After months and months of planning, we were finally ready to leave for our pre-wedding “honeymoon” out West. We had carefully packed up the camper and truck, downloaded some Podcasts and movies, and were off on our grand adventure together! This start of this vacation coincides with our 2 month countdown to the wedding. We might be a little nuts for going so close to the wedding, but we wouldn’t be us if we weren’t a little crazy 🙂

Anyone who knows the area, knows that there isn’t much between us and our first true National Park destination in the Badlands of South Dakota. There is a LOT of farmland and not much else to see! Recently, I was looking at the list of National Parks and saw that in the past 2 years, 2 parks have been added to the list making the grand total 61. One of these parks is the Gateway Arch in Saint Louis, MO (kind of lame if you ask me). The other is the Indiana Dunes National Park that was just established this past February! Upon looking at the map, we would be driving on the interstate right past it, so we decided to make the stop!

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore was established in 1966 as a way to preserve and protect the plant and animal life living in the dunes on the shore of Lake Michigan. The dunes were being destroyed by companies looking to use the sand to make glass. Once established as a National Lakeshore, the land and water surrounding the dunes was forever protected, leading to 4 expansions of the protected area and the eventual designation as a National Park! (Shout out to Dina for the suggestion!)

Indiana Dunes National Park was AWESOME! We couldn’t stay long, but did get the chance to go to both the State Park (which cost $12! We couldn’t believe we had to pay to go into a state park) and Mt. Baldy, the highest dune in Indiana. It was incredible to see this much beach and sand and have a dune sort of pop up out of nowhere! Mt. Baldy moves around 10 feet every year, so it’s crazy to think how they maintained the parking lot right behind it! We would 100% visit this park again, 10/10! (They need to change their signs to read National PARK rather than Lakeshore though!)

After we stopped at the Dunes, we continued on our way to our final stopping point for the night at Rock Cut State Park in Rockford, IL. Side note- driving around Chicago traffic with a camper is TERRIBLE. I DO NOT recommend this. Avoid at all costs if you can!

Rock Cut State Park was such a cool place to stay. There were tons of people and campers, but each spot was surrounded by some trees and vegetation so it still had a sense of privacy. We cooked a few hot dogs in the dark (we seem to be fond of arriving late and setting up the camper at night), and settled in for the night.

Little did we know what the next morning would bring. Will update more on that later!