First stop was the historic Whitewater Canal in Metamora. We knew it was closed on Tuesdays, but decided to go check it out anyway. So glad we did! Cool little town, much of it dating to the early 1800’s. The National Historic Site featured some pretty interesting buildings, such as the only covered aqueduct in the U.S. The aqueduct is a canal bridge over a creek. I’ve never seen that before. We also poked around the Grist mill and the town. Fun way to start the day.
We hadn’t planned on going to Indianapolis, but my nephew, Marc, suggested we visit Sun King a local brewery. My first impression of Indianapolis was that it was a tired old state capital, like Sacramento used to be before it became hip. We decided to explore it on bikes and what a pleasant surprise! The White River State Park trail goes along the White River and is really awesome! There’s a promenade section with rough hewn limestone. A nod to Indiana’s limestone quarries. Along the way there are cool etchings in the rocks of famous buildings made from Indiana limestone. It was another day close to a 100 degrees, so it was nice to ride along the river and catch a breeze every now and then.
We also poked around the main park, zoo area and checked out the butterfly gardens.
It was hot, humid and time for a beer. We had no idea that Indianapolis has such cool bike trails! The White River Trail hooks up with the downtown Cultural Trail and we were able to ride our bikes safely thru the heart of Indianapolis to Sun King Brewery. Such a great way to see the city! Shout out to Indianapolis for having designated bike paths downtown.
Voila! Sun King Brewery. Dang, that was one tasty beer. Ironically, we tasted a few and decided on “Cloaked” a bourbon barrel aged (do you see a pattern?) and “Dusty v Evan American Porter”. How do we know we are in the Midwest? No longer bbq, but now cheese and sausage platters. Yes, please.
Also, shout out to Josh for helping me pick out my bike and strongly suggesting I get the rack on the back. This rack has carried ice, beach towels, and left overs. This has freed up your mom to use both hands manning the brakes. After a couple of beers it was much appreciated.
We headed due north and pulled into Indiana Dunes National Park at 4ish. (It helped to pick up an hour. We are now on Central Time). The biggest relief is that it is 75 degrees! The coolest it has been since we left Doheny State Park first day of our trip. When we first got here it rained for about 10 minutes and then decided to just quit. We hopped on our bikes and headed for Lake Michigan.
In the National Park, along the lake and dunes, are 5 homes left over from the 1933 World’s Fair. They were built as “houses of tomorrow.” Some have been restored and some have definitely not lived up to the tomorrow theme. They were brought here on barges in 1935. They are private residences today, but all on the National Register of Historic homes.
I think we’ll be deflating our floaties now...the days of scorching hot sun, salty waters and warm lakes are behind us. The upper Midwest is calling. What lies ahead is cooler nights, erratic weather patterns, more bike rides and lots of beer.
