Me in OH (or MI, IN, OH)

Day 9 was certainly full of random stops and interesting sites. The final destination of the trip was originally Niagara Falls, which I talked my international friends out of because their visas would not allow them to visit the Canadian side and I just didn't think the US side was worth it alone. Plan B for that end of the trip was, "We trust Colleen!" Too bad I didn't have much time to plan, since I only knew I was going on this trip a week before we left, and we didn't have power or internet pretty much till then...

So, with Michael back with the group, we departed the Chicago area in the morning and made the following stops:

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. This park used to be a steel mill's acid pit. It was actually a lovely little beach on Lake Michigan with a steel mill in the background. It was pretty cool and windy but nice to be by the water (at least, everyone but Timi thought so). I was amazing at how big Lake Michigan was. I mean, I get the concept of a Great Lake, but still, it's been a while since I was near one. The water was much bluer and prettier than I'd recalled. I think we missed the bigger park of the national park nearby, but it was a nice stop.

Warren Dunes State Park in Michigan. For comparison's sake, and for the sake of adding another state to our list, I thought it would be interesting to stop at another dunes-related park on Lake Michigan. This was about 45 minutes north of our first park, but definitely different. This is probably more because of the lack of acid pit than the slight change in latitude. Lots of lovely trees and HUGE dunes that Jozef, Jakub, Michael and I decided to hike up while Maciej and Timi stayed warm in the van.

Hiking uphill on sand is hard.

This park was very beautiful though and is probably a very nice place to go in the summer. I have a feeling that I'd prefer it empty like it was on this very windy, kinda rainy day. The view from the top of the dunes was pretty cool, amidst a bit of brush and some long dead trees. Again, we were amazed with how immense the lake is. Running back down the dunes was kind of fun, too. I'd take a giant jump-step, enjoying gravity's favor and not feeling like my lungs were exploding, and just kind of sink into the sand a little before launching myself again. Very weirdly low impact.

To get back to the main route for the day, we drove through a really rural, agricultural area in Michigan called Chikaming, which was a really pleasant drive. I don't get sick of cornfields very easily.

Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. We stopped here because Michael was curious and because Maciej is Catholic. We wandered around campus a little bit, but it was cold and rainy so we were quickly getting sick of wandering places. We stopped by the Basilica which was a space that was extremely beautiful, but struck some of us as a bit over the top as far as a worship space is concerned. Gold leaf everywhere. Remarkable works of art. Relics?! It was certainly impressive, but kind of bordering on intimidating for me personally.

After the last walk in the chilly rain, we decided just to forge ahead to our destination for the night, a hotel just outside Toledo, Ohio, where we decided to eat at a Waffle House for the third and final time on the trip. The guys were happy watching Sons of Guns on TV and I was happy working on plans for the next day and getting a reasonable night of sleep before the final haul of marathon driving.