I’d never seen a Great Lake before. “They’re huge,” people had told me. “You can’t see across them.” But that still didn’t prepare me for visiting one in person.

We drove up to the Indiana Dunes State Park, an expanse of protected shore along Lake Michigan. We were hoping to find a spot to camp, but it was the weekend: the park was full of families from the nearby cities. No campsites were available, and we’d have to keep moving.

Still, it would be absurd to get this close to Lake Michigan without seeing it. The National Lakeshore was free and open to the public; we made our way to the beach, and I finally saw my first Great Lake.

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Post tags: animal, buy nothing, eco travel, ecotourism, ecotravel, environment, Great Lake, Indiana, Indiana Dunes, Lake Michigan, nature, outdoors, photography, pollution, recreation, state park, summer, tourism, travel, water

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“Oh, you might want to go around,” Lacy said. “There’ll probably be a lot of traffic for the Michael Jackson memorial.”

WHA!? Who knew MJ was from Gary, Indiana? I sure didn’t. But that’s where he was born, and it was barely two weeks since he’d died… and so of course I had to see his house.

Well, it’s pretty sad out there in Gary. Chicago’s industrial cousin has bright red, pollution-laced sunsets behind a skyline of smokestacks and highways. The King of Pop’s childhood neighborhood is run-down and desolate: most of the windows are boarded up, and the wide streets feel empty.

We got directions from a motel clerk and made our way to the corner of Jackson Street and Jackson Family Boulevard. There it was: a little white house with a mountain of stuffed animals in the front yard. There were signs, too: hand-drawn “WE LOVE YOU MICHEAL”, long letters professing undying love.

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Read the rest of I Saw Michael Jackson’s House. (242 words)

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Post tags: art, celebrity, community, death, Gary, Indiana, Michael Jackson, music, photography, tourism, travel

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Turkey Run State Park. Yep, that’s what it’s called. There aren’t really any turkeys here: they were hunted to near-extinction in this area, and now you’d have to be pretty lucky to find one. But local history tells of a time when wild turkeys would flock in the deep canyons. Hunters would then chase the birds through the steep-sided “runs” and directly onto their dinner tables.

Just like in Montgomery County’s other strangely-named parks, there’s plenty of history here. Before becoming state parks, these canyons and gorges offered good shelter for settlers and Native Americans. And before that, who knows what creatures prowled these canyon floors?

We do know that the environmental conditions in the gorges have hardly changed in thousands of years. While the rest of Indiana marched onward into agriculture and industry, these spots stayed exactly the same—and those of us lucky to step foot in Turkey Run’s canyons are rewarded with a trip back in time.

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Read the rest of A Trip into Indiana's Prehistory (689 words)

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Post tags: adventure, climate change, community, ecotourism, ecotravel, environment, hiking, Indiana, nature, outdoors, photography, recreation, state park, summer, tourism, travel, water, weather

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Indiana is full of two things: cornfields and soybean fields. They line the roadsides, flashing past as you drive: cornfield, soybean field. Cornfield, soybean field. Cornfields with rusty tin-roofed barns; soybean fields with power poles marching diagonally across. Soybean fields with tree-shaded farmhouses; cornfields with peak-roofed silo towers like shiny agricultural castles. And then more soybean fields, and more corn fields.

soybean field (with cornfield in background)

Most of Indiana looks like this: an expanse of farmland where the only variation is between those two ubiquitous crops. This is Big Ag country, where a farmer’s goal is to produce as many identical plants as possible. Soybeans and corn, after all, are the true backbone of America.

The fields are beautiful, in their way—but it’s an unnatural beauty, without mystery or variation. Like assembly lines, these cornrows produce ear after perfect ear with nary a bug or blemish in sight. But they rely on genetically-modified crops, nasty pesticides and irresponsible farming practices, and in the shade of those waxy green leaves lies distressed, unhealthy soil.

But I digress.

What I meant to say was: here in Indiana, there ain’t much but corn and soybeans. It’s flat and green as far as the eye can see… except in Montgomery County, where I met Lacy and Justin Smith.

Lacy is an ex-coworker of mine, and an Indiana native. I’d been looking forward to seeing her for months. We met in Lafayette and then headed out to the countryside where she grew up. There, we visited a few of Indiana’s most pristine, beautiful, and well-hidden spots: Shades and Turkey Run State Parks, and the Pine Hills Nature Preserve.

Pine Hills at the Devil’s Backbone – click to zoom in, it’s worth it

Sandstone cliff on the Devil’s Backbone trail

Pretty amazing scenery; more photos after the jump.

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Read the rest of Shades of Death and the Devil's Backbone (483 words)

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Post tags: adventure, ecotourism, environment, gorge, hiking, Indiana, nature, outdoors, photography, recreation, river, state park, summer, tourism, travel, water

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