Blog in Polish/w języku polskim: http://ontario-nature-polish.blogspot.com/2020/08/michigan-indiana-and-illinois-usa.html
More photos from this trip: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jack_1962/albums/72157715578116311 and https://www.flickr.com/photos/jack_1962/albums/72157715579544908
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| Indiana Dunes National Park-our campsite 45D |
Traditionally, the month of May in Ontario signifies the beginning of the camping season and many parks open on Victoria Day. In the recent years had I spent a week camping in Long Point Provincial Park, on Lake Erie—there had been no bugs and even though it had snowed on one occasion and the temperature at night had been several degrees below the freezing point, we had still enjoyed our stays: we had cuddled in front of campfires and then jumped into the tents, bundling up in 4 sleeping bags, which had kept us very warm.
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| Warren Dunes State Park-our "Oak Cabin" |
Although I had reserved a campsite in Long Point Provincial Park for May, Catherine, who lived in Minnesota, was unwilling to drive to meet me at the park—and I would be unwilling to drive to her place either (about 1,600 km one way). Thus, we decided to compromise and meet halfway—literally! Namely, there was Indiana Dunes National Park located just at the south shores of Lake Michigan. This newest National Park, created in 2019, was located exactly halfway between our cities, so each of us could get there by car in one day. Even though I am not keen on driving—especially alone, on highways/freeways, as I find it extremely boring—I was looking forward to going to that park and relaxing for a week and did not really mind spending about 10 hours behind the wheel.
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| Some campsites in Warren Dunes State Park turned into pools of water after rain. We were so glad that we decided to stay in the cabin! |
I left Mississauga in the morning of May 28, 2019 and headed towards Sarnia, Ontario. The traffic was very light even as I was approaching the border, but then it slowed down as there were plenty of cars and trucks trying to get to the USA, I spent at least 40 minutes just on the bridge. The US Customs officer asked me a couple of questions regarding the purpose of my visit to the U.S., about my occupation and the content of the cooler (which contained only plastic bottles with frozen water). Probably disappointed that he did not find anything suspicious, he let me into the United States of America. I stopped at the Visitor Centre just a few kilometers from Sarnia, picked up a few brochures and got back on highway 69. After several hours I turned into highway 94, stopping only once in Michigan in a city called “Paw Paw”, named for the pawpaw trees which once grew along the Paw Paw River. I went to McDonald’s for a quick bit, bought gas and my next stop was Warren Dunes Park in Michigan.
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| Biking around Beverly Shores |
Several days ago, as we were planning our trip, we made some changes in our initial itinerary. Because the forecast had called for two days of rain, we had decided to seek roofed accommodation for the couple of days. Fortunately, Warren Dunes State Park had three cabins—and we booked one, called “Oaks”, number 51—it cost $104 for 2 nights plus the reservation fee of $8.00. When I arrived at the park, nobody was at the office and the park phone did not work, but the lady at the park store told me that the warden had just been there—and indeed, I saw him driving by. I bought the park sticker (“Recreation Passport” for non-residents, $33 for the whole year) and was given the key code for entry to the cabin.
I got a phone call from Catherine, who was still in the Chicago area, stuck in traffic (I was lucky that I did not have to drive through any major city) and she arrived quite late, at about 8:00 pm, very tired and sleepy.
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| Chicago, Illinois, as seen from Indiana Dunes National Park |
The cabin was simple, yet nice—it had bunk-beds for up to 6 people, a heater and a bench. Outside was a fire pit and a porch. Yet the most important and welcoming part of the cabin was certainly the roof—at night we heard thunders and saw plenty of lighting, it was pouring cats and dogs! When we got up in the morning we were shocked to see that many campsites (including several adjacent to the cabin) were completely flooded—and I mean totally—it would be impossible to find any dry space! Even for RVs staying on such campsites it would be a problem, but I just can’t imagine campers with tents, they would be literally drowning in all the water and would have to relocate in the middle of the night to other campsites! I think the park should do something about this by filling the hollow campsites with sand—and in the meantime close some campsites off, at least for tenting. It rained again the second night, so we were once again congratulating ourselves on booking the cabin.
There were not many people in the park, so we could enjoy solitude. There was an alcohol ban in effect at the Park from March 1 to September 30—it was a little inconvenient, but perhaps it makes it more family-oriented. The park store sold wood for $6 per bundle. On several occasions we saw deer and raccoons wandering in the park.
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| Warren Dunes State Park |
The next day we went for a stroll along the dunes and met a very interesting gentleman with whom I engaged in an interesting conversation for the next 20 minutes—it seemed that our views were similar on many subjects.
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| Of course, Catherine had to visit a Goodwill store in Benton Harbor and, among other bargains, she got this horse for her granddaughter, over which she had to fight with another customer! |
We also decided to go to the nearby town, Benton Harbor, to do some shopping. The Orchards Mall, adjacent to highway 94, had plenty of stores and we went to Walmart, Aldi and Goodwill. Instead of taking the highway back to the park, we drove around this town, crossed the St. Joseph River and entered St. Joseph. Well, we immediately noticed that there was a big difference between those two adjacent cities, separated only by a river. Once I had access to the Internet, I did some more research and this is what I found (https://datausa.io):
Benton St. Joseph
Harbor
Population 9,944 8,301
Median
household
income $20,157 $55,975
Poverty
rate 48% 10.2%
Median
property
value $56,200 $166,300
The
racial makeup
Black
or African
American 84.8% 4.55%
White 8.55% 87.4%
Hispanic
or Latino 4.15% 2.8%
Asian 0.8% 3.59%
According
to www.bestplaces.net,
the crime comparison between the two cities is as follows [crime is ranked on a
scale of 1 (low crime) to 100 (high crime)]:
Benton St. Joseph USA
Harbor
Violent
Crime 95.2 15 22.7
Property Crime 68.7 31.2 35.4
Last, but not least, I found a news item on News Talk 94.9 WSJM (www.wsjm.com) dated October 4, 2018 titled “FBI: Benton Harbor Is State’s Most Violent City Per Capita. It says, “Benton Harbor is ranked as the state’s most violent city for 2017… The violent crime rate in Benton Harbor is 22 crimes per 1,000 residents, ahead of Detroit’s rate of 20. The city had three murders, 23 rapes, 36 robberies and 156 cases of aggravated assault last year, with a population of 9,899 people.”
In any case, we did not experience any problems in either city and safely drove back to our campsite in the park!
Two days later we packed up and drove to Indiana Dunes National Park. This time we forwent the highway and drove on other roads, passing through a number of small towns.
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| We wanted to bike on the Calumet Trail, but after the recent rains it was unusable |
When we arrived at the Park, we spoke to the host—a very nice gentleman from Texas, who was staying in the park in his camper and also volunteering in the office. We chatted with him for a while and then drove on the park’s roads, checking out campsites—we picked number 45D, in the Douglas Loop, which was nice and close to the bathrooms. There were not too many people in the park, but more and more arrived over the weekend.
Indiana Dunes National Park not long ago had been known as the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, until it was designated the newest (61st) national park in the United States on February 15, 2019. The park runs for nearly 40 km along the southern shore of Lake Michigan; it contains approximately 15,000 acres. Located in the park are sand dune, wetland, prairie, river, and forest ecosystems.
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| Beverly Shores-"Florida Tropical" (Century of Progress) |
We spent some time in the impressive Visitor Center (located several kilometers from the campground) where we could learn about the park’s history and pick up plenty of very interesting and informative brochures and maps. Since there was a bike trail nearby (Calumet Trail), both of us had brought our bikes. Unfortunately, we were told that because of the very wet spring, the trail was almost unusable. Indeed, there were huge puddles and pools of water on the trail and only hard-core mountain bikers would probably be still willing to ride on it and test their skills.
A few hundred meters from our campsite, almost in the park, was St. Ann of the Dunes Roman Catholic Church. It was built in 1954 and since then has undergone major renovations. On Saturday we went to the evening mass—I was glad that in spite of the short distance we drove, as it was raining when we emerged from the church after mass.
Over the next few days we spent several hours biking. First of all, we rode to a very nice town of Beverly Shores. Again, some statistics: It had a population of just over 613 and the racial makeup of the town was 96.6 white, median household income of $89,375, poverty rate of 3.75% and median property value of $456,900; its violent crime was 11.8 and property crime 24.3 [crime is ranked on a scale of 1 (low crime) to 100 (high crime)]. It started as a planned resort community. Robert Bartlett purchased hundreds of previously plotted home sites in 1933. He named the entire development after his daughter Beverly. Later he purchased and relocated sixteen structures from Chicago's 1933-34 Century of Progress World's Fair, four of which were transported by barges on Lake Michigan. A resurgence of development took place during the 1990s and 2000s, when many million-dollar-plus houses were built on the dunes near the lakefront. Since it is easily accessible from Chicago, Beverly Shores s a second home to many Chicagoans.
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| Swamps and wetlands near Beverly Shores |
We loved biking to this town and then riding on its streets! Of course, we went to the Century of Progress Architectural District to see five buildings from the Homes of Tomorrow Exhibition, part of the 1933-34 Chicago Century of Progress Expositions. The homes were very innovative; modern technology, new materials and building methods were used in their construction.
The town is located on the shores of Lake Michigan and is almost surrounded by wetlands and marshes and we loved riding on Beverly Drive, especially on its part west of South Broadway. Some of the side roads led to… nowhere and eventually Beverly Drive was closed off to traffic—but not to bikes! So we rode on the still asphalted road, albeit sometimes flooded and overgrown, among swamps, ponds and forests. We took another disused road and finally ended up at the crossing of the Calumet Trail and E State Park Boundary Road. Later we were told that some of the properties had been demolished so that nature could again take over and thrive—thus the semi-abandoned roads and streets leading to nowhere! On a satellite map, it is still possible to see outlines of old roads and properties, but they have been successfully absorbed by wilderness.
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| Beverly Shores Train Station, several hundreds meters from our campsite |
We also drove to the town of Chesterton, parked the van and biked on the Prairie Duneland Trail. The trail followed a straight branch of the former Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway. It was an easy, paved trail. We stopped at Tate’s Place, a small restaurant with outdoor patio and had a couple of drinks. The trail ended at County Trail Road in Hobart, or rather became a new trail, the Oak Savannah Trail, on which we rode for a while and then turned back.
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| Train station in Beverly Shores was operating on a self-serve basis--100%! |
One evening, when it was raining and we could not have a campfire, we drove to Michigan City, which was just a few kilometers from the park. I knew that many residents were of Polish origin, so no surprisingly, there was a Polish restaurant, called “Polish Peasant” (“Polski Chłop”), where we had our supper. It was a small and cozy place. We got some traditional Polish food which was very good, but the soup of the day (plum soup) I had was disappointing (I do not thing it was really THAT popular in Poland) and was hoping to have a more genuine Polish soup, like white borscht (“bialy barszcz” a.k.a. “żurek”), chicken noodle soup (“rosoł”), tripe (“flaki”), red beetroot soup (“barszcz czerwony”) or mushroom soup (“zupa grzybowa”). Perhaps the owner or his descendants come from a region of Poland where that particular soup was popular.
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| Restaurant "The Polish Peasant" (Polski Chłop) in Michigan City |
Just past the church there was a Beverly Shore train station, served by South Shore Line trains. It was built in 1925 in the “Insull Spanish” architecture style used for stations along the electric railroad lines. There is a large neon sign “Beverly Shores”. South Shore Line operates about 20 passenger trains daily, most running from Chicago’s Millennium Station to Michigan City or South Bend Airport. Because Catherine had never visited Chicago—and my visit had never included Chicago’s downtown—we decided to take advantage of this opportunity and go to Chicago for one day.
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| South Shore Line was the most convenient and inexpensive way to get to Chicago from Indiana Dunes National Park! |
The one-way fare from Beverly Shores to Millennium Station was $10 (half for seniors) and it could be purchased at the station, from a vending machine (what we did), or on the train. Since trains only stop at this particular station if passengers request so, we had to push a button to activate strobe light. Similarly, we had to notify the conductor to disembark the train on our way back. While waiting for the train, we talked to a woman who had come biking with a group, but decided to return home, along with her bike, by train—there was a special car designed to transport bikes. The train arrived on time—unfortunately, the conductor informed her that she was not allowed to bring the bike at this station (it was possible do to so at the next station) due to the station’s platform design and safety regulations. Since it was Sunday, the next train was scheduled in 2 hours or so—well, at least she had plenty of time to get to the next station… There were not too many passengers on the train and we got window seats. Soon the conductor showed up to check our tickets. When I looked at his badge, I immediately noticed his surname.
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| It was also possible to get the bike on the train |
“A very original name, Przybyłowski”, I said, surprising him with the correct pronunciation of his last name, which I bet not to many people could do! There was a special rack-equipped car, in addition to regular seating, so that passengers could ride in this car near their precious bikes and keep an eye on them at all times. I think that the special car could accommodate up to 14 bikes. My friend got quite interested in this bike-friendly train concept and kept asking the conductor questions. “But what if there are more than 14 people with bikes on the train, how do you keep track of that?” she asked. A little exasperated, he looked at her and said, “Madam, I think I know how to count to 14!” The whole trip took about 90 minutes.
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| Gary, Indiana--the impressive City Hall, as seen from the train. It used to be a thriving city, in many ways competing with Chicago. Alas, not anymore... |
The train stopped at many stations—one of then was in Gary, Indiana. From the train’s windows I could see the imposing buildings of Gary’s City Hall and the Courthouse. Currently the population of Gary is 80.2% Black or African American, 11.8% White, and 5.84% Hispanic or Latino. In the 1930s it was the reverse, it was about 80% White. At one point Gary was the second biggest city in Indiana and its entertainment establishments and restaurants competed with those in Chicago. Since the late 1960s Gary has suffered a significant population loss, unemployment, decaying infrastructure and plenty of crime problems. It has had one of the highest crime rates in the USA and one-third of all houses in the city are unoccupied or abandoned. I had watched a couple of documentaries on Gary—at one point there were over 460 businesses on the main street (shops, restaurants); nowadays it was doubtful if there were 40 and most closed before dark. Michael Jackson was born in Gary and the house is still there, so some of his fans still go there to take a look.
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| Chicago! |
We got off at Millennium Station, in the heart of Chicago. After wandering for a while along Michigan Avenue, we got on the hop-on-hop-off bus (about $40 per person) and spent the next 5 hours riding it. It took us to various landmarks, offering 13 stops. We disembarked a few times and overall did two full loops, taking three different buses with different guides—each guide added something new and unique to the tour. I do not want to go into details, but all I want to say is that Chicago is a beautiful city, with amazing architecture and it requires several days to see just the most prominent landmark. Of course, Chicago’s downtown is very different from its suburbs—some (like the infamous ‘South Side’) are rather off-limits even during the day and do not resemble anything we saw downtown.
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| The Cloud Gate |
At the end of the tour we went to Millennium Park to see the Cloud Gate—a sculpture by Indian-born British artist Sir Anish Kapoor. Its stainless-steel surface reflects the activity and lights of the park and surrounding city skyline, inviting visitors to touch and interact with its mirror-like surface and see their image reflected from a variety of perspectives. It is really amazing and Catherine and I took a lot of photos of our reflections! It was getting dark and slowly we headed to the nearby train station, where our train had already been waiting for us and in less than 2 hour we arrived at Beverly Shores Train Station and drive to our campsite. It was an amazing day trip! If we again go to Indiana Dunes National Park—and yes, we are planning to do so in May, 2020—we should once more go to Chicago and see other landmarks or take a different tour.
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| Catherine and I, reflected in the Cloud Gate |
We parted on June 4, 2019 and I drove straight to Canada, stopping just twice to have a snack and buy gas. Going back to Canada through the border was problem-free—after all, I only brought one bottle of vodka, just slightly over the limit.
It
was a very nice trip, I really needed to take some time (and mind) off my work.
We are already planning to meet at the same park next May—hopefully the weather
will be much better, as this spring (and summer) was very wet and rainy.
Blog in Polish/w języku polskim: http://ontario-nature-polish.blogspot.com/2020/08/michigan-indiana-and-illinois-usa.html
More photos from this trip: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jack_1962/albums/72157715578116311 and https://www.flickr.com/photos/jack_1962/albums/72157715579544908
