We were fortunate to get truly excellent weather to head out onto the lake for a boat ride with…read moreHarbor Country Adventures! We went on the Classic Lake Tour. Our tour guide was a retired high school history teacher and football coach with all sorts of interesting stories about the region. We passed Mount Baldy, the "living" sand dune that moves, at Indiana Dunes National Park and made it all the way down to a good view of the Century of Progress homes before making our way back. We also got to hear all about the ship, the Emita II, which is a historic ship from the 1950s, and about how it reached its current home. It was also very cute that Captain Jan had the kids come up and take turns at the wheel on the way back. There is a snack bar on the lower level of the boat, and there are restrooms on board. Free parking is available a little walk away - walk towards the Lighthouse Museum, as the dock is behind there. Definitely a great adventure!

Very enjoyable and comfortable experience. You get a different perspective of the shoreline and…read morelighthouse. Live music and drinks/snacks for sale. Only complaint is there was a group with a person who should have been cut off from being served any more alcohol but her friends bought it for her. She was extremely obnoxious and loud and made a lot of people on the boat uncomfortable, especially ones with small children.

During a weekend visit to Indiana Dunes we wanted to get a really good hike in. We stopped by the…read moreIndiana Dunes Visitor Center and we were thankful we did. It seems if you know nothing about the area, you can be easily confused and lost. The State park actually is in the National Park boundary. The volunteer at the visit center gave us many hiking options. We ended up choosing the Bailly Homestead and Chellberg Farm. Both for the history aspect of it and the great hiking trails. It had three loops, a smaller one about .63 mile, a larger one about a mile, and the big loop approximately 2.4 miles with runs into the Calumet Trail. All are pretty easy walks. If your looking for a great hike in the Dunes area definitely give the Bailly Homestead a look. It has a decent size parking lot and restrooms. I'd also highly suggest stopping by the National Park Visitor Center as it is very close by.

This is one of the better hikes in the Indiana Dunes NP. Better yet, it's perfect for anyone as…read moreit's little more than a walk in the woods. And it's full of history. There's a parking lot, picnic tables, restrooms and other park facilities at the trailhead. Check out the map of the trails-and take a pic for reference on your phone. There are a few different trails and spurs that you can take. I like the loop that takes you through the Chellberg Farm, to the Bailey Cemetery and then have a beer or snack at the Homestead. That's about a two mile loop. If you'd just like to see the Homestead straightaway, park down by the Little Calumet River that it overlooks-three lefts from the parking lot. Easy parking down by the fishing hole and just a short walk up the hill to the Bailey Homestead. This was an 1820s fur trading post. This was the NorthWest back in those frontier days. Can you imagine? You can see what a perfect location it is. For me it's a perfect spot for a boozy picnic. Cheers!

We only had a morning to explore the park and enjoyed our short journey. There was construction…read moregoing on so we had to detour to make it to the beach but it was worth the drive. There was a large parking lot, showers to remove sand and restrooms near the beach. It was beautiful scenery and my kids loved looking for "beach treasures". Perfect for a beautiful September day.

A family beach day at Indiana Dunes on August 9, 2024, became a humiliating and traumatic…read moreexperience. My husband and I brought our four children, ages 9, 7, 3, and 1, along with my sister and her 9-year-old son. After lifeguards warned us to stay knee-deep because of strong waves, my nephew went slightly too far into the water twice. We apologized and understood the safety concern. Instead of simply asking us to leave, security escalated the situation: my husband was detained on the beach, and I was repeatedly prevented from returning to our children, who were only 30-40 feet away. I watched my 9-year-old daughter cry while a stranger comforted her and tried to help her wrangle my 3 and 1-year olds. When another National Park law-enforcement officer arrived, I asked whether I could return to my children. He immediately said yes, making the first officer's refusal even harder to understand. The situation was humiliating and frightening for our family, especially over a minor safety violation involving a 9-year-old child (and again - this child was not even ours, it was my sister's son). We later requested records and video through FOIA so the incident could be independently reviewed. Despite our efforts, they never provided us with the footage. We fully support enforcing water-safety rules. If we needed to leave, we would have left. But there was no reason a simple safety issue had to become detention, separation from our children, and public humiliation. Our family experienced none of the judgment, proportionality, or basic humanity that day. We will never return to Indiana Dunes. When we want a beach day now, we drive past Indiana and continue to Michigan.

After missing the alumni bus option, I found the Irish express service to attend the USC v. Notre…read moreDame football game. For $125/pp, I got a round trip bus ride to south bend, unlimited non alcoholic drinks, and a sandwich and chips and drinks on the way back. With a convenient pick up and drop off location it was a very convenient option and a good value. For those wanting more of a party there are ticket options with an open bar. I would absolutely recommend this service.

If you are planning to go see a Notre Dame game (Bucketlist) the Irish Express is the only way to…read morego. They feed you breakfast with bloody Mary's or Mimosas then take you on a 2 hour ride to the Notre Dame campus drinking and having a blast all the way done on the bus. When you get there, they have a tailgate all setup for you with plenty of food and open bar for three hours. Then you go to the game and after the game come back to the bus and drink for another 2 hours until you get back to Old Town Social. You can then go in the bar and get 1 more free beer. Unbelievable trip and hats off to Dillon, Dan and the crew for making it such a great trip. I'll be back!! Bill L. San Diego

Wow! Five stars are not nearly enough for South Shore Brew Bus and our exceptional driver Mark!…read more I had searched around trying to find the best service to take us to and from a few wineries and stumbled upon South Shore Brew Bus. We were celebrating a 40th birthday and started planning a little late. After submitting some of my info and details of what we were looking for, Chris reached out right away. He made the entire planning process painless and was an incredible help with suggestions and recommendations. I knew from the start things were going to work out well. We settled on the wine tour consisting of 3 wineries and lunch at a brewery, as well as transportation to and from each of our stops including pick up and drop off at our home! The day before our reservation I heard from our driver, Mark. Just this simple act settled some of my nerves. I was stressing leading up this about things going awry. What if our driver didn't show up? What if bookings were messed up since I booked last minute? You name it, I thought it. Mark confirmed our schedule for the day and we were set. The day of the reservation he showed up early to pick us up and start our day. We had less than perfect weather yet Mark kept us on time for each of our stops. Not only did he take care of us getting to and from each winery, he also provided us with a charcuterie tray, mimosas, and homemade cookies. He was also able to educate us and give us fun facts about each place we stopped. Mark was better than any personal assistant - it was like we've known him forever! Not a detail was left untouched. We had the BEST day celebrating thanks to Mark and South Shore Brew Bus! We are looking forward to booking a brew tour this summer!

We used South Shore Brew bus to shuttle our crew for my daughters bachelorette party this past…read moreweekend. The bus was large and clean, completely prepped and ready for us with charcuterie,mimosas,Jell-O shots, water and chips . Our driver Rick was amazing, truly we above and beyond to make for a great experience. When the weather took a turn and our plans for the evening changed we asked our driver if we could extend our time. Although Rick was not able to , he quickly found Mark to help us extend the party and get us all back safely. Mark to the rescue. Highly recommend!

I've watched several of Kelli's virtual tours on YouTube and greatly enjoyed them. I'm a native…read moreChicagoan, now living on the West Coast, and I love classic movies, so it's fun to find out new facts about the hometown or suburban locations appearing in popular films. Based on Kelli's tour about Marshall Field's and its role in the movie industry, I recently watched "Mahogany" for the first time. And her tour which focused on the LaGrange locations in "While You Were Sleeping" led me to finally check out this movie, as well. Keep up the good work, Kelli, and I hope to take one of your tours in person on my next visit back to the Midwest.

From the owner: Choose from in-person walking tours and virtual events to learn about Chicago's history with cinema.read more

The tour of Cedar Lake on the steamship is a waste of your money. It's a quick 15-20 minute ride…read moreacross the lake and back. Recommendation is a BIG FAT ZERO. Not even 1 star.

I had the unique opportunity this past weekend to stumble upon a private tour of The Lake of the…read moreRed Cedars Museum, located in Cedar Lake Indiana. This gem of a building is located literally on the water of a sleepy little Indiana town. As I walked through the hallway of this multi function boarding house/converted hotel, I realized I had finally been able to see items throughout history that I had only read about. This museum, dedicated to the preservation and history of one of Cedar Lakes oldest business building blocks during the ice industry was filled with americana. Top to bottom. If you are a historical enthusiast and are into these kinds of things, please make time to see it and they ask for SO VERY LITTLE in donation that you should throw some extra money in the jar on your way out. It is a treasure, and a wonderful find for anyone to see.

Outstanding Customer Service! Highly recommended, new vehicles, very clean, safe drivers,…read moreoutstanding staff willing to go the extra mile to ensure your experience is great. Business sent a text message day prior to let know who my driver was going to be. Our driver was Margaret, she had very strong communication skills, very good driver, and very friendly! I alerted her our flight to Midway was delayed and she monitored our flight and arrived promptly for pick up even at 3:30 in the morning. She was very friendly and drove us to our destination with no issues. They have extra charging ports for all passengers, climate control system in their vehicles. Their cars are roomy even with 4 suitcases and 4 passengers riding in the back. I accidentally left my laptop in the backseat after our ride concluded and they were prompt to notify me and returned my bag. I love that they take pride in their work and they made our experience very enjoyable! I also love that they are a veteran owned business. I highly recommend their services.

We used 2 PrivaDrive vans to take us to and from The Acrorn over Thanksgiving weekend! Jeremy and…read moreEric were prompt, friendly and fun! The vans were super clean and comfortable! We also added a stop and changed our pick up time without any issues! We highly recommend PrivaDrive and will definitely be using them again!

I wheeled the Prairie-Duneland Trail during my 25th Anniversary Tenderness Tour event that started…read morein the Lake County area of Indiana. This is a 10.3 mile asphalt trail that goes through both Lake and Porter counties. It is for the most part a wheelchair friendly trail and you can see walkers, runners, and bicyclists on the trail quite frequently as it tends to go through multiple populated areas. The trail is a few miles south of the Michigan Lakeshore and Indiana Dunes National Park. You can probably guess from the name that you will see lots of both prairies and dunes on the trail. You see lots of ponds and woods, though there's lots of a more urban trail vibe as you go through Chesterton and Hobart. I actually started my journey in Hobart. If you want to detour about a mile off trail in Chesterton, there's an old train depot where you can still watch trains pass by. It's pretty darn cool. The trail connects to other trails including the Dunes Kankakee Trail and the Iron Horse Heritage Trail (which I also wheeled). Parking for the western trailhead is available in Countryside Park. Parking for the eastern trailhead is available on Jackson Boulevard in Chesterton. I really enjoyed my time on this trail. It's a mostly level trail and offers a nice mixture of urban and rural trail experiences. I like seeing nature, but for safety I also do like the occasional human encounter. This trail offers both. If you're the type who likes to also visit towns, this is also a great trail for doing so. Both Hobart and Chesterton are nice cities to visit with both tourist options places to grab a meal.

As good as it gets for community trails! The rails to trails program and IndianaTrails.org put…read moretogether this great 10.4 mile path through Lake and Porter counties in NW Indiana. The trail connects to several other trails (Iron Horse Heritage/Calumet) in the area and takes you through some terrific scenery. Some parts of the trail are shaded with beautiful tree lines and others are sunny and open through a field. The best part of this trail, WATER! Take this to the Calumet trail and end up at the Dunes. Fantastic day planned for you, I'll be here all week.