Chicago, Day 1...Getting There

 Friday, June 30, 2023

     There were two trails on tap for Indiana Sand Dunes National Park for the morning.  The first is an online favorite named after Paul H. Douglas, the Illinois Senator who fought to preserve the dunes. 

     Somehow , I wasn't surprised to see the road closure sign.  The smaller sign did say it was open to the Douglas Center.  It was a short, but interesting drive to the parking lot.  From there, it's 1.8 miles through a meadow, marsh and eventually sand dunes to the beach at Lake Michigan, then back.

      Crossing a long abandoned railroad line...

      And out to the lakeshore

      In the West Beach section of the park, there are a series of looping trails referred to as the Dyne Succession Loop,  To get there, you have to make it past an active railroad line.  Personally, I have no issue waiting for trains.  

      This one was moving rather slowly and it was obvious it wouldn't clear the crossing any time soon.  I was trying to make the left across traffic towards the lot and third back from the light.  There was a dedicated turn lane and I was in the tail end of it.

     Across the intersection, the line to turn right towards the dunes was also growing.  Cars were also stacking up that wanted to go straight across to the parking lot.

     Immediately behind me was a really big tractor trailer.   The driver decided to try and get by me to go through the intersection.  I saw what he was doing and moved right up to the bumper of the car ahead of me to give him at least a little more room..

     He might have made it, but it would have been close.  Instead, he decided to wait like the rest of us for everything to clear out.  

      A guy a few car back was having none of it.  He pulls out into the opposing traffic lane, drives up to the intersection and makes a right turn in front of everyone, including an Indiana State Trooper, who turned with him, blue lights flashing.  

     There are numerous short trails in this section of the park, as well as a popular public beach.  I chose a mile loop called the West Beach Dune Succession Trail.  

The marker swears you can see Chicago from here, on a clear day.                      

      

      These signs are scattered about the park.  Diana's real name was Alice Gray.  She graduated the University of Chicago with a Math degree in 1903.  She spent a few years working for the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington before heading to Germany to study higher math at the University of Gottingen.

      At the age of thirty-four, she left it all for what she called "a free life."  Her search brought her to the Indiana Sand Dunes.  After a few nights of sleeping under the stars, she realized she needed some shelter and moved into a friend's lodge.  When she heard about an abandoned shack within the dunes, she decided to make it her own. 

     

     A newspaper writer nicknamed her Diana of the Dunes and it stuck.  She was a big voice in protecting the dunes from industry.   You can read more about her life here:

     I had driven past the sign for the 18th Street Brewery early.  They did have food, too.  So I stopped in.  Dominique was pouring and couldn't have been nicer.  It's also where I met Charles.  He lives locally, but commutes into Chicago from time to time.  When he heard where I was headed, we wound up in a detailed conversation about potential routes.  He suggested leaving Gary via Hwy 20, picking up Hwy 41 and going in that way.  Early Friday afternoon and the interstates would already be packed.  This would also avoid the toll roads.  In the end, this made for a pretty smooth ride, at least at first.

     While I did check concert listings while in Chicago, I didn't check anything else.  Just like Detroit closing streets for their Grand Prix, Chicago had shut down streets for a NASCAR race.  These are from Lakeshore Drive while stuck in traffic.

     The Kickerbocker Hotel doesn't have its own parking.  But, they do have a deal with a neighborhood lot.  I was able to prepay for the duration of my stay.   The problem was finding the place.  The parking deck had an address on Michigan Avenue.  I drove the block numerous times trying to find it.  The GPS and Google both swore it was there.  It turns out the lot is on Delaware Avenue, but the building is on Michigan Ave.  Oye.  This was in the lobby of the building where I parked.

     It was too early to call it a day, so I simply took a walk through the city.

      The view from the room.  

     This is by artist Jose Luis Martinez Pasillas.  This ten foot sculpture represents La Calavera Catrina, a symbol of Mexico's Day of the Dead.   Jose Guadalupe Posada created the original around 1910.  Photo courtesy National Geographic.

     After his death in 1913, they were used alongside satirical publications celebrating the end of the Porfirio Diaz dictatorship in the country.  

       I came back to the hotel just in time.  The promised rain had arrived.  But, it didn't last very long.  So, I did go out in front of the hotel and try to catch a sunset, complete with the blue lights of the Chicago Police Department.