Baby Park (do do d do d do) - Park #9

I was excited to start visiting parks again and this one was officially #9! I say officially because I have been to some of these places when they were state parks or even some national parks but that was before I decided to go on this blog quest and therefore I feel (even though others don't) that they must be visited again.

You see, I am collecting patches from every park I visit. I have a plan to sew them onto a pillow or pillows, but if they keep adding parks I could have a whole blanket by the time I'm done!

Indiana Dunes National Park is our nation's newest park to date (#61). It was formerly a state park or national lakeshore, but was upgraded on February 15, 2019. Here is a photo of the rangers, celebrating.

The national park signage was not much improved upon my visit. No, the cardboard sign was gone, but a makeshift sign propped up off the ground still sits in front of the visitor's center. I'm hoping if I get to visit again they will have gotten a better one.

By the way, I met and interacted with the ranger on the top left at the visitor's gift shop. He is a very nice man and after several minutes of searching for my patch I asked for his help. He informed me that they don't have their park patches yet, but they are ordering them. Then, he said, "If you want, I have a special one-of-a-kind patch that no one else has and you can have it." I was really excited by this and said, "Yes! Absolutely!". Then he went in the back office and this is what he gave me.

What do you think???

Anyway, enough about patches...let's talk about this park.

This park has over 1,100 plants species making it 4th in all the national parks and more than 370 bird species. Stephen Mather, the first director of the National Park Service has been trying to make this place a National Park since 1916 to protect not only the plant and wildlife ecosystems, but the ever changing sand dunes that rise above Lake Michigan.

Unfortunately, the majority of wildlife I encountered was mosquito-related and most of the sand dunes I saw were covered in people hanging out at one of several of the park's beaches. I did manage to get these great shots however.

But tune into my next post for the other things this park has to offer!