We Went to Chicago: Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

Although we had been warned about what the weather would probably be like (Thanks, Cheryl! I wish I'd taken your advice!), I was snookered by a mild forecast and did NOT pack appropriate clothing for our detour home through Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, one of the three national parks in Indiana and the first national park that we've visited in our home state.

Our hoodies were adequate for damp, windy, foggy Chicago, but at Indiana Dunes, cold rain was added to the mix. I should have packed rain gear.

Nevertheless, as you can see in the photo below Syd clutching her Junior Ranger book, we toughed it out and saw all the things so that the kids could earn those coveted badges:

The kids did manage to run around and play and have fun--they're made of much sterner stuff than their parents are!

I'm feeling a lot of mom guilt, though, because Will has SUPER wanted to come to this specific national park for a year now, and for a year I'd been putting her off, only to then turn around and say, "Sure I'll take you, Kid! I'll take you, alright, but only on a miserable, cold, rainy day! Have fun!"

Here are some of the resources that I wanted to use, if we could have spent the whole day trotting around and making magical discoveries of the natural world like I'd wanted, sigh:

• Nature Walks in the Indiana Dunes
• Diana of the Dunes: The True Story of Alice Gray
• Wildflowers of the Indiana Dunes National Park

We're clearly going back to Indiana Dunes one hot day this summer.