While we are happy for any reason to visit Chicago, as we lived there many moons ago, the purpose of the trip was to visit Indiana Dunes National Park. While you might be wondering why we hadn't ever been there if we lived so close by, but it was officially designated as a National Park until 2019!
Between our trip to Texas last month, this trip to Chicago, and the road trip we did last weekend (I'll be writing about that tomorrow!), you may have picked up on a theme: our incredible National Parks. While we've always loved visiting the National Parks - Crater Lake NP is my very favorite place I've ever been on the face of the earth (and given how many amazing places I've been privileged to visit, that is really saying something!) and our Grand Canyon NP river adventure is one of the best trips we've ever taken - we've decided to make the National Parks a focus of our travel over the next two years.
Indiana Dunes NP was our 42nd National Park so far! Out of how many, you ask? Until recently, the answer to that question was 63, but now there are officially 64 National Parks! We have currently mapped out trips to all of the remaining parks on our list and the newest, Chiricahua NP, fits in perfectly with a trip we already have planned for next fall! The immortal words of my brother continue to ring true: "You guys really do love a checklist!"
Indiana Dunes NP (or I as was hilariously calling it, Indiana Jones NP - ask C if that joke ever got old LOL) was beautiful and its biodiversity is really the star of the park, along with the spectacular shoreline! We had extraordinarily wonderful weather for hiking and exploring and highly recommend this special place that's a quick and easy drive from Chicago!
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| this pic was not the result of me being a mean wife - it was his idea bc he is hilarious! |
We love Chicago and enjoyed stopping at a few of our favorite places before heading to the airport on Sunday evening, even though we would have loved to spend even more time there!
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| our favorite pizza: stuffed spinach from Giordano's |
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| Oberweis is a must for dessert |
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| we had to evacuate the hotel in the middle of the night due to a fire alarm |
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| still dreaming about these pumpkin pancakes |
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| visited our former apartment... |
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| ...left a little piece of Avalanche there |
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| visited our other former apartment... |
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| ...left a little piece of Avalanche there, too |
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| spent some time at a lovely park not far from where we once lived |
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| our last stop before our flight home was a second dinner at Giordano's |
Happy Tails to you!
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