Tuesday, July 1, 2008

A Day at Brookville Lake

It’s not very often that my wife Amanda and I get a day off together, so when it does happen, we’ll usually try to plan something relatively big or at least go out for a couple hours.  On a hot summer day this past June we were allotted that very opportunity to spend a day however we pleased.  Would we walk around a mall and eat ice cream?  Maybe go see a movie at the local theater?  Nope!  Amanda suggested we trek to Brookville, Indiana, a place close to her heart in regards to nostalgia as she’d spent time camping there as a kid with family.  So, that sets the scene, innocent enough, right?  Well, read on, as this wasn’t any ordinary day!


Is this an innocuous start to our journey, or, the entrance to our impending doom?  I wasn’t so sure.  My horror movie riddled brain began calling up images of The Blair Witch Project as we begin our hike.


Early on we were presented with our first option but choose to bypass the easier Wildlife Wander Trail for a more adventurous route.


You can start making Friday the 13th references at your leisure.  This portion of the path is comparatively clear; later on we’d be pushing our way through thick brush, spider webs, and feeling like true adventures.


We thought about turning back several times but preserved, finally stumbling upon a creek.  The trail had been pretty extreme so we considered crossing the creek as on the other side was one of the park’s paved roads which we assumed would be an easier route.


It was so cold!  But wow, what an exhilarating moment, as I opted to cross barefoot and carefully made my way across the rushing, freezing water and over the slippery smooth rocks.


We were pretty content and happy about ourselves after that perilous journey.  We stopped momentarily to reflect, relax, and snap a couple pictures in our premature celebration.


But we were totally wrong about discovering an easier route!  The road we imagined to be our salvation ended up being a gigantic hill.  The picture doesn’t do it justice, not because it’s still somewhat blurry even after digital correction, but because it was snapped not even halfway up the beast so it doesn’t even begin to display the grueling uphill walk we barely survived.  Once we got to the top we still had a ways to go before making it back to Amanda’s car.  She drove us to a little supplies shack she remembered getting candy at as a kid so we could score some drinks.  While she was purchasing our liquid relief I stumbled upon something that cemented this day as being truly epic…


Freddy’s A Nightmare on Elm Street Pinball?  Holy shit!


Released in 1991 by Gottlieb (sounds like the last name of a Wisconsin prostitute) this seriously deranged pinball game is the holy grail of Freddy fandom.  Just look at it!  While you’re trying to play Freddy’s head is staring at you menacingly and Krueger’s talking shit to you continuously while you try to keep your ball alive.  I’d easily trade a limb to have one of these machines in my own future house.



After our long journey and my run-in with Freddy we sat outside and cooled down with some drinks.  I opted to try the pomegranate and blackberry variety of the new Dasani Plus Cleanse + Restore Vitamin Enriched Flavored Water Beverage and decided to randomly shoot a bonus video review in true Review the World fashion.


In the end it was a great day.  We went to the lake the park’s named after and swam in the murky water.  After spending so much time at work, which is indoors at a mall, shut off from the world, and cooped up in our apartment watching DVDs and playing board games (I’m currently the resident Parcheesi champion) it’s really nice to get outside under the sun.  I recommend every one take at least a couple adventures themselves this summer.  Just keep your eyes out for Freddy!

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