Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
11
Side Trips from Chicago
E
ven with all that the city proper has
to offer, if you're in town for more than
a few days (or if you're staying with
friends or relatives in the suburbs), you
might want to venture beyond the city
limits and check out some of the sights
in the surrounding areas.
1 Indiana Dunes State Park
53 miles SE of Chicago (in Indiana)
This all-ages destination is my favorite for escaping to the great outdoors. The
scenery, with dunes and grasses fronting the lake, is reminiscent of Cape Cod.
Sending your kids running up, down, and around the dunes is a great way to
burn off some energy, and tiring your kids out usually makes for a nice, quiet
car ride back to the city!
ESSENTIALS
To get to the dunes, you'll need to drive. Take I-94 East to Ind. 49 North (east
of Porter). Follow Ind. 49 north to Route 12. Travel east on Route 12 for 3 miles
to the Dorothy Buell Memorial Visitor Center, which offers restrooms and a gift
shop with postcards, posters, and slides.
SEEING THE DUNES
You probably don't associate the words “sand dunes” with the Midwest, but a
trip to Indiana Dunes State Park might change that. At the base of Lake Michi-
gan, near Chesterton, Indiana, you'll find 15 miles of dunes so big you can't see
over them; 3 miles of the dunes line sandy beaches. You can visit maple and oak
forests, miles of sand piles covered with vegetation, marshes, and bogs, all in one
state park. Plenty of well-marked trails help you explore.
Stop at the visitor center for a free map and a 10-minute slide show that will
orient you. You might check out Cowles Bog, filled with ponds, wetlands, and
marshes, plus delicate vegetation such as orchids, and not-so-delicate vegetation
such as Venus' flytraps. West Beach offers a 3-mile trail that passes through a
prairie zone, a conifer zone, and an oak forest-deciduous zone, and ends at a
beach. If it's beachgoing that you're focused on, check out Kemil Beach, a long
stretch of beautiful white sand. Finally, Mount Baldy is the largest “living” sand
dune in the park, so named for the mounds of sand that are active in the wind.
1600 N. 25E, Chesterton, Indiana.
&
219/926-1952.
Free admission. Nature center summer daily 10am-4pm;
beaches summer daily 11am-6pm. To park, you'll find some free lots, but some summer lots require payment.
WHERE TO EAT
There are no restaurants here, so bring a picnic. You'll find plenty of picnic areas
in the park, some with barbecue pits. If you're staying in downtown Chicago,
good places to pick up sandwiches and drinks are Corner Bakery (p. 122) or
Potbelly Sandwich Works (p. 113).
