Ohio Trip 2019: Part 5 - Indiana Tiny House

After spending several days in Ohio visiting relatives, we started heading back to Colorado. Our first stop on the way back was Bloomington, Indiana. Our AirBnb reservations were for two nights in a tiny house in Bloomington. During the day we explored the nearby Brown County State Park.

A tiny house sounded intriguing after watching all those YouTube videos about them. They are quite small, but livable, not that we are planning on moving into one any time soon. The tiny house we stayed in was very cute. It was parked next to another tiny house behind a small house in a neighborhood not far from Indiana University campus. The one we stayed in did not have water hooked up to it, but there was a water cooler set up in the kitchen area and a composting toilet. The back door to the small house was left open so that we could use the bathroom and shower in the house if we wanted. We assumed that the owners of the tiny house lived in the small house, but we did not meet them. Right Buddy (RB) used the bathroom in the small house once, but Left Buddy (LB) only used the composting toilet in the tiny house. From what RB could tell, it looked like the small house was also used as a small dance studio and a music studio.

It was a great adventure staying in the tiny house and was comfortable for the most part. If we were to live there, we would have changed a couple of things, besides hooking up to water. The tiny house looked like it was doing double duty as a sewing room. There was a really long desk with shelves above it containing all kinds of sewing supplies. The wall opposite the desk was covered with balls of yarn. The long desk was great for setting up a laptop and spreading out work. There was plenty of room for both of us to work side by side, but there was only one chair, so one of us worked from our laps on the small couch. The long desk meant that there was less counter top in the kitchen. Besides the sink with the water cooler, there was just enough counter top space left for our Instant Pot. That made for some interesting and creative ways to figure out how to prep food which involved using the sink and balancing a cutting board on what little counter top space there was left. But we made it work. Or should we say RB made it work while LB was enjoying the large desk! The other time that lack of space seemed to be an issue was in the tiny bathroom where the composting toilet was. The bathroom was so narrow that we bumped our shoulders on the corner of the shelves on the wall every time. Removing those shelves would have solved that issue. It was also our first time using a composting toilet and the instructions provided were simple and easy to follow. RB would have liked a few more coverings on the windows as many of them did not have curtains and the ones that did were not that well covered, but she did manage to find the right spot inside the tiny house, out of view, to change her clothes. The only other issue was the mattress for the bed in the loft. LB didn’t mind it, but RB did not find it very comfortable. However, once she put her Neolite sleeping pad on top of it, she was fine. When we first climbed up to the bed loft, it was a little warm, but opening some of the high windows created a very pleasant and comfortable cross breeze. We also enjoyed listening to the birds in the morning.

Originally we had planned to hike one of the trails in Brown County State Park. However, we were both having issues with our feet, so we mainly drove around the whole park and got out every now and then to walk around. Brown County is the largest state park in Indiana. It is mostly wooded with a couple of lakes, campgrounds, a lodge, cabins, saddle barn, look out towers and nature center. So there was plenty to drive around and see to keep us busy for most of the day. The trails were set up with three distinct areas, one for hiking, one for horseback riding and one for mountain biking, which we thought was a nice touch to make each type of activity more enjoyable. We’ll have to come back sometime to try out some of the hiking trails. We had a wonderful picnic lunch at Strahl Lake where we could watch and listen to the waterfall while we ate. The windows of the lookout towers framed the panoramic views of the surrounding woods. Our drive included a quick stop at the nature center where we watched the birds through the glass come to the feeders behind the center. A climb to the top of the fire tower near the park office revealed that the enclosed platform at the top of the fire tower is not open to the public or at least not open for us that day, so we had to take in the views from the steep stairs just below the top platform. A variety of wild flowers were in bloom along with the bright blossoms of the redbud trees to provide splashes of color despite the lack of leaves on the trees. We could only imagine how spectacular the park must look after the leaves come out on all the trees and even more spectacular in the fall when the leaves take on their autumn colors.

Since we did not go on a hike, we had plenty of time to drive over to the small town near the park, Nashville, Indiana. RB’s parents are Indiana University alumni and her father was just recently fondly reminiscing about going to the woods in Brown County as a student and visiting Nashville where the residents sold all kinds of goods to tourists from their houses. To us, it seems that not much has changed. Nashville is filled with shops for tourists, with the goods of some of the shops spilling out of the old houses meant to contain them. The shops along the main street are  interspersed with some restaurants, breweries, hotels and ice cream shops. A few of the buildings look more modern, but many of them look like they have been around since when RB’s parents roamed Nashville’s streets so long ago. In any case, the town provided an interesting stroll, taking in all the character, exploring what was around the next corner.

(RB)