Blog Index

Saturday, October 31, 2020

Lake View - Indiana Dunes National Park


Lake View is a picnic area on the shore of Lake Michigan in Indiana Dunes National Park. It is located 360 feet west of the intersection of Lake Front Drive and Broadway Street in the Town of Beverly Shores. Approximately 40 paved, perpendicular parking spots are located on the north side of Lake Front Drive. Parking is free. Online, the park service warns visitors:
Do NOT park in the Town of Beverly Shores' beach parking lot, which is located just to the east of the Lake View lot. You will get ticketed. The town is very strict.
All facilities are available on a first come, first served basis. Restrooms and potable water are available year-round. The picnic tables and restrooms are accessible to visitors in wheelchairs, but the beach is not accessible. This day-use area is open from 6AM until 11PM all year.

Stairs to the beach

Trail at the base of the stairs

View from the trail

Ramp to the northeast

Michigan City Generating Station (5 miles)

Ramp to the beach

Lake Michigan

Wind-driven waves

Some of the shoreline has been armored with riprap to slow erosion

1933 Century of Progress homes southwest of Lake View

Picnic pavilion

Low bench on the beach

Entry to Indiana Dunes National Park is free. However, an expanded amenity fee of $6 daily is collected at West Beach from the Friday of Memorial Day weekend through the Monday of Labor Day weekend from 8:00 am to as late as 7:00 pm Central Time. This fee is used to provide the bathhouse and lifeguard service.

Thursday, October 29, 2020

Dorothy Buell Memorial Visitor Center - Indiana Dunes National Park


Indiana Dunes became the 61st national park on February 15, 2019, when Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore was renamed by Congress. It was designated as a national lakeshore in 1966. At just over 15,000 acres, it is one of the smallest national parks as it stretches along 25 miles of the southern end of Lake Michigan between Gary and Michigan City. However, it is one of the most visited national parks with over 2.1 million visitors in 2019. In addition, it completely surrounds the much smaller Indiana Dunes State Park.

Dorothy Buell was a long-time advocate for preserving the dunes. According to the national park service, 
Dorothy Buell directed her enthusiasm, determination, and fearlessness toward a single goal—saving the Indiana dunes! And for fourteen arduous years, she fought under her famous quote: “We are prepared to spend the rest of our lives if necessary to save the dunes.” She raised funds, recruited volunteers, obtained public support, and worked persistently to protect the dunes from bulldozers.
The visitor center is located in Porter, Indiana, and is shared with the Indiana Dunes State Park and the Porter County Convention, Recreation and Visitor Commission. Parking is available for over ninety passenger vehicles and over a dozen buses or RVs. In addition, there are four accessible spots and two electric vehicle charging stations. 

The visitor center has all of the usual amenities including an information desk, theater, exhibit/museum space, bookstore, and restrooms. In addition, it has several racks of promotional materials for other local attractions. Two movies alternate in the theater with the US Department of the Interior's Child of the Northwest Wind playing on the hour and half-hour and Porter County's Our Natural Wonder playing on the quarter-hour and three-quarter-hour. We visited in late October 2019, long after the swarms of summer tourists had returned home.

Visitor Center

Picnic area

A small section of the nearly empty parking lot

The theater has seating for over 110 people

Information desk

Tourist brochures

Bookstore and gift shop

Replica of Octave Chanute's 1896 glider

Temporary touchable museum exhibits

More temporary exhibits

Enclosed exhibits

More birds and mammals

Permanent biodiversity display

Entry to Indiana Dunes National Park is free. However, an expanded amenity fee of $6 daily is collected at West Beach from the Friday of Memorial Day weekend through the Monday of Labor Day weekend from 8:00 am to as late as 7:00 pm Central Time. This fee is used to provide the bathhouse and lifeguard service.

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Cades Cove - Great Smoky Mountains National Park

 

In early September 2019, we once again had the opportunity to visit Great Smoky Mountains National Park and tour Cades Cove on the one-way, 11-mile Cades Cove Loop Road. Here are some images of that late summer day.














Entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park is free.

Sunday, October 25, 2020

Burgess Falls State Park


In late July 2019, we visited Burgess Falls State Park again. The park is centered on the aptly named Falling Water River about ten miles south of Cookeville, Tennessee. From Interstate 40, take exit 286 south on Tennessee 135 for about 8½ miles to the park. There is one left-turn about 4.7 miles south of the interstate that is easy to miss. You've been warned.

Cascades





First Falls







Middle Falls




Big Falls aka Burgess Falls








Entrance to all Tennessee state parks is free.