Every summer, my family spends many weekends in Winamac, Indiana on the Tippecanoe River. Our cabins have been in my husband's family a long time, so they are old and musty, but they provide a fun time on the river. (yes, that's me sticking out my tongue at the camera)

We have camp fires every night, take boat rides up-river, go tubing in large groups with our cooler and drinks, fish and generally relax. .
Every year we find a good sandbar to chill out on while the kids paddle and wade in the water. Usually it is clear unless there have been a lot of rains. Once, some friends, all juiced up with beer, decided to try a new sport: sand bar surfing.

There happens to be a canoe rental place nearby called, appropriately, Riverside Rentals. Under new management, they have bought canoes, purchased intertubes for floating, built a new observation cabin and have rolled in the dough, I am sure.

I actually met one of the owners and her sister one afternoon when they came down our driveway and began getting into tubes. Turns out that my husband's uncle, who owns the house next door, had met them previously and offered them river-bank rights (the river goes around the town park in a horseshoe with us on one side and the canoe rental place on the other, so if you get in the water at our place, you can float around the large park and back to Riverside Rentals).

Tippecanoe State Park is nearby, offering picnicking, bridle trails, camping, cross-country skiing (in season), hiking trails, you name it...

Bass Lake is also on a few minutes away. Bass Lake State Beach is just a stretch of sand, but offers shallow swimming, a boat launch, picnic tables, ice fishing (in season) and camping.

Hubby takes me to dinner at Bass Lake occasionally. Only a couple of restaurants/bars, but good food with good views. The lake is rather round and surrounded by private vacation homes for the most part. I wouldn't mind having a cottage there with a dock for my jet ski and a campfire ring with some canvas chairs to relax in.

There's also a drive-in theater, called The Melody.


Of course, we frequent the Isis theater in Winamac, which only has one screen, but shows current movies for a low price.

And if you are there the 4th of July weekend, you can catch the Pulaski County Fair which showcases 4-H clubs from all over the county, there's a pagent and food and carnival rides.

Anyway, if you are ever in north-central Indiana, just drive out into the middle of nowhere to Winamac and have some summer fun! Maybe I'll run into ya' and give you a howdy!

If you are on I-65, get off on Hwy 14 (not sure which exit - around 70 miles south of Chicago) and take it all the way east into Winamac.