Lake Time in Indiana

Roger here....  Beautiful Lake Cordry, located in Brown County in Southern Indiana, is a well-kept secret.  The lake is not huge, but with its various fingers and large central area, it is perfect for boating of any type.  It is surrounded by well-kept lake homes, complete with decks, landscaping, and swimming areas.  It is not an RV spot; in fact, I would be hesitant to drive our RV on the twisty, hilly, narrow roads with the one-foot drops from pavement to ditch.  The low hanging branches that at times resemble a tunnel could also be an issue. 

 HOWEVER, we are fortunate to have long-time friends, Jay and Nancy, who own a "cottage" on the lake.  The "cottage" has a three-car garage, four bedrooms, three bathrooms,  endless outdoor decking that flows down the hill to the water, complete with an enclosed boat house with a wide porch for sitting down close to the water.  It is a very nice "cottage."

We have spent many weekends with Jay and Nancy at the lake over the years.  We watched their kids, and ours,  grow up there -- lots of skiing, swimming,  card playing,  and good eating over the years.  When Jay and Nancy invited us down for the weekend, we jumped at the chance.

We alway enjoy sitting by the water, sometimes reading, but often just watching the water.  Dianne here:  When you've been friends for 40+ years, there's no strain to have to make small talk.  The four of us can sit very contentedly together, reading, Sudoku (Nancy taught me how several years ago), catching up on each others' kids, or just lake-watching.  It could not be any more relaxing!

A cool thing about Lake Cordry is that it is a no-wake zone until 10:00 a.m., and then again after dusk.  Only kayaks disturb the calm -- extremely clear -- water.  The deck is a very quiet and peaceful setting for lunch and dinner.  Each morning we enjoyed  coffee and breakfast, even the Sunday paper, on the porch of the boat house, down by the water. 

 Jay and Nancy have taught us everything we know about wine, so each evening we enjoyed watching the sunsets and having wine and snacks on the deck. 


 At 10:00 a.m. the atmosphere shifts to a frenetic pace - an endless parade of skis, wakeboards, speed boats, pontoon boats, and tubers.

But, sitting is far from the only pursuit that we enjoyed.  This weekend we took a long walk across the dam and along the southern, cottage-filled shore.  We took several trips in Jay's newest toy, a beautiful pontoon boat to complement the latest in a series of ski boats.  I don't know if it is because we are older, or because the lounging features of the pontoon boat are so enticing, but we decided that we now prefer the pace of the pontoon boat to  the speed of the ski boat.  

We always eat well at Lake Cordry - lots of colorful fruit and healthy food (at least this time) to go along with an endless supply of snacks.  (We decided to go with leftovers for our last lunch together.  Check it out; with leftovers like this, who needs to cook??)

  We always spend a lot of time floating and swimming in the clear water.

From my perspective, there were two highlights from this particular weekend.  I GOT TO GO TUBING!  I haven't done this for a long time.  It was just as much fun as I remembered, and my sixty-year-old bones held up well.  Another plus was that I was not thrown from the tube in the choppy water around the point -- bounced around a lot, but not ejected.  Being thrown from the tube is considered a sign of weakness in the Lake Cordry community.

The other highlight was the restful evening time sitting on the porch of the boat house by the water, as we watched a distant thunderstorm pass.  Quite a light show!  The lightning was far enough away for us to be safe (30 miles or so), but the display was spectacular.  We were so mesmerized by nature's fireworks that we dug out the camera to capture some of it.  (Dianne again:  I'd never seen a lightning display like this one, and neither had the rest of us.  It went on for over an hour and a half.  We didn't capture the biggest lightning displays, only a small snippet.  Some were like giant spider webs all across the sky, lighting up the entire sky!  To see a small snippet of the hour+ show we enjoyed, click on the movie above.  (Ignore the background chitchat; Roger told us all to be quiet, but no one listened to him as usual!)