North of Chicago, within 2 hours, eat, outdoors, etc

Hi, I've done a number of trips along the lines of the subject header, but I was really interested in what others found really special. The basic idea is drive to a nice park, have a bit of a hike around, bring all our own supplies, grill on a public grill in the park for lunch, head to a nice B&B or equivalent for the evening, go to an interesting (maybe new american, whatever that means these days) place for dinner, end up either staying in or being with reach of a medium sized city with a good half day+ of stuff to do. The "stuff" is actually a wide open category. I did something similar with a trip to Chain o Lakes park ending up in the evening in Madison and really enjoyed it. Just looking for others' personal gems.

Hi,

Illinois Beach State Park in Zion has trails, picnic areas, camp grounds as well as a hotel. joelf is a big fan of this park as well as an avid camper, who may offer more ideas.

Regards,
Cathy2

Southern Wisconsin has two Kettle Moraine State Parks, North and South Units.
One cannot find better parks within a couple of hours of Chicago.
The South Unit has good restaurants in Eagle.
Known for their hiking trails, which are verboten to Mtn Bikers, (they have their own trails), beautiful overlooks, the Moraines are the hills and the Kettles are the bottoms, so the terrain undulates significantly.
Of course I can realize that this might be upsetting to 'Flatlanders'!
-Richard

budrichard wrote:Southern Wisconsin has two Kettle Moraine State Parks, North and South Units.
One cannot find better parks within a couple of hours of Chicago.
The South Unit has good restaurants in Eagle.
Known for their hiking trails, which are verboten to Mtn Bikers, (they have their own trails), beautiful overlooks, the Moraines are the hills and the Kettles are the bottoms, so the terrain undulates significantly.
Of course I can realize that this might be upsetting to 'Flatlanders'!

Either unit is easily accessible to Milwaukee.
-Richard

This doesn't satisfy the urban piece of your request so much (I suppose you could count Michigan City or Benton Harbor). Its also pretty obvious, but you might consider anchoring a trip around Warren Dunes (Sawyer, Michigan). I can't more highly recommend the charmingly rustic (+private beach!) Lakeside Inn. I don't have a slam dunk "New American" dinner rec., but you could do a lot worse than BBQ and beers at Greenbush, which I think is putting out some of the best brew-pub grub anywhere these days. And there are plenty of other locally-focused artisanally- inclined eateries in the area- Luisa's for breakfast, Whistle Stop for sandwiches. Even GNR, Stop 50, is not that far from the area.

I grew up summering in this neck of the woods, though I find the area unrivaled for laid back beach getaways and a surprisingly evolving food scene.

Warren Dunes State Park
12032 Red Arrow Hwy. Sawyer, MI 49125

Lakeside Inn
15251 Lakeshore Rd, Lakeside, MI 49116
(269) 469-0600

Greenbush Brewery
5885 Sawyer Rd, Sawyer, MI 49125
(269) 405-1076

Luisa's Cafe
13698 Red Arrow Hwy, Harbert, MI 49115
(269) 469-9037

Whistle Stop Grocery
15700 Red Arrow Hwy, Union Pier, MI 49129
(269) 469-6700

Stop 50
500 South El Portal Dr, Michiana Shores, IN 46360
(219) 879-8777

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

Illinois Beach State Park in Zion has trails, picnic areas, camp grounds as well as a hotel. joelf is a big fan of this park as well as an avid camper, who may offer more ideas.

Regards,
Cathy2

I haven't' stayed overnight at IBSP since I was a kid. Zion doesn't have a lot to offer in terms of entertainment outside of the park itself (which right now is fantastic: wildflowers are at their peak (one of several, but I like the late summer blazing stars in particular)). The foodie scene is pretty minimal. There's a Thai place which is decent for Ameri-thai, an old school Chinese Restaurant (Whey Chai) which is pretty good but very badly lit, and a new taqueria/panaderia called Los Tres Hermanos.

I'll second the Warren Dunes State Park, and the Indiana Dunes just a smidge closer -- you can't climb Mt Baldy any more, but it's still a nice park, and Central and Kemil beaches a little further west are also nice. I'm not crazy about the state park, stick to the national lakeshore portions (free and less crowded, go figure).

We'll be camping at Kohler-Andre State Park in Wisconsin later this month. It's a gorgeous campground on Lake Michigan, but not that much else to offer (the Kohler spa isn't too far tho).

You could go up to Scuppernong Trails on ZZ just east of Hwy 67 (North of Eagle) to hike. Great 2/3/5 mile trails. I hike and X-ski these all the time. From there you can drive about 2 miles west to Ottawa Lake State Park and cook, relax, etc... There should be B&B's in Eagle and that area. For a good dinner you can cruise to Rushing Waters Trout Farm near Palmyra. Very good food and of course the trout dishes are fantastic. Buy some smoked trout there also.

As someone who just bought a vacation cottage in Three Oaks, MI, I would support Jefe's recommendation of that area. Warren Dunes is great, and there is also a place to rent kayaks on the Galien River if that is something that interests you.

Additional cool things in the area: Journeyman Distillery in Three Oaks is a very cool location with good spirits and above average food and I have had some good meals at Mesa Luna, which is doing new American food with an eye towards being seasonal.

If looking for a B&B, I would recommend Goldberry Woods. It's also a microfarm and has walking trails on site and the owners are a very lovely younger couple who put out tasty breakfast.

Finally, not sure how big a city you would need and how far you would be willing to drive for it, but Kalamazoo is about an hour away.

Journeyman Distillery
109 Generations Drive, Three Oaks MI

Mesa Luna
12868 Red Arrow Hwy, Sawyer MI

Goldberry Woods
9902 Community Hall Road, Union Pier MI

For outdoorsy casual fun, I'd suggest a trip to New Glarus, Wisconsin. I just camped, biked, ate and drank there the other weekend! The campground is called New Glarus Woods State Park. There are also several hotels and b and b options. New Glarus is a hub for rail-to-trail bike paths that take you all over south west Wisconsin: the Badger State Trail and the Sugar River bike trail. These are bike-only trails, no cars or motorcycles. At one point the trail goes through a nearly mile long tunnel. Beautiful backroad biking!

The town was originally settled by Swiss immigrants. Very good local butcher/sausage shop, decent bakery, several gift shops feature Swiss specialties. Lots of good food to be had (Glarner Stube is a favorite). There is a great new farm to table restaurant Cow and Quince (very Logan Square vibe in contrast to all the Edelweiss-type places) I had a fantastic Sunday brunch there. A couple bars have outdoor patios with live music.

The main attraction is the New Glarus Brewing Company; their hilltop brewery is absolutely gorgeous and features a huge beer garden overlooking the rolling farmlands.

The NG Brewing website has a nice summary of things to do, places to stay:

http://www.newglarusbrewing.com/index.cfm/ourtown/map

PS: walking/running is allowed on those backroad bike trails I mentioned.

Thanks all for the help. I knew there were wealth of options out there, but I just didn't know their names. Last thing: are there any destination dining places I would be remiss not to check out if I were on either side of the lake that your differing routes suggest? I'm much more Lula than Alinea. Thanks again.

P.S. I know many places were mentioned upthread, but I was thinking more like if I'm doing a light splurge and I'm within 30 miles of this place, that's the one.

Lula...exactly!

Sorry to go on about this new place Ive only tried once...Cow and Quince in New Glarus is VERY similar to Lula from the aspects of respect for locally produced ingredients, quality of the cooking, decor and staff! (and tattoos) Id compare the sunday brunch favorably to mhenry too.
http://www.cowandquince.com/restaurant.html

We've had great food at Field to Fork in Sheboygen.

stoutisgoodfood wrote:We've had great food at Field to Fork in Sheboygen.

I second that! Always a favorite stop on our way up north.