Indiana Dunes named top 10 urban escape

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Geographic popularity contests have been kind to the Lake Michigan shoreline this summer: The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore has been named a top 10 urban escape by National Geographic. The distinction comes on the heels of another sandy hotspot, the Sleeping Bear Dunes in northwestern Michigan, named by Good Morning America as the most beautiful place in the country. The Indiana Dunes Lakeshore was lauded as an escape from nearby Gary, Ind., and Chicago because of its 15 miles of lakeshore, biodiversity, and dunes that offer panoramic views of the lake.  The “Top 10 Urban Escapes” list is part of National Geographic’s, “Ten Best of Everything — National Parks,” book. Nearby communities are banking on their unique shoreline with a recent redevelopment plan dubbed Gateway to the Indiana Dunes.  The collaboration of dune towns is designed to spur development complementary to the natural resources and beauty. They have something to build on as 2010 was a record year for the dunes with 2.2 million visitors – an all-time high

So if you’re tired of staring at buildings and breathing city air, northwest Indiana wants you.

Message in a bottle or hoax in a newspaper?

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Warning: Do not read if you’re a young girl who recently received a response to your message in a bottle. A recent feel good story in The Times Record in Maine reports that a 6-year-old girl and her father sent a message in a plastic bottle down the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, two years ago.  The girl, Libbi Wallace, recently received a response letter, post-marked from Cleveland, from an anonymous kayaker who paddled upon the bottle.  The responder — who signed the letter only as “Surprised in Cleveland” — said he or she found the bottle while kayaking in Lake Erie. Hmmmm … A Times Record reporter browsed an atlas with the river-littering pair, and the father offered a possible route: St. Lawrence River to Lake Ontario to Lake Erie.  While I didn’t go into journalism to make children cry, I have to point out a couple problems with pop’s reasoning:

First, the Kennebec River flows south through Maine emptying into the Atlantic Ocean, not north to the St.

Wildlife

Lake Erie water snake slithers off the endangered species list

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A nonpoisonous Lake Erie water snake is no longer listed as a federally endangered species. The snake’s numbers plunged as more people settled Lake Erie’s western islands, according to the Toledo Blade. Populations rebounded after federal and state agencies protected inland and shoreline hibernation and breeding grounds. Earning federal protection in 1999, the water snake is the 23rd species to be delisted, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Michigan indoor zoo lets you take home the exhibits

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It sounds like a child’s dream and a parent’s nightmare: a trip to a zoo where you can bring home one of the cuddly reptiles. That’s the plan for the Great Lakes Zoological Society’s World of Discovery Conservation and Rescue Center set to open in September in Ann Arbor, Mich. The center will have exhibits, education programs for kids and a store for all of your reptile husbandry needs. It’s not alone in giving exotic species a home in the Great Lakes region.  The Wilds in southeastern Ohio has been a 10,000-acre sanctuary for endangered animals since 1991. The new indoor zoo will be full of reptiles, amphibians, fish and birds, many rescued.  While some will stick around the center for exhibits, others will be available for adoption.