Happy Fourth of July weekend! We wanted to celebrate both the achievement of having exactly 100 state parks to go, and the holiday, by finally discussing the most popular park in Illinois: Starved Rock State Park. We have been to this park many times, both for the project and just for fun, and we agree... Continue Reading →
The final park we visited in 2022 was Weldon Springs State Park. It is located about 3 hours south of Chicago, or 35 minutes south of Bloomington/Normal. Many of these parks thrive on natural beauty alone: an empty trail running thru a forest in the fall, rolling prairies that go on for miles, or the... Continue Reading →
With the last good weekend for hiking in 2022 upon us, we drove south to Bloomington/Normal to squeeze in two more parks before it got too cold. The first of those parks was Moraine View State Recreation Area. This park is about two and a half hours south west of Chicago, but only 30 minutes... Continue Reading →
In early October, we visited Goose Lake State Natural Area: 2,537 acres of prairie and reclaimed marshland located about 50 miles southwest of Chicago. When we decide to visit a specific park, we usually have a plan or a strong reason to head out there. This is especially true as the parks are starting to... Continue Reading →
We knew we wanted to take advantage of the long Labor Day weekend, and go hiking at least once, but we also knew that the most popular parks would be far more crowded than normal. That in mind, we settled on Lowden-Miller State Forest, a pretty large entry on it's own, but often overshadowed by... Continue Reading →
In 2021, we visited Galena twice, first for our annual girls trip, and second for the hiking weekend visiting Apple River Canyon and Mississippi Palisades. Both times, we discussed heading to Lake Le-Aqua-Na State Recreation Area to check out the scenery, but it was not until mid-August 2022 that we finally made it out. The... Continue Reading →
Our July's have been very busy for as long as we have known each other, so after a few weeks of solo vacations and family get-togethers, we were able to resume hiking at the end of July with a visit to Shabbona Lake State Park. The day we went was sunny and beautiful, and we... Continue Reading →
In Utica, all of the road signs directing you to the nearby state parks will have three different destinations on them. First: Starved Rock, Second: Matthiessen, and Third: Buffalo Rock State Park. We have been to the first two parks several times over the years, but we finally managed to make it to the third... Continue Reading →
The final park we visited on our long weekend in Peoria was Mackinaw River State Fish and Wildlife Area. After all of the parks from the previous two days ended with almost no hiking, the three of us were so excited to have saved the best for last. This park is about 1,448 acres, however... Continue Reading →
On day two of our long weekend, we had an extremely full day, visiting 3 parks, the zoo, a brewery, a gastropub, and finally stopping for ice cream. The plan was to start with the largest park, and then get to as many parks as we could that did not have any hiking. The first... Continue Reading →
Fresh Air Friendship 