Indiana Dunes

Porter Beach. It was raining, but the rain felt kinda nice.

A dangerously last second decision to take an exit off I80 resulted in me exploring the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Today consisted of way too much driving so I needed somewhere to stretch my legs (and take a bath, as a bonus). Now before I go any further, I've decided that it would be fun to begin reviewing new places of interest. So here we go:

Indiana Dunes State Park: A surprise oasis of landscape diversity in an otherwise boring state. 40 miles of hiking trails loop you around the park, through lush woodland and over the sandy white dunes by the shore. Opportunities for fishing, swimming, running and camping make this a one-of-a-kind stop in mediocre Indiana

Score: 1 out of 5

Sounds like a nice place, but I never actually made it into the park. They wanted to charge me $12 at the entrance. I drove 3 minutes down the road to Porter Beach which was free. Ergo...

Porter Beach: It's got nice sand and wet water and it's totally free

Score: 5 out of 5

Then I made another sketchy last second exit off the highway to check out Tangled Roots Brewery in Ottawa, Illinois. Decent beer but the best part was trading a treehouse can for a bottle of bourbon barrel stout. Oh and he paid for my flight of beer. Treehouse beer is more valuable than money out here if you can find the right people. I should have brought more!