Indiana Dunes
Mount Baldy Beach
Indiana Dunes
As most of you know, we are on a quest to hit all 63 National Parks. Indiana Dunes is our 19th. The park sits on the shore of beautiful Lake Michigan and became a National Park in 1966 after being delayed for over 50 years. (Thank you, President Kennedy and Senator Douglas for making it a reality) Today, the park includes over 15,000 acres of protected land and shoreline. We were surprised by the wide range of landscapes that make up the park…dunes, of course, but also woodlands, prairies, wetlands, and marshes! Lake Michigan feels like an ocean, not a freshwater lake, as you will see from some of our images. The lake is the second largest body of fresh water in the United States (after Lake Superior). While the sheer size of the lake was impressive, we were most impressed by the beautiful array of blues that the water displayed. We spent our first day hiking the impressive sand dunes and covered over seven miles doing so. We had to stop a few times to shake out all the sand we had acquired in our hiking boots. The next day, we continued exploring other unique places that make up the dunes. One absolute must for Christina was the 1933 World’s Fair Century of Progress Homes. These 5 houses were built to demonstrate new technologies, unique building materials and modern architecture. Four of the five house were so modern that we could only imagine the conversations people of the 30’s must have had as they toured the homes. The houses are currently leased by individual families, so, unfortunately, we couldn’t tour them. From what we understand, as a condition of their lease, they must open the homes once a year for public viewing. We also stopped at a 19th-century Swedish farmstead and the Bally Trading post and homestead, and learned a little bit of what it was like back in the 1800’s in rural Indiana. We enjoyed our time at the Indiana Dunes and think we timed it perfectly as we learned from some locals’ that cars can be lined up for miles in the summer to get into the park. Makes sense when you learn they have 3 million visitors annually.
