Indiana Dunes National Park

Surprise!  We fit in another national park!  I had looked at this park months ago when we were mapping out our routes.  I knew it was in the vicinity of our drive, but I never really made the decision to include it or not.  Well, we saw the sign on the edge of the highway and that’s when I decided…it’s just a few miles away, I mean, shouldn’t we??  The lack of planning definitely caused a bit of frustration.  GoogleMaps seemed as confused as we were about the best way to enter the park and get to see the dunes and beach.  But we eventually figured it out and just in the nick of time too because as you can see in the pictures, a ginormous thunderstorm that had been on our heels all day was catching up and cracking thunder in the distance.  

We jumped back in the minivan just before the winds started to roar and the downpour descended.  Of course we had to run over to the Visitor’s Center to grab a sticker for the car top carrier, which Doug dutifully ran out in the torrent of rain to retrieve just before the Visitor’s Center lost power.  Phew!  Mission accomplished, another national park seen.