>Days 1-3: Forest Park and Northern Indiana
I had some business to tend to so I was just across the border in Northern Indiana for much of the first couple days.
We decided to go to Indiana Dunes State Park since it seemed to be the only thing around there and we were not disappointed. Lake Michigan was a lot warmer than the Pacific and it was impressive to see the skyline so far away across the lake. Indiana was lush and green, but definitely very plain, the stretch we visited. Drinking some beers at the little restaurant on the beach was a nice highlight to an otherwise uneventful 3 days. These were the only days I rented a car, as I had no desire to drive with Chicago people. The driving is horrible, the highways are undersized and have weird, inefficient merges and drivers are very aggressive. Abandoning the car after this saved me numerous headaches, as well as hours of sitting in traffic and over 350 dollars in hotel parking fees. When I called ahead I learned that the hotels wanted 60-70 dollars per night to park the car. Fuck. That. It was trains and walking from here on out.

On Forest Park, it is a nice little area, the main street is nice, the homes are elegant and well kept. I didnt spend a lot of time here other than sleeping or driving through, but it, and the adjacent area was nice enough. I ate a hot dog at picrel during my stay there, the only real memorable thing I ate during this stretch, but that was about to change.