Now that we're well into planning our hikes for 2022, we wanted to look back on the parks we've visited already, and share our thoughts on where our favorite experiences were. Best Hike Steph: Even though it was our most difficult, I liked the hiking at Apple River Canyon. It felt like a true nature... Continue Reading →
For our final park-specific post of the year, we wanted to highlight what ended up being one of the most special places we’ve been, and go back in time to the other park we visited on our Galena trip. That park was Mississippi Palisades, named for the steep cliffs that border the Mississippi River. We... Continue Reading →
With the season drawing to a close and the cold weather looming, we wanted to get a couple more parks in while we still could. The ones we did that day were Illini State Park and William Stratton State Park, mostly for their small size. We started our morning by driving the hour and a... Continue Reading →
October 29th brought our first major dilemmas. 1) We had plans that evening and didn't want to wear ourselves out and 2) it was raining a bit. A good solution to this was to go to Channahon State Park, because it is very small and not very far away. Originally, this park was known as... Continue Reading →
Our big plans finally started with this trip. We knew that the majority would require overnight stays, and this was the first one we planned. We decided to focus on the Galena area, because that was the town we were in when we first came up with this project. We also knew that area would... Continue Reading →
After a week off for other obligations and a big weekend for this project coming up, we found ourselves with a single day to go to one of the random parks we hadn't made specific plans for. We picked Volo Bog State Natural Area because it was a little smaller than our other options, but... Continue Reading →
For the start of October, we decided to do something a little different. We wanted to go to St. Julian Winery in Michigan to celebrate friendship (and also maybe Emma’s birthday). We’d been talking about going for a couple years, but it had been put to the back burner because of the pandemic. And, since... Continue Reading →
Well into September and unable to travel on most Fridays anymore, we went north to Chain O’ Lakes State Park on a bright Saturday morning. This park was the one we’d heard the most about, without actually having any prior visits. We’d been going to Spring Grove for several years for other attractions, and Chain... Continue Reading →
While planning the schedule for our trips, Labor Day weekend was a little hard to decide where to go. We knew that all parks would be more crowded than normal, and didn’t want to go somewhere that the amount of people would be too overwhelming. We also didn’t want to go somewhere too far, and... Continue Reading →
When talking with family and friends about this project, one comment kept popping up. “There’s a state park in Bartlett?" Yes! A relatively small area off of Stearns Road and just east of Route 25, James “Pate” Philip State Park is completely unexpected. The land was purchased in 1991 for the purpose of establishing a... Continue Reading →
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