Hello everyone!
Hope Summer is being kind to you all, you know, sunburns, sand, surf, humidity (except the “dry heat” followers :), cutting grass, mosquitos, cook outs, waiting for the tomatoes to get ripe, etc., :)
On Sunday June 22, 2025 I ventured over to Indiana to visit a new “place”, the INDIANA DUNES NATIONAL LAKESHORE.
I say “new” because the Great Lakes (as we know them) have only been around for the last 11,000 years or so. Just a newcomer to our world’s millions of years of changes.
I saw the plant in the photo below and took a picture not knowing much about it. After a Google identify search I learned that the “Rough Horsetail” has “roots” on the planet for millions of years and used to be trees. Curious about that? CLICK HERE :)
My visit focused mainly on walking along the Lakeshore with brief detours into the Dunes. The Weather that day was HOT and Humid but the breeze and water along the beach made the temperature feel about 10 degrees cooler.
The area is a combination of the Indiana Dunes State Park and the Indiana Dunes National Park and has a very diverse habitat of plants and animals and ecosystems. This Article has more details :)
On this trip, I took the Metra train from Aurora to Chicago Union Station (one hour and 20 minutes) and walked 30 minutes to the Millennium Station where I boarded the South Shore Line and a one hour and 15 minutes trip (goes all the way to South Bend, Indiana Airport after that) to the Parks.
I got off the train at the Beverly Shores station, walked about a mile and a half to the Lake, walked west about 5 miles along the Lakeshore and Dunes to the Dunes Pavilion and then another mile and a half to the Dunes Station for the ride back to Chicago/Aurora.
CLICK HERE for a Video created from my pictures that day.
How about those Sea Gulls? Why did they keep “moving” forward? Why wouldn’t they just fly behind the crazy human with a phone camera? I am glad they didn’t, it was kind of cool watching their reactions :)
Did you notice the 3 “modern homes” in the Video?
They were part of the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair and moved to Beverly Shores, Indiana after the Fair. You can learn more in Article 1 and Article 2.
Back in Chicago there is a new exhibit in the Artist’s Garden at Garfield Park Conservatory (GPC) featuring the Mexican Artist Alfredo Ramos Martinez.
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| The Living Wall “taking shape” and preparing to “Bloom Full Ahead” |
I like the low key exhibits in the Artist’s Garden where I can learn a little bit and see how the GPC gardeners/artists choose plants and layouts to compliment the chosen Artist.
I am grateful too that I have been able to help in several other gardens like the
Gravel Garden:
Child Wild:
City Garden:
GPC continues to be an “Oasis” :)
