Indiana Dunes, July 26

Today was a very nice day and some of my grandkids were in town so my daughter and I decided to take them to see dunes, a sight they were unfamiliar with in Kansas. We went to the Indiana Dunes State Park and I took the kids down the Beach House Blowout, one of the larger dunes that is still available to walk down on the sand. They grumped on the hike over, but were very impressed at the blowout. After playing a bit and having lunch on the beach by the blowout we decided to take them to the official swimming beach for a swim.

It is amazing, midway between the swim beach and Beverly Shores we had the beach to ourselves, no one within 1000 feet of us.




Yet in the swim area half a mile away it looked like Oak St beach on a hot weekend.

While the kids were playing in the water and on a smaller dune near the beach I went for a swim. I was OK out of the designated swim area but in the swim area I was informed several times that I could not be in any water deeper than "my nipples". So the question is, were all these people in the swim area to keep their nipples dry? Or did they congregate there because they could be close to their cars in the parking area?

By the way, the water was calm with only 6 inch swells and averaged 73 on my thermometer. But the warm water was only a few centimeters deep on the surface with colder water down below. There were also pockets of warm and cold water all over. But I was in for 40 minutes without even a cap and felt quite comfortable.