We had originally planned a route all along Lake Michigan starting from Green Bay, Wisconsin and ending in Ludington, Michigan. Since our plans are never set in stone and we hardly ever make any reservations, we made an audible and decided to head straight east along the northern Indiana border instead of heading into Michigan.
We decided to stay one more night here at Indiana Dunes. We have been so busy riding the train into Chicago for the last two days and getting back late in the evening, we thought it would be nice to spend the day just relaxing and catching up with life at the campground and maybe do some exploring of the nearby cities.
Our day in Chicago yesterday was a long one but we decided to head back into the city again today. We have some friends who live near Wrigley field and we decided to visit them so our kids can meet for a little playdate.
When we were at the beach yesterday, we met a young mother and her son. She told us about the South Shore Line that picks up at the Beverly Shores station right outside of our campground. It is free for the kids to ride and only costs $8.25 each for us to take the train all the way to downtown Chicago. The station is a 10-minute walk from our campsite but we decided to drive here since we wanted to get an early start and didn’t know if it would be dark or not when we got back.
We are now in Indiana. Indiana has only about a 40 mile stretch of shoreline by Lake Michigan and much of it is designated as either a State Park or a National Park. We woke up in the Walmart in Portage, Indiana and headed into one of the two campgrounds hoping to find a spot.
Our time in Wisconsin finally came to an end this morning as we packed up and left Cliffside Park. We had not anticipated spending this much time around Lake Michigan when we left California nearly 2 months ago but we are glad we did. Our original plan was to just head across from Denver to Kentucky but these changes in our plan tend to work out for the best.
Our second day in Milwaukee took us into the Historic Third Ward. We have limited time here in Milwaukee so we are not getting to do as much exploring as we would have liked. There were a lot of great recommendations for this area and since it spans just a few blocks so it is very walkable for our little ones.
Our first night a Cliffside Park was great. With no one in the campground, clean bathrooms and free hot showers, it beats camping in tight spaces near the city. The girls got up early and as usual, both squeezed into Ava’s bed for a little morning entertainment on the iPad. This time, Luka thought he would join in on the fun.
This morning before we headed down towards Milwaukee, we are taking it pretty easy. We woke up at our usual west coast schedule at around 9:30, 10 o’cock. Since we have some decent wifi here at our courtesy parking, we decided to do a little Skyping with Marlene’s parents. They miss the kids and the kids miss them as well.
You wouldn’t think Sheboygan is a place that you would find great, authentic mexican food but you would be wrong. We stayed last night at the side of our hosts Steve and Jenny’s house and it was nice and quiet. We asked them for some advice about local food and El Camino Mexican Restaurant was highly recommended.
Every 20 or so school days, Ava has to have a meeting with her kindergarten teacher to check on her progress. Even though Marlene is doing the actual schooling, Ava has a teacher at the charter school she is enrolled in with this homeschooling program. Today is her first scheduled meeting with Teacher Stephanie and we came to a McDonald’s for lunch and to use their WiFi so she can have her meeting via Skype.
Last night a storm came through here and with rain, thunder, lightning and so much wind that we felt like someone was pushing our Airstream around. We were safe and sound inside our aluminum bubble and were actually kind of glad that the Mish and van were finally getting a wash after nearly two months on the road 🙂
