Western Shore of Lake Michigan

After Ohio, we headed to Indiana to check out the Indiana Dunes National Park. This park is another one that covers diverse areas and terrains. Our first stop was the Lake Michigan beach at Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk. Once we arrived at the area, we were greeted by some massive dunes and beautiful sneak peeks at the lake in front of us.

The views on the beach were just gorgeous. It was interesting to see major steel mills on either end of the beach.

The coolest part was that we could the city of Chicago across the lake.

Next we headed over to Bailly Homestead and the Chellberg Farmhouse. Here we enjoyed trails through the woods and a working farm. Cole had fun checking out the goats!

This guy is always up for an adventure, so we headed north to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. This area is located west of Traverse City, Michigan. We stayed at Indigo Bluffs RV Park and Resort https://www.indigobluffs.com/ . This is one of the nicest campgrounds we have been to. We were on the Resort side of the park which has very spacious sites. That is us on the left.

The first day there, we went to the lake to watch the sun setting. We headed to the Sleeping Bear Overlook and found ourselves high on a bluff 450 feet above Lake Michigan. The views were breathtaking!

Cole was really enjoying himself on the bluff. He even posed for a couple of great pictures.

There was even more to explore during the day. This is the view from the Empire Bluff Trail. The trail is about 2 miles round trip. You get to walk through the woods for most of the trail, so it is cool even during the summer. It is a bit hilly, but the effort is worth it. Just take a look at these views at the end of the trail.

We also checked out the Dune Climb. Here you can climb up the dune which is 284 feet high. After our time in Cape Cod and trying to climb a dune there, we chose to look from the bottom, and enjoy to afternoon sun!

From the map below, you can see that even if you climb to the top, you still aren’t even close to being able to see the lake. It is still close to 2 miles away!

If you are ever in the area of these parks, be sure to check them out. The western shore of Lake Michigan is worth the ride. It is crazy to think that I lived in Michigan for over 5 years and never knew that these places where just a few hours away.