Spring Break Trip - Day 3

[woke up at 0630, got ready and then tried to wake the kids (it wasn't easy!) - picked up breakfast at McDonalds in Mishawaka (0905) - drove over to the Notre Dame campus and had a hard time parking (lots of other visitors, I guess) - ended up parking in a two hour spot at Eddy Street Commons - after a brisk walk, we arrived at the Main Building for orientation at 1000 - it was only then that I realized I'd actually made a reservation for the following day... - no worries, we still had a seat and the kids got a lot out of the introduction to the campus - I was one of only two alumni in the room (surprised...) - afterwards, I went with Mollie to move the car and the girls took a tour of campus - Mollie and I waited on bench in the warm Spring sun (finally!) - a squirrel boldly joined us on our bench and Mollie got some good pictures - when the kids returned, we moved the car one more time (to the Hammes Bookstore parking lot - we then walked over South Dining Hall for lunch (1300) -things were sure different from when I was there (food was actually good)! - the kids liked the chocolate milk, dispensed from the big metal box - we visited the Bookstore after eating and even checked in at the Alumni Office - got back in our car and headed back to the hotel so the Twins could do some homework - Mollie and I decided to head south to visit Potato Creek State Park - used Main Street through Mishawaka and got a tank of gas at 7-Eleven in Mishwaka (1545) - drove on (the apparently improved) US-31 until we arrived at IN-4 - the park was free (I guess it was the right time of day, fortunately) so we enjoyed a few hours hours of hiking (1600-1800) on the trails - it brought back memories from many years ago... - there was lots of prairie wetlands reclamation (including some evidence of ospreys) - frogs were really loud! - when we were done, we drove back to Mishawaka to get the Twins - ate dinner at Brunos Pizza in Mishawaka (1740) - food was good and brought back more memories from my time at ND - we went back to the room and the kids watched TV for several hours while I read my book - we packed up so we could depart in the morning - bed late]