Day 130 - The L in Chicago & Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, IN

Lee couldn't let us leave Chicago without a ride on the L (elevated train) so the first thing we did this morning was walk back downtown and jump on the L. We only rode it for a couple of stops and then back again to our starting position but it was enough of a fix for Lee's trains fascination and was actually a lot of fun.

Leaving Chicago was easier than we had expected. We left the hotel car park and jumped straight onto a road that took us all the way to the interstate with very minimal traffic. Our plan today was to head towards Dearborn, Michigan via the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore in Indiana.

The journey from Illinois to Indiana was fairly uneventful apart from seeing a man hanging off the side of a car transporter checking it could fit under a bridge, not the sort of job I would ever want to do! Out of Chicago, we saw the Chicago White Socks stadium, a train that runs down the middle of a highway between the traffic, some cool bridges and a couple of very expensive toll roads. 

Not far over the border of Indiana, we picked up Highway 12, a scenic road that runs through the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. We were surprised to start with that this scenic road was not very scenic. We couldn't see the lakeshore or sand dunes but we did go through large factories and industrial areas. Confused, we headed to the visitors center to pick up a park map and to stamp our National Parks Passport.

We realised looking at the map that we weren't going to see much of the park from the 12 and that we needed to come off onto one of the side roads that headed towards the lakeshore. We chose one of these roads and it took us to a parking area for the Dune Ridge Trail.

Dune Ridge Trail was a very pretty trail through the forest and sand dunes. At times it felt like we were in a rain forest, especially with all the scuttling and rustling we heard as we walked along. We both convinced each other these were just lizards and nothing more sinister.

After our hike, we jumped back in the car and continued along the little spur road we had found called Lake Front Drive. I would love to spend more time exploring the great lakes, they really are huge and it is so difficult not to think of them as the sea given how big they are and that they have waves and beaches.

Along Lake Front Drive we saw some funny looking houses. An infographic told us that these are a collection of 5 houses from the 1933 Chicago Worlds Fair that were to demonstrate modern architectural design, experimental materials, and new technologies such as central air conditioning and dishwashers. They were moved to the lake shore after the Worlds Fair to entice people to buy houses here. Today they are on the National Register of Historic places but still have private owners who continue to live in them and maintain them.

Just along the road from these houses was a parking lot for a beach. We jumped out of the car to take a look and were surprised at how picturesque the beach was, we could even see Chicago in the distance.

We eventually left the beach although we both could have easily have stayed there for several hours. Our drive took us past some huge and very expensive looking houses that overlooked the lake, some of them so high up on the hill that there was a lift and pully system to get from the car to the front door. Houses eventually turned into swamp land and we knew we were getting close to our final destination in the park, Mount Baldy.

Mount Baldy is a 126 feet tall sand dune, it is the tallest sand dune in the park. Sadly due to a kid almost dying on the dune a few years ago, you can no longer climb it. Secretly I was quite relieved, it’s hard work getting up the dunes and even harder work trying to get rid of all the sand you collect in your clothes and body whilst doing so.

It was time to leave Indiana and hit the Interstate for the long drive to Dearborn, Michigan. During this drive we found that the road conditions were really poor, especially when we went over the Michigan border, lorry (truck) drivers don't understand speed limits and that for some reason there are different McDonald signs here compared to the rest of the US.

During this journey, we went over the time zone boundary from Central to Eastern. We’d lost an hour of our day but also it was a reminder that we’re close to the East Coast and the eventual end of our trip.

We arrived at our hotel for the next couple of nights in Dearborn and after a quick change of clothing, we headed out. I stayed in Dearborn with work years ago so I had to show Lee Baileys, the bar I spent a number of evenings with work colleagues letting off steam and hustling at pool. I was glad to see that they still had my favourite desert on the menu, baked cookie and vanilla ice cream. Lee of course had chicken wings!

Since I stayed in Dearborn, there has been a lot of regeneration and the main street now had a number of different bars and restaurants. On our way back to the hotel, we checked out a couple of these for research of course, just in case someone needed a recommendation in the future!