Favorite Indiana photos by Tom Dempsey include: Parke County, the "covered bridge capital of the world" (Burr Arch Truss, Mecca, Narrows, and Bridgeton Covered Bridges, Turkey Run State Park); beautiful Cataract Falls State Recreation Area & its 1876 Covered Bridge; Indianapolis Zoo animals & Dolphin Pavilion.

Historic Parke County (in Indiana) is the "covered bridge capital of the world." Tom Dempsey's Parke County photos include: - Various covered bridges: Bridgeton, Crooks, McAllister's, Neet, Thorpe Ford, Roseville, Mecca, Narrows, and Cox Ford. - Bridgeton Historic District: a) Bridgeton Mill & Covered Bridge, b) Case 1822 log cabin (oldest building in Parke County). - 1841 Lusk Home, in Turkey Run State Park. - Parke County Courthouse in Rockville, during daytime and sunset.

Explore fascinating Turkey Run State Park in historic Parke County, Indiana, USA. Photos by Tom Dempsey include: - Bear Hollow Canyon: is surprisingly scenic and narrow (almost like a slot). Rocky Hollow Falls Canyon Nature Preserve is a National Park Service Registered Natural Landmark. Fun trails include boardwalks, stairs and ladders. - Sugar Creek Suspension Bridge. - Cox Ford Covered Bridge, built in 1913 over Sugar Creek. - The historic Lusk Home, built in Federal and Greek Revival style starting in 1841.

The attractive Cataract Falls State Recreation Area features Indiana's largest-volume waterfall, located an hour southwest of Indianapolis, near Cloverdale, Indiana, USA. Bright autumn foliage colors glowed for Tom Dempsey's photos below captured on October 21, 2015. - Altogether, Cataract Falls drop a total of 86 feet including intermediate cascades. Mill Creek plunges 20 feet in the set of Upper Falls and a half a mile downstream the Lower Falls drops 18 feet. The park's limestone outcroppings formed millions of years ago when the region was covered by a large shallow ocean. - The 148-foot wooden Cataract Falls Covered Bridge was built in 1876 at the Upper Falls of Mill Creek (formerly known as Eel River) and was open to automobile traffic until 1988. The bridge now serves pedestrians and was extensively repaired starting in 2000. It is the only remaining covered bridge in Owen County.

The Indianapolis Zoo (Indiana) is well worth a visit. Photos below by Tom Dempsey include: - Inside the Dolphin Pavilion, admire these sea-going mammals from the intimate underwater viewing dome in the center of the main performance pool. The Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) is also known as the Common Bottlenose Dolphin. - East African Crowned Crane (or Crested Crane, Balearica regulorum gibbericeps) - Chilean flamingo (Phoenicopterus chilensis) - Marabou Stork (Leptoptilos crumeniferus) - Addra Gazelle (Nanger dama), the world's rarest gazelle - White rhinoceros or square-lipped rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum)

From October 6-14, 2016, a trip visiting Carol's mother in Indianapolis allowed two photo excursions: - Saturday Oct 8: We enjoyed a day at Conner Prairie Interactive History Park in Fishers, Indiana. Conner Prairie provides fascinating family-friendly fun for all ages. Founded by pharmaceutical executive Eli Lilly in the 1930s, Conner Prairie living history museum recreates life in Indiana in the 1800s on the White River and preserves the William Conner home (listed on the National Register of Historic Places). - Oct 9-11: In search of the closest early fall colors, we drove from Indianapolis 5.5 hours north to Cadillac in central Michigan. In William Mitchell State Park, we walked the pleasant 2.5-mile Heritage Nature Trail on boardwalks and packed limestone, starting from Carl T. Johnson Hunting and Fishing Center, through old-growth hardwood forest then around an old dike system which retains rich wetlands with a smattering of red and orange fall colors backlit near sunset. But despite mostly sunny weather on October 10-11 we were underwhelmed by the early-fall scenery after driving all four routes of the Cadillac Area Visitors' Bureau fall color route map through Huron-Manistee National Forest. Instead, the intense crimson sunset colors reflecting in Lake Mitchell were the highlight of our week. Experiencing the delicate sights, sounds and smells of nature on foot and up close always beats the monotonous, insular cocoon of a car. An 8-mile walk or bike ride around Lake Cadillac would also have been nice before sunset or at sunrise, but windy weather chased us away.

Conner Prairie Interactive History Park provides family-friendly fun for all ages in Fishers, Indiana, USA. Founded by pharmaceutical executive Eli Lilly in the 1930s, Conner Prairie living history museum now recreates life in Indiana in the 1800s on the White River. Built in 1823 from bricks made and fired on site, the preserved Federal-style home of William Conner is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. William Conner (1777-1855) was a fur trader, farmer, land speculator, miller, merchant and politician.