rest of the family had a turn as well. As I got out my driver said we should get one of these...only problem, we have 5 people in our family and the ATV only holds 2. Maybe once our kids leave home Nathan and I can start a new hobby.



I think it is safe to say we all had a great time and got to experience so many different things all in one day. We had great weather, great company and lots of fun things to do. I understand the experience will be coming back. When it does it will be on our calendar, for sure.