Thursday exploring

On a couple evenings this week, we explored the Calumet Area some more, this time by car.

I was curious about the Calumet Waterways, and Jeff was curious about some historic planned neighborhoods and a special little restaurant.

After supper on Thursday, we hopped in the car and headed northwest toward Riverdale on Michigan City Road, looking for a forest preserve section next to Blue Island in Calumet Park, where the Little Calumet River meets the Cal Sag Channel. We took a wrong turn and stumbled upon Fay's Point, a new housing/marina development that is trying to make the most of this waterway location. Then we found the Calumet Park Forest Preserve sections across the river, which have a boat launch, a golf course and a picnic grove all along the river there.

The next spot of Cook County Forest Preserve District exploration was on the way back home, near the Bishop Ford Freeway. There is an exit sign called Beaubian Woods which I have driven past a million times and never stopped. We came to this area from the west after a few wrong turns, and went past an abandoned housing complex and a military school set in this remote area of woods, so it felt kind of creepy, especially since it was getting dusky out. There is usually one lonely car parked in these forest preserves, and we always wonder if we are stumbling upon someone that is not glad to see company. But there are other explorers like us. This time it was a man who had a camera tripod set up to get photos of this lonely spot of nature. The roadways in this forest preserve parcel were very potholey and with rain puddles, you couldn't tell how deep they might be. We pulled near the launch pad on the riverfront and had the treat of seeing a heron right at the waterside with a fish in its mouth. The heron knocked the fish around for a while and got a good angle on it, then swallowed it whole. Douwe was thrilled to watch.

Since it was getting dark, we headed back to Hammond by way of 130th Street and Avenue O, passing a state recreation area called William Powers State Recreation Area. The more we explore, the more curious we are getting about this strange area where woodsy and swampy preserves are separated only by a fence from dumps and aging industrial buildings.