Great place to visit if you need a little nature. Be sure to look up the hours before you go if…read moreyou want to get the full experience.

Deep River County Park is a really nice park to visit. We've been here numerous times. Sometimes…read morejust to walk the trails, other times to visit the museum and gift shop. During the summer the Deep River Grinders play vintage baseball on scheduled Sundays. They are so much fun to watch and interact with. It's a great time for all, young and old alike! We highly recommend you come and watch a great game of baseball!

This is a nice park. It is kind of small, but has a down home feel to it. It was built as part of a…read morelocal Boy Scout project. The park dates back to 1976 to honor the nation's 200 years of independence. The park has an adequate parking lot that it shares the neighboring veterans park. The park features a shelter with a couple of picnic tables under it. You will also find a small boat dock here that can be used for kayaks or small paddle boats. The dock has seen better days though. The park runs along the Deep River and has immediate access to the body of water. It is very picturesque and has a soothing feel about it. The park features a flag pole and a weathered stone monument commemorating the 200 year anniversary of American independence and honoring service members. The monument consist of a small slab that is flanked by two larger slabs, one on each side. All 3 slabs have inscriptions and the center slab has a soldier kneeling in front of a cross on top of it. The lab on the left reads "THIS BICENTENNIAL PARK CREATED IN 1976 To MARK THE 200TH ANNIVERSARY OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, ONE NATION INDIVISIBLE UNDER GOD." The inscription on the center panel reads "THIS BICENTENNIAL PARK BUILT BY TROOP 20 BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA WITH THE COOPERATION OF LAKE STATION INDIANA CITIZENS IN HONOR OF THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR OUR COUNTRY". The third panel reads " BURN ON O FLAME OF LIBERTY IGNITED IN 1776 AND IN 1976 LIVING SAFEGUARDED AND REFUELED ANEW. As i mentioned, the monument is in pretty bad shape. This is a nice pocket park that happened to spill over into neighboring Veterans Park. This is not a destination park, but still a nice place to visit, hang out and chill.

I was here for the lighthouse and enjoyed much of the walk. I would have gone the whole way but the…read morewind was too strong for my comfort. And also, I hadn't purchased a park pass and didn't want to stay long enough that they might notice. The park and the riverwalk are lovely. The view of the lake is amazing. Well worth the visit. If you're planning on buying an annual park pass, it's even better. [Review 20619 overall - 150 in Indiana - 1600 of 2023.]

It's ok for Indiana. It's small, next to steel mills. Water kinda gross. Too bad Indiana doesn't do…read moremore with their shoreline compared to Illinois and Michigan.

I wheeled the Prairie-Duneland Trail during my 25th Anniversary Tenderness Tour event that started…read morein the Lake County area of Indiana. This is a 10.3 mile asphalt trail that goes through both Lake and Porter counties. It is for the most part a wheelchair friendly trail and you can see walkers, runners, and bicyclists on the trail quite frequently as it tends to go through multiple populated areas. The trail is a few miles south of the Michigan Lakeshore and Indiana Dunes National Park. You can probably guess from the name that you will see lots of both prairies and dunes on the trail. You see lots of ponds and woods, though there's lots of a more urban trail vibe as you go through Chesterton and Hobart. I actually started my journey in Hobart. If you want to detour about a mile off trail in Chesterton, there's an old train depot where you can still watch trains pass by. It's pretty darn cool. The trail connects to other trails including the Dunes Kankakee Trail and the Iron Horse Heritage Trail (which I also wheeled). Parking for the western trailhead is available in Countryside Park. Parking for the eastern trailhead is available on Jackson Boulevard in Chesterton. I really enjoyed my time on this trail. It's a mostly level trail and offers a nice mixture of urban and rural trail experiences. I like seeing nature, but for safety I also do like the occasional human encounter. This trail offers both. If you're the type who likes to also visit towns, this is also a great trail for doing so. Both Hobart and Chesterton are nice cities to visit with both tourist options places to grab a meal.

As good as it gets for community trails! The rails to trails program and IndianaTrails.org put…read moretogether this great 10.4 mile path through Lake and Porter counties in NW Indiana. The trail connects to several other trails (Iron Horse Heritage/Calumet) in the area and takes you through some terrific scenery. Some parts of the trail are shaded with beautiful tree lines and others are sunny and open through a field. The best part of this trail, WATER! Take this to the Calumet trail and end up at the Dunes. Fantastic day planned for you, I'll be here all week.

Love going there with the kids! It's a great place for a walk to enjoy the great outdoors even when…read morethey're not putting on events.

I'm not the kinda guy that normally plans a Saturday morning trip to Lowell Indiana to watch grown…read moremen play with fake guns but this place was pretty sweet. Went with a friend that needed some extra credit for a history class and didn't really know what to expect. Once you get down there you can walk around different american/british/german camps and see all the reenactors doing things like digging foxholes or cleaning their guns and other soldier type stuff. They also have a schedule where events like an FDR actor does the speech from after the pearl harbor bombing. The main draw is the battlefield skirmish though. They bring out the artillery and tanks, and it's loud. Lasted about a half and hour and gotta say it was entertaining. You need to go into it with an open mind though or else it might not be too fun. I liked going around and asking a few questions to the soldiers about really small details like why there's certain patches on their uniforms, just to keep them on their toes. These guys knew their stuff. If you like history this is a cool place.

Golf Course and Driving Range Review-…read more I wish I could give this place 10 stars - that's how wonderful it is. Driving range is open 7 days a week, $5 for a bucket of balls, about 30 balls. Machine takes cash or you can can get a token at the club house. Grass area, roped off so you don't have new people teeing up 15 feet in front of where they should be. Well kept. The putting area is wonderful and can be found just behind the first tee box. Club house opens at 5:30AM in the summer so there are people hitting balls before work! Golf Pro - Matt - is amazing. Great with kids, gives lessons. The course is a 9 hole, executive course with a level of difficulty that is hard to find in NW Indiana. The course itself is narrow with lots of long marshy areas that will eat your ball. The elevation changes are fantastic and again, really rare for this part of Indiana. The course itself is the most well maintained in the area. 9 holes will cost you about $27 with cart. The ranger on the weekends is Wayne and he is such a wonderful, caring person. In passing, I told him I was looking for a specific type of golf ball and the next time I saw him, he had a bunch for me. Wow! The carts are electric and very smooth. Most of the leagues are during the week and in the AM so this is a great place for twilight golf as well. 9 holes typically takes me about an hour 20. Tips - The range is closed Wednesday afternoon until Thursday morning for maintenance. If you are just going to the range, park near the back of the lot.

My husband and I wanted to stop at Centennial Park to stretch our legs and take pictures while on…read morethe road. When we pulled into the parking lot to find that it cost $6.00 to park, we turned around and left. The price was too high for a 20 minute stop!

Campground was huge most spots were level they had a huge pond loaded with bluegill. Lots of woods…read morefor great hiking not very long trails but well groomed. They also have a well stocked camp store with lots of little cool items

This campground is a hidden gem. It is very quiet and peaceful. They take very good care of the…read moreplace and the owner and her son are super nice. If you want to get away from all the hustle and bustle of life and relax than this is the place for you. They have fishing and paddle boats. They offer a volleyball court, basketball court and a nice playground for the kids. There is also full service grocery store not even ten minutes from here. The lady that owns the place is very sweet and kind. Her son is always happy to help and seems happy to work here.

My 2 year-old and I LOVED this playground (and the pun in the name is just amazing)!…read more When you walk in, you're immediately greeted with a shaded parent area. This is great if you have older kids, but since there are two (that I saw) other entrances, it's still best to follow behind younger kids if you want to make sure they don't leave the park. There is an area called Tot Lot for toddlers, which is a scaled-down version of the rest of the park with baby swings, smaller slides, climbing structures, mounted instruments, etc. We spent some time here, but my son was really drawn to the main playground. The main area is truly a wonderland for littles. With ramps, slides, swings, ropes, obstacles, and a zip line, there is never a dull moment. We visited on a day that was about 90 degrees, so there were only 1-2 other families with us at a time, but the kids that were there all gathered in the shade beneath the main structure. There was fun to be had even under there, with the different ceiling heights and areas making playing tag or hide & seek a blast for everyone. Personally, my favorite part was the large, adult-sized swing (I regretfully did not get a photo... because I was on it the whole time!). It's a standalone swing that is supported by 4 cables. The actual seat is so comfortable it makes me wonder why all playgrounds don't have these! I imagine it's truly for older kids with different abilities, but on a slow day it was my perch. I could see the whole park, including under the main structure and 2/3 entrances, so I just enjoyed the breeze while my son played tag with his new friends. There is also a picnic area and restroom building that looked nice from far away, but we did not check them out. The whole place seems very structurally sound and well-maintained. I was positive it must be brand new because of the quality, so imagine my surprise on the way out when I noticed it had last been renovated in 2014 (11 years ago). Overall, if I could give this playground 10 stars I would. Great job, Valparaiso!

This is likely one of the best playgrounds that we have recently visited…read more We arrived early on a Sunday morning before it got busy. The vast playground has a rubbery ground and is consisted of a section for young toddlers and a larger area for older children. We have two young, energetic daughters so we gained quite a bit of steps in chasing after them as they kept running between the different play areas. I am under the impression that either everything is brand new or incredibly well-maintained. The playground equipment appear to be high-end with exceptional diversity and quality. There are several wooden structures, multi-level jungle-gyms, swings, climbing structures, slides, monkey bars with different height levels, and zip line. Several themes were highlighted in the play spaces too - from fire trucks to solar systems to Vikings. There was never a dull moment in the two hours that we spent there.