2025-08-25 – Chicago, IL – Camp Bullfrog Lake
We stopped at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore on our way to the Chicago area. One of the attractions of this park is the Century of Progress Historic District. This is a collection of innovative houses that were on display at the 1933–34 Chicago Century of Progress Exposition. Only a few of the houses were salvaged and they are now arrayed along the beach within the Lakeshore. Most of them are privately owned so you can only see the exteriors. The photos below describe each one.
Next on our list was to walk the Dune Succession Trail. This trail follows what happens as dunes form along a beach and are slowly stabilized by grasses. As the grasses die they form soil in which other plants can grow. Eventually the soil builds up to the point where it can support trees and a permanent forest. The most heavily forested dune is also the tallest, so we climbed a couple of hundred stair steps to the top and slowly descended back down to the earlier kinds of development until we got to the beautiful beach where it all began. Along the way was an area of Jack Pines that are normally found north in Canada. But the spot agrees with them.
We wanted to make a short visit to Chicago because Sandy had never seen the city. There are few nearby camping facilities but we learned that Cook County has a large network of Forest Preserves and has established four campgrounds within them. We made a reservation at Camp Bullfrog Lake, a bit southwest of the city, and were delighted with the campground. It was in a pretty setting adjacent to a small lake, had nice campsites and clean, modern bathrooms.
Google Maps said it was only a 35 minute drive to downtown via I-55. We had booked a 90 minute architecture boat cruise beginning at 10:30 AM the next day, so the drive should work out well.
2025-08-26 – Chicago, IL – Camp Bullfrog Lake
We knew our drive into the city would coincide with rush hour, so we allowed lots of time for the trip; just barely enough it turned out. The drive was an hour and a half of beep and creep. We parked at a garage two blocks from the boat tour. But when Bill got out of the car his right ankle hurt and walking was quite painful. Our car has a standard transmission. We later figured out that the constant lifting and shifting of his right foot between the gas and the brake pedals caused the problem. It cleared up in a day or so but was entirely unexpected. Needless to say, we kept our walking to a minimum that day.
The Architecture Tour was on a fairly typical tour boat with an open top deck. It ran in and out of the Chicago river. The river affords a broader view than if you tried to see the same landmarks from the street. The woman who spoke as we traveled was clearly interested and well versed in both the architecture and the history of the city. She was very interesting to listen to as she pointed out the sights. We leave it to the captions to explain what we saw.
Sandy has never eaten Chicago-style deep-dish pizza and her celiac diagnosis makes it nearly impossible to find. It was reportedly invented at Pizzeria Uno in Chicago in 1943. If she were to find it anywhere we reasoned Chicago would be the place. And find it we did! The restaurant, Chicago’s Pizza, actually makes it own gluten free deep dish crust so we just had to try it out. We did…. and it was really good! But we managed to consume only half of a medium pie.
We ended up taking half of it back to the camper and reheating a couple of pieces for dinner that evening. Yum! We still have two more pieces in the freezer.
