Back in 2016, I went on a trip to state of Indiana's northern border with the state of Michigan. For historic reasons, several Indiana counties closest to Chicago are in the Central time zone, while the rest of the state (and Michigan) are all in Eastern time zone. I wanted to see several towns northeast of the Michigan City, and there is always ( Read more... )

I've been to the top of Mount Baldy, the tallest and the most iconic dune of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, two times - once back in October 2010 and once in February of 2012. I would have come back more often but, a year later, a young kid fell through the hole that mysteriously opened up while playing on Mount Baldy. He survived, but the ( Read more... )

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Hat tip to Capitol Fax

Bald Eagle majestically floats down the crystal-clear Mississippi River in Elsah, Illinois on a piece of ice. https://t.co/lemwT34XSF pic.twitter.com/EGMVpSPo48
- ABC News (@ABC) February 1, 2018

So back on November 13, Chicago (and a lot of other parts of the world) got to experience a "supermoon." I was attending the Chicago Book Expo, and managed to catch it just that it was rising.


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I've been thinking about LJ reposts lately.

While it has become pretty widespread in LJ-RUssia, for some reason, it never caught on in English-speaking Livejournals. I think the big reason for this is that the function introduced not long after the big exodus that followed the mass DDoSings of 2011. And I remember that, at the time, cleolinda was horrified ( Read more... )

Back in October 26, 2010, I made my first visit to Mount Baldy, the legendarily large dune on the eastern edge of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. And I visited it the longest way possible- getting off at Beverly Shores, walking to the town of the Town of Pines, then to Mount Baldy, then back to Beverly Shores, first along the beach, then along ( Read more... )

Remember how I wrote about how, two years ago, Mount Baldy, one of Indiana Dunes' biggest attractions (literally and figuratively) was closed two years ago because of mysterious sinkholes science can't explain? Well, the National Park Service is allowing people onto Indiana Dunes' largest dune again.

Sort of.

Ready to see Mount Baldy again? ( Read more... )

Yesterday evening, a system of tornadoes swept through northern Illinois. It swept through Fairdale, a small town south of Rockford (the second-largest city in Illinois) and continued north hitting the cities of Rochelle and Belvidere and several smaller towns and farms before turning northwest, dissipating in Chicagoland's McHenry County ( Read more... )

Previously, on the New Orleans trip log, I wrote about how I managed to make it to New Orleans on time, in spite of persistent delays throughout the trip. Which brings us to the City of New Orleans' final destination - the New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal.
( First impressions )