though no banff, i say the dunes are worth the trip.

late morning saturday, jon and i drove to beverly shores, indiana to visit the dunes. since neither of us had been there before, we stopped at the visitors center where the volunteer guide, clad in his full khaki forest ranger uniform, directed us to a few trails - the ever impressive .7 mile mt. baldy trek and the 1.8 cowles bog hike. i instantly felt guilty for dragging us 90 minutes from chicago for that ... for a measly little walking time that'd last us not even an hour at a snail's pace.

fortunately, the dunes are steep, and walking up a sharp incline on sand is not quite the same as taking a tour on an even path.

once we got to the top of mt. baldy, we took in a surprisingly beautiful view (you just couldn't look to the right - there's a huge nuclear plant - or behind you - a maximum security prison). but the rolling dunes and the surprisingly small number of tourists and the sunny, clear skies made it absolutely worth the trip. it felt good to see the chicago skyline sitting so little across lake michigan, like even for as big and busy and powerful as that city is, it's not so impressive or interesting from across the lake.

we spent a little while there, ate our lunch of wheat thins and raisins, and set off on the cowles bog trail.

if you take the trip, don't turn around in the beginning - i promise the trail does get fun. it starts off really plain and simple, and pretty unattractive actually. you're walking along a power plant with all these wires hanging above you, trying to be interested in the two swans swimming in what can only be totally contaminated water. but as you head towards the beach, you'll be surrounded with trees and fairly rolling hills.

but the best part, yes, the BEST part is when you slide down the dunes out of the trees and into this open, sandy beach, a small trail winding you through tall grasses and cattails to a completely private beach. it was the closest i've ever gotten to my anne of green gables moment. i so wish i had had a camera, but found this picture online and figured it was close enough. paint a clear, brilliantly bright sky over this darker one and you'll see what we saw.

glorious.

of course, our dawdling at the beach kept us from seeing the swedish settlement reenactment back at the visitor's center.

guess we'll just have to go back.