Our next adventure brought us to Indiana Dunes National Park and the city of Chicago in the early springtime. Cameron and I headed from Boston to Chicago and then made the short drive to Indiana Dunes. After our time there was finished, we met up with Cat and Collin in Chicago and had a wonderful weekend exploring the city.

Indiana Dues in northwestern Indiana was first established as Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore in 1966. It was ‘upgraded’ to full park status in February of 2019. The park has around 20 miles of coastline along Lake Michigan. At only 15,349 acres it’s not a very large park but it is easily accessible.

The area around the park is almost fully developed with both residential, commercial, and even heavy industry. On the east end of the park there is even a steel plant that interrupts the park's lakeshore, and on the far other end there is a massive coal plant where a massive dune once stood. It makes for a very different park experience, much different than those surrounded by wilderness.

Efforts to save this area started all the way back in 1899, when a movement began to preserve the dunes habitat. The sand was being trucked off to manufacture glass in such large quantities that many of the original largest dunes were lost. In 1926 the Indiana Dunes State Park was opened to the public. In the 1950s the “save the Dunes Council” was formed to prevent further development of the lakefront and dune area. In 1966 a bill passed congress and the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore was created. The park has been expanded four times in subsequent years.

We stayed in the small town of Chesterton, which was a short 15-minute drive north to the park. The area was full of restaurants and all the shops you could want. Getting into and out of the park was easy, it's a long and narrow area and easily accessible. We went in the early spring, when it was still much too cold to swim in Lake Michigan. This was to beat the crowds of people that come to the lake every summer. For the most part we had the park all to ourselves.

We spent three days exploring the area, hiking the dunes and walking around the marshes. On a clear day from the beach, you can get a nice view of the Chicago skyline. The most interesting area might have been Mount Baldy. A massive 123-foot-tall dune. It is a wandering dune that is moving an average of 4 feet per year. You can’t hike the dune itself but there are trails all around the dune to explore. Cameron has had a passion for finding sea glass for as long as I can remember. She was thrilled to discover beach glass within the park. Honestly it was likely her favorite part of this entire park!

Sadly, this may have been the least interesting park we have visited or maybe it ties with the Arch in St. Louis. In the summer the beaches create a wonderful area for locals to enjoy the beaches and water.

After our short time in the Dunes, we made the two-hour drive back to downtown Chicago, dropped off our bags and got some deep-dish pizza and then had an amazing time photographing a stunning sunset of the Chicago Skyline. The day was full of storms, and they stopped and broke just long enough to give us a crazy wonderful sky. After that we headed up to the airport to pick up Cat and Collin.

We used the City Pass to hit up all the major attractions in the city. Since everyone got in so late the first night was rather low key. The next day we started early and got into the Museum of Science and Industry just as they were opening. If you have never been here this is a can't miss stop, it's truthfully one of the most interesting places we have ever visited.

After the Science and Industry museum we headed over to the Shedd Aquarium and spent a few hours walking around there. After that we headed to the Skydeck Chicago, the top floor of the Willis Tower (Sears Tower). There are other sky decks in the city but there is something so cool about the top of the old Sears tower. Afterwards, we went to one of my favorite places to eat, The Weber Grill.

Our last day in the city we started at the Field Museum, and we saw four of the main exhibits but sadly ran short on time. You could spend an entire day walking around the Field Museum. From there it’s just a short walk up to the Adler Planetarium where we had lunch and watched one of their shows.

If you have never used it before, the City Pass really is a great way of finding and seeing all the major attractions a city has to offer. Oftentimes there are some good savings on entry as well as dedicated entry lines that can save you a ton of time.

Chicago is a city that needs more time and I look forward to dragging my entire family back out there soon.

Indiana Dues and Chicago