Day 7 - Chicago

An early (well, 9 a.m.) and very substantial Swedish breakfast at Ann Sather in Andersonville, so that we could spend the day driving round the bottom end of Lake Michigan; it's lovely once you get past the very sad and dilapidated Gary, Indiana. Stopped off at West Beach, Indiana Dunes, for a little walk, then on to Mount Baldy for a steep hike up to the top of the dunes and over onto the gorgeous beach. The sand here is very fine and soft, so quite hard going when climbing up a 30-degree slope.

We continued on into Michigan (so that's another 2 states ticked off on my list), and spent quite a while in New Buffalo, where Svetlana used to go on holiday as a child with her Lithuanian grandparents - cute little seaside town, mostly unchanged. Excellent coffee at Michigan Thyme (and pretty things in the store also). On to Gintaras at Union Pier, where Svetlana used to stay in one of the cottages on the beach. We had a long walk along the shore, scattering seagulls and skimming stones as we went; hardly anyone else on the beach at all!

We had seen signs for Lemon Creek Winery, so winetasting was the next order of business - and who would have thought that Michigan would produce such good wines? I'm not normally an ice wine fan, but the one I tried (2005 Snow Moon) was superb, tasting of oranges and honey.

On the way back. we stopped off for Redamak's excellent burgers at New Buffalo, and completed our dinner down the street with ice cream (pistachio / chocomania combo) at Oink's - a very American way to end the day!

By this time the sun was sinking, so time to head back to Chicagoland through the sulphurous industrial corridor of north Indiana - the Chicago skyline, all lit up, was a very welcome sight!






Funny sign of the day: Laundry Room: Drop your drawers here! (New Buffalo, MI)