Beth and Ernie’s great escapade rolled into Indiana Dunes National Park for a two night stay in our 32nd National Park. Where has the time gone? After this stop, we will have only 3 more parks to see before arriving home to Nags Head.
Our campground was inside the park and we arrived in the early afternoon to set up our traveling home. We were both excited because this campground offered running water, flush toilets, and hot SHOWERS. What more could a weary traveler ask for?
We came into Indiana Dunes with no real expectations since we knew little about the park before our arrival. We were expecting sand dunes based on the parks name, but other than that, we really didn’t know what the park had to offer. We found out that the biggest draw is Lake Michigan. While there are a number of hikes to take, they all seem to head to the lake.
We hiked several trails that included the word “dunes” in the trail name, but we were surprised that the dunes were not what we have come to know of dunes from our time in Nags Head, or at Great Sand Dunes, which we had visited earlier in the trip. At both Nags Head and Great Sand Dunes, massive sand dunes rise to incredible heights, resembling desert like environments. On the trails we biked in Indiana Dunes, the sand dunes were covered by thick vegetation and if we hadn’t known we were on dunes, we wouldn’t have known we were walking on them. For those Indianans who may be reading this (I doubt there are any), I am not being critical of your dunes,it’s just that we were surprised that we didn’t see much sand. That’s ok, though, becausewe have the dunes of Jockey’s Ridge State Park literally in our own backyard at home and we can visit them anytime we want to.
What Indiana Dunes offers that is worth the time to visit is access to a beautiful beach of Lake Michigan. We hiked to the shore to see this and we were very impressed. From one vantage point we could see in the distance the skyline of Chicago. That was neat. Lake Michigan, while not quite as blue as Lake Superior, is still very pretty. And the beach was packed. Hundreds of people were enjoying a classic summer day on the sand and in the water. Music was wafting in to the shore from numerous boats that had anchored in the shallower waters, and the sounds of children’s voices could be heard as they frolicked in the lake. An all-American moment. We enjoyed watching the scenes playing out in front of us for several moments, before returning to our car and making our way back to our campground.
We were in need of ice, so we stopped at a gas station near the entrance to the campground and picked up a bag to replenish our supply in the cooler. It was Sunday, National Ice Cream Day, and we saw several people exiting the gas station entrance with soft serve cones. We went in to pay for the ice and sure enough, behind the counter was a soft serve ice cream machine. Beth encouraged me to get a cone, but I told her I didn’t want to ruin my supper and that I would come back after we ate to get one. We told the clerk we would see him later, and Beth joked that she would bring him back supper when we returned for ice cream.
Back at the campsite, Beth prepared a great chicken breast dinner, complete with corn and instant mashed potatoes. In the back of our minds we were hoping there would be leftovers so we would be able to bring some with us to the clerk at the gas station. I was too hungry, and I ate all that Beth had prepared. No problem, we still had an extra piece in the cooler and Beth retrieved it and cooked it right up. Off we went to get our ice cream, chicken breast in tow. The clerk was really surprised to see us, and even more surprised that Beth brought a delicious chicken breast for him. He gladly accpeted it and said he would eat it as soon as he had the chance. We ordered our soft serve, and he gave them to us for free. I guess we traded a chicken breast for two ice cream cones. I’m not sure who got the better end of that deal.
In the “it’s a small world” category, we learned that the camper directly across the street from us was from Mifflin County in Pennsylvania. For those of you not familiar with Pennsylvania, Mifflin County is about 30 minutes from our former home in Centre County. It turned out this young man, who was on a motorcyle trip to Sturgis, lived in the same county as Beth’s sister Barbara and her family had lived in and he went to the same high school as Barbara’s two children, Wes and Bree. While he is older than Wes and Bree, it was still quite the coincidence that he attended their school. Here we are in Indiana, and we meet someone who lives close to where we used to live. You can’t make this stuff up.
Before going to bed that evening, we took the opportunity to take a nice, long, hot shower, and then we drifted off to sleep feeling and smelling better than we had in days.
In the morning, it’s off to Cuyahoga National Park in Ohio. Like Indiana Dunes, we are not quite sure what to expect, but we know it won’t be sand dunes.