The St. Joe today welcome center is a convenient way to get to know what's going on around town…read more  Visit their website for more information and if you visit their facebook page they create events for things that are happening around town like the farmers markets.  Here in Saint Joseph we stay busy with community events.  St. Joseph today helps keep those events organized and lively.  Today was the chili tour in the downtown area and it was honestly wonderful.  I've been coming to this event since it started and I love it.

As an update I would have to say I love their new offices! I've now officially done the Heritage…read moreTrail over 12 times and can pretty much recite the script from memory, but still enjoy it every single time! They have done so much work on making this so great! Wholeheartedly recommend this to everyone!

We happened upon the Elkhart visitors center as it was directly across from the hotel we stayed at…read moreon a whim. We were SO glad we did. The docents gave us recommendations for a great family diner to grab breakfast down the street (can't remember the name unfortunately) and also suggested a self guided driving tour called the Heritage Trail. We received a free CD that directs you in about an hour and a half long loop (or all day if you take your time at each attraction) to all of the sights and attractions of Elkhart county and the surrounding Amish countryside. My boyfriend and I are young people and it was exciting and fun for us too so put your notions aside and just do it' It takes you through the major cute towns in the area and also to off the beaten country spots like Bonneville Mill Park (the historic mill is open and active Weds-Sunday) which was a real treat. It goes into historical detail of many of the spots and the directions were easy to follow. The visitors center also gave us coupons and had tons of brochures on local attractions. The quilt gardens were also a great tip from the docent to take a look at. We grabbed delicious donuts at an Amish bakery and wandered for hours around the Shipshewana flea market (open Tues/Weds). Even brought the pup along.

This is really a 4.5 star review. The building is very new and lovely with cool artwork of local…read moreanimals outside. I wanted more exhibits about the area. The gift shop, however, is beautiful with local artists and sustainable artists represented and the woman working the ash register was absolutely lovely.

They were helpful with maps & state park & beach info. Got some amazing Fluid coffee beans to take…read morehome.

My family absolutely loves the KNC. When the weather is glum, there are lots of things to do for…read morekids inside. When it's nice outside, there are tons of trails and lots of exploring to be done. We typically start inside, and then we hit the trails. Lots of birds to see and streams to play in. The imagination runs free at Kalamazoo Nature Center! With annual passes available (around $80 for a family), the investment in the community is well worth it!

Lovely place, first time my wife and I had been there. We walked several trails and toured the…read morevisitors center. The trails were well made and matained. We will be back. We were impressed in the COVID precautions. Temperature checks and contacting info.

Such a cute little space. I had a day off and searched "nature center" to take my toddler and ended…read moreup here. The outside makes it look a bit more impressive than the inside. There is a beautiful exterior with some pretty nature trails nearby. The inside seems to be somewhat wasted space as there is a small exhibit section, a play section, and a gift shop but also wide open conference room space, classroom space, and bird watching space that could have a bit more interaction to occupy little hands and minds. I appreciate the toddler friendly activities in the play space, though. It didn't look like much but there was a nice assortment of books, puzzles, stuffed animals, and a couple other things that could be pulled out and gone through one at a time to take up space. My son also enjoyed the nature trail storybook outside, although it was a bit long for little legs and we didn't get to finish. Overall, I really enjoyed my outing here and think a few small additions could make this center even better.

Driving between Cleveland and Chicago, we like to make time for a stop at Indiana Dunes State Park…read more This time it was a blustery chilly day (Nov 2025), so it wasn't going to be a swimming or hiking day. But we didn't mind the $12 vehicle fee just for the view. South of the park on SR-49, you'll see a Visitors Center, and if we were staying longer, it's a nice stop for local park info, campground reservations, souvenirs, and refreshments. The drive into the state park to Porter Beach takes you through thick woods, and we saw a buck crossing the road, which was a real treat and a reminder that these parks are wild enough. At the end of SR-49, there's an ornate pavilion, and it was closed due to the upcoming holiday, even the cafe and store were closed. The restrooms outside on the boardwalk were open. And we brought our lunch in from Culver's down by I-80. There were only a couple other cars during the time we were there. We pulled up and braved the blowing sand to get a look at the thrashing waters of Lake Michigan. With gusts up to 40mph from an approaching storm, the eaves were spectacular! But it was difficult to stay upright in that wind, not to mention the light sand-blasting we were getting. And we were on the road heading for a holiday visit, so we didnt stay long, only an hour or so. It's a beautiful park, even in the winter. We want to sled down the 170ft dune-canyon known as Devil's Slide!

I'm surprised that seemingly so few people know about the Indiana Dunes State/National Parks! This…read moreis a beautifully unique park, and a must visit for anyone who loves hiking and is looking for a fun challenge. We visited for my husband's birthday, and it was a little tricky to determine which trails were located in the State Park and which trails were located in the National Park. We actually ended up paying for a National Park pass first, but then realized the trail we wanted to hike was in the State Park and so we ended up having to pay for access to that as well. It doesn't make much sense to me that there's not one main visitors center with a flat rate for both parks, but oh well. Let this be a reminder to your research if you're planning a visit soon! We hiked the Three Dune Challenge around 4 PM on a Friday, and there was no one else on the trail! We were shocked to have the whole hike to ourselves. It is indeed a challenge, but the view was well worth it. After making our way down hill and through the campsite (where they could use a bit more signage, especially since that's how they recommend exiting), we drove to the beach and enjoyed the sunset. This park is definitely worth a stop!

Absolutely stunning. This park is another reminder of why we need to invest time, energy, and funds…read moreinto our natural resources. I could spend all day here wandering the trails and walking the beach. I plan to reserve a campsite in their beautiful campground sometime this summer.

Definitely worth the drive to see lake Michigan and the Sand dunes. There is a beautiful boardwalks…read morenext to the visitor center that you can take directly to the dunes. It's a wooden walkway, with a ton of shade from the trees, that takes you through the forest directly to the dunes. The visitor center was closed for remodel when we were there so we could not go inside to enjoy the displays on this trip so I am looking forward to the upgrades.

We wanted to take a tour of Notre Dame. It is here the tour starts and ends. We arrived early to…read morecheck in. The receptionist was very personable. She recommended Einstein Bagels just across the way while we were waiting for the tour to start. We followed her suggestion then came back to look around. The Eck Center is very modern and features art and information about the campus. There is also a theater that has an introductory film about the history of Notre Dame. The tours start at set times and can take up to a couple hours.

Back in July I went to De Zaanse Schans in the Netherlands and then in August I came here to…read moreWindmill Island Gardens - so I feel like I have a good way to compare the parks. The windmill is identical to what is in the Netherlands. The only difference between this windmill and the ones in the Netherlands is that each level of this windmill has different types of jobs that were done that relied on windmill power such as clog carving and flour milling. I feel like the people in costume don't really want to chat or start a discussion around the park except for one woman at the very top of the windmill who was giving out stickers and one doing the pipe organ demonstration - everyone else in costume were either chatting with each other or kind of zoned out. Outside of the windmill, there's not much to do - we watched the short informative film and the pipe organ demonstration, but that's it for activities. We were told that the park had horses in the pasture but we walked the entire park and all the paddocks were empty. There is a carousel for kids and there is a gift shop selling the exact same stuff as all of the gift shops in Amsterdam. Even though we were in Holland, Michigan, everything just says "Holland" on it - I even saw the exact clog magnet I purchased in Amsterdam for sale here! Even the paper shopping bags for small items are identical to what is available in the gift shops in Amsterdam. (The cheese is local though.) One that that was pretty cool was looking at this big miniature town that they have on display from the 1930's. If you have never been to Windmill Island Gardens, then you'll have no idea of the significance of the miniature town in Nicole Kidman's basement in the film "Holland" that she starred in. It is set in Holland Michigan and features many shots of this particular windmill. My husband and I watched it after we stumbled upon it after our visit and having been here was kind of cool while watching. Overall, I'd say you can do absolutely everything in 2 hours here, including walking the entire loop around the fields. It was fine but I'd definitely like more of the employees doing talks discussing Dutch culture, crafts, architecture, whatever. Visited: August 2025

Tulip festival visit…read more We wanted to pick one of the touristy style pay to enter tulip areas. We decided on the windmill island. It will take you about 2 hours to explore. In the front you start with walking through some pretty gardens. They have a street musical machine you can listen to, a video about the windmill, shops to check out. When you walk across the bridge that is the best part of the property. A beautiful view of the windmill and tulips. You can walk inside the windmill, stroll through the tulips and enjoy the walking trail. Bring your camera to get awesome pictures!