Popcorn and Porter County

It's time again for the Popcorn Festival in downtown Valparaiso, annually held on the Saturday after Labor Day--and this festival is #93 on my Indiana 200 list.  Ah, I have good memories of heading west of campus to participate in the festivities.  To start off, there's a parade (#94), featuring community organizations from Valparaiso and all over the region of Porter County, many of them incorporating popcorn in their efforts to speak to the year's festival theme.  Following the parade, I'd usually amble by the various booths flanking the Porter County Courthouse sqaure (#95), and spilling into the other streets of downtown Valparaiso, even onto Lincolnway, which is the local stretch of the famed Lincoln Highway (#96).

The festival commemorates local businessman Orville Redenbacher (#97), who sits fixed in place as a statue (#98) on a bench just west of the courthouse, which was installed more recently.

Nearby in downtown Valparaiso is a fine establishment, Valpo Velvet ice cream (#99).  I remember eating it for dessert at Strongbow Inn (#100), a fine restaurant that sadly closed last calendar year.  They served many wonderful dishes featuring turkey.  Just a little ways west on US 30 is the Broadway Cafe (#101), just beyond the edge of the campus of ValpU.

Downtown Valparaiso is also home to Don Quijote, a Spanish restaurant (#102).

Valparaiso gets its name from a city in Chile on the coast of the Pacific Ocean.  Just offshore in the Pacific there was a battle (#103) during the War of 1812, in which  William Sidney Porter (#104), serving in the US Navy and in command of a ship, fought with a British ship.  His name was given to Porter County, of which Valparaiso is the county seat.

I found this out from reading a booklet I picked up at the Valparaiso Branch of the Porter County Public Library System (#105), which is a wonderful library that has all the amenities of a town's public library, great collections, and certain sense of coziness as well.  I was even impressed to see a display of important documents from United States history on a wall near an entrance.

Walking from the ValpU campus to downtown Valparaiso, one notices the rises and dips in the land, which are also prevalent on campus, with some buildings built into small hills.  All these are features of a geographic moraine (#106), marking what was once the shoreline of Lake Michigan.

Speaking of geographical features, 15-20 miles into the natural wonders of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (#107), on the southern shore of Lake Michigan, which I spoke of extensively in my blog post on the Centennial of the National Park Service.  The Indiana Dunes lakeshore is itself marking its 50th anniversary this year in 2016.

It was nice to have the opportunity to attend a lecture by former Indiana Dunes NL Superintendent Constantine Dillon (#108), who helped me become aware of the great wealth of biodiversity in the lakeshore area.

The lakeshore has several beaches, including Kemil Beach (#109), West Beach (#110), Porter Beach (#111), Dunbar Beach (#112), Lake View Beach (#113), Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk Beach (#114) by the Riverwalk (#115), Central Avenue Beach (#116), and Mount Baldy Beach (#117), right by Mount Baldy (#118), over in LaPorte County near the lakeshore's eastern border.  There are 15 miles' worth of beaches.  Porter Beach is where I ventured one day to experience the winds of the Superstorm Sandy weather system.

Besides the beaches, there are many other natural areas: Miller Woods (#119) in the western part of the park that extends into Lake County and the eastern Gary neighborhood of Miller, Inland Marsh (#120), Mnoke Prairie (#121), Cowles Bog (#122), Heron Rookery (#123), the Great Marsh (#124), and Glenwood Dunes (#125).  There are 50 miles of trails that extend all over the beaches and other natural areas.

And there are some historic buildings, too:  There are the Bailey Homestead (#126), and the Chelburg Farm (#127), which is the site of an annual apples festival (#128), and an annual maple syrup festival (#129).  I once walked by it while staying at the Spring House Inn (#130) for a retreat in the town of Porter (#131), nestled in some of those wooded areas.

Over by Beverly Shores (#132) are the 5 homes from the Century of Progress World's Fair in Chicago in 1933-1934.  I have had the chance to participate twice in the annual tour of the 5 homes (#133): Wieboldt-Rostone House (#134), the Florida Tropical House (#135) with great views of the beach, the Cypress Log Cabin (#136) whose owner has done a superb job with the interior decorations, the House of Tomorrow (#137) which doesn't have any person restoring it yet, and the Armco-Ferro House (#138) with great views from a solarium on top.

The drive along US Federal Route 12 through the National Lakeshore areas is scenic (#139), providing a similar view as the South Shore Line (#140) tracks along the same corridor, as it goes from Chicago all the way to South Bend.

Nestled in the National Lakeshore is Indiana Dunes State Park (#141).  It also has a nice beach, a historic bathhouse (#142), and many trails that take visitors through the wooded areas of the dunes further inland from the beach.  There are also some tall dunes there, like Mount Tom (#143).

Nearby is the Dune Park South Shore Line train station (#144).  I would board the South Shore Line at this station when headed home, or into downtown Chicago.  It was so nice each time I went home to see the progression of the seasons in the trees of the Dunelands going from summer greens to autumn colors and then winter bareness (#145).

The Dunes Park station serves the Dunes nature parks, and nearby Chesterton (#146), a gateway city for the Dunes lakeshore areas.  Another gateway locale on the northwest edge of Porter County is Portage (#147).  Passing through Portage is US Federal Route 6, which is the local alignment for the Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Highway (#148).  It is a lovely drive through the northern part of Porter County, that I have used a few times when heading out of Valparaiso due north.  Another important north-south road is Indiana State Route 49 (#149), which has its northern terminus at US 12, near the Dune Park train station, and heads south to Chesterton, Valparaiso, and Kouts, to its terminus in Jasper County.  Kouts is known for its annual Porkfest (#150).

Sitting just beyond the western edge of Porter County is the city of Hobart (#151), and nearby is the County Line Orchard (#152), a well-known spot to ValpU students and locals.  Getting to Hobart from Valparaiso takes one along a lovely drive through rural farm areas along Indiana State Route 130 (#153).

Indeed, there is so much rural land surrounding Valparaiso in Porter County.  Another lovely rural locale is the Boone Grove (#154), to the south of Valparaiso, which, as its name suggests, is a grove of trees, through which a road passes.

It was nice getting to know the geography of this area while studying at ValpU, as well as its unique weather:  Because of this area's position relative to Lake Michigan, it lies within the Indiana Lake-Effect Snowbelt (#155), which covers a good portion of Northwest Indiana from Lake County eastward toward South Bend.  When the conditions are just right, cold winds blowing from a northerly or northwesterly direction over the lake for a good stretch, the snow can really fall fast and furious, often in very concentrated bands.  These local specialties, whether lake-effect snow or popcorn, sure added a nice touch to spending time in the area.