When you vacation in Illinois, where do you go?

[Tweed]

Anyone have some travel tips to share? Little bed and breakfasts in the middle of Illinois that are right for the price? Tucked away sites in Illinois?

I tend to travel only to see family myself. Although I must say that the Cahokia mounds aren't worth a trip alone. I find the museum to be rather small and the hiking around the area isn't that great. It's kind of cool if you have gone to St. Louis and need a day out of the city, but don't revolve a trip around it.

One of my favorite sites in Illinois in the New Salem homes. If you south of the homes on Rt. 29 (I think) there is this great little cafe called "Morningstar". Home cooked food at its finest. It's a very little quaint place. There's also a folk artists gallery along that same route between New Salem and Springfield. It's a nice little trek.

Are any of the forest preserves in the suburbs any good? I've always wanted to visit William Jennings Byran birthplace in Salem, Illinois. Metropolis has a big Superman Museum. I've heard that it's pretty funny.

[TlalocW]

1. I like to hang with Alan Keyes

We hit the video game arcades and then rent a couple R-Rated movies. He really liked "Dogma."

TlalocW

[papau]

2. Lakes region and acid lakes are interesting - but I can not

think of a destination resort type area!

Starved Rock?

Lincoln stuff?

Urbana U of I stuff

U of C stuff at 57th street on IC out of the loop?

go north to Wis for nice forest - or perhaps the Dells?

[longship]

3. Fermilab!!

Outside of Geneva in the prairie west of Chicago is one of the most astounding tourist visits on the planet: Fermilab National Accelerator Laboratory.

Prepare to be awed. This is the location of the Tevatron, a device so large it is visible from space. The main lab building is incredible; the self-guided tour is very good. It's all set in pastoral setting with bison wandering around. That some of the highest level physics on the planet happens there seems only incidental. Take a camera.

http://www.fnal.gov/pub/about/campus/index.html

Regretably the self-guided tours have been suspended due to some lunatics flying planes into buildings in 2001. Go to the Fermilab Web site and see what you can still do on the Fermilab campus.

http://www.fnal.gov/

[Sword Wielding Brit]

10. My Dad's a scientist and when

they visited us from England in 1997 we were fortunate where their visit happened to coincide with Fermilab's first open day in 14 years! He instructed us that's where we'd be spending the day LOL and off we trotted. Very informative, if totally over my head.

[murielm99]

17. My husband's family used to own farm property that is now

part of Fermilab.

I live in Ogle County. Many of the farmers in Ogle County bought their property here when Fermilab took all the farm property there. There is lasting bitterness over the lost family farms.

My son works at Fermilab as a systems operator, and he loves it.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

21. Fermilab is great

I grew in the area and used to go to their movie nights. They're very community-friendly and allow their space to be used by all kinds of groups. I remember an orchid show there that was fascinating. The bison are excellent (if smelly), the prairie is really cool, and the geese are extremely annoying but that's because everyone feeds them.

Another place with great prairie is Morton Arboretum in Lisle. Founded by one of the Morton brothers of Morton Salt fame, it has meandering hiking paths through different kinds of wooded areas and meadows, around small lakes, and out into the prairie. I have been there in every season, in all kinds of weather; it's always beautiful.
http://www.mortonarb.org/

The Chicago Botanic Garden in Winnetka has a huge rose garden, stylized English gardens and a large, beautiful area devoted to Japanese gardens. Last time I went I spent some time indoors looking at antique botanical plates.

http://www.chicago-botanic.org/

These are all more day trips from Chicago than actual vacations, but that's about all we do these days. ;)

I would love to go to Shawnee National Forest. It looks gorgeous. When I travel more than a day I go west to visit relatives. I grew up in Aurora, some of my mom's family is still in the Galena area, and another relative recently moved to the Moline area. I like driving around tiny little towns that haven't been Starbucked to death, and looking at old buildings and cemeteries. How's that for excitement? :P

[Cuban_Liberal]

4. Giant City, near Carbondale, and Rend Lake, near Benton.

Both are lovely spots to spend some good, quality 'weekend getaway' time. The people are nice down there, too.

:)

[davsand]

5. Check out the Shawnee Wine Trail.

Makes for a nice weekend get-away. Hubby and I like wine and we go in "buying" trips every so often. We go do tastings then buy a few bottles of stuff we like. It is kind of nice to drink the wine later and remember the trip.

http://www.shawneewinetrail.com/intro.htm

It is a different sort of experience here compared to tastings in Napa or Sonoma because these are small businesses. It is kind of neat to talk to these folks. I do, however, feel compelled to buy at least one bottle where ever we do a tasting simply because it is so personal. :)

If you are looking for some great hiking do be sure and go on down to Pere Marquette close to Alton. That is where the Missouri river feeds into the Mississippi. They have Bald Eagles that nest there.

On your way there, be sure and stop in Grafton at the wineries there. Chateau Ra-Ha is there (Harry and Rita--they are this funny old couple who makes an excellent honey mead) along with Piasa Winery.

I do suggest you call ahead to make sure on the hours for some of these places, however. Go here for phone numbers and a list of Illinois Wineries:

http://www.wine-il.com/

Can you tell we like Wine? Have fun, and be safe!


Laura

[Sword Wielding Brit]

9. Ditto!

Hubby and I did this a few years ago, it was great! Also it was in our pre-child days. ;)

We stayed at Sassafras Lodge, a bit rough to find in the fading light, but a beautiful place to stay, tucked in the woods just south of Carbondale. Would go again in a heartbeat (and once the wee one is potty-trained fully! ha ha).

[jeffrey_X]

6. Galena

It's a little to white and conservative for me and my wife, but we do like to go up there from time to time.

[tritsofme]

7. Door County

Well...at least during the summer its part of Illinois...

[davsand]

8. If you REALLY want to annoy a guy from Wisconsin...

...especially if he's just called you a FIB, just tell him you plan to invite ALL your neighbors to Door and Lake Geneva next summer for extended vacations.

:evilgrin: They LOVE it when you do that.


Laura

[grace0418]

11. I love my home state but it's kinda boring quite frankly

But Galena is really pretty, I'll give you that. If you're a Chicagoan, it's a quick hop to places like Saugatuck, MI. It's very pretty there. Otherwise I pretty much head to the airport for all my vacations. At least I live fairly close to O'Hare.

[Cuban_Liberal]

12. The southern part of the state is GORGEOUS

Try driving the River-to-River scenic road some time.

:)

[Martin Eden]

13. Southern Illinois is great for hiking

Some of my favorite places:

Ferne Clyffe State Park
Giant City State Park
Garden of the Gods
Bell Smith Springs
Little Grand Canyon

I attended SIU in the late 70's/early 80's, and developed a lifelong passion for hiking & backpacking.

[mopinko]

14. going to galena this weekend

staying at a b&b, and hoping to visit with some ceramic artist friends out there.

we have done stay at home vacations before, cuz there is SSSOOOOO much to do in chicago that we never find time for. so, once in a while we just take a week, and be tourists.
we like to take short camping trips to chain o lakes, or illinois beach.

and i agree that southern part of the state- shawnee forest, etc. is gorgeous. the first trip we ever took with out trailer was to horseshoe lake, at the very southern tip. tupelo swamp, full of barred owls. too cool.

i love my state. got a little of almost everything.

[barb162]

15. Galena is wonderful as a day trip or weekend. Forest preserves:

try the Little Red Schoolhouse F.P.and its adjacent preserves in SW Cook County. Wonderful walking paths, lakes, sloughs,etc. Also there is an adjacent preserve surrounding Argonne National Lab in DuPage County called Glen Falls (or Glen something) Forest Preserve. That is also extremely nice for hiking. That preserve is basically the far east side of DuPage County and is adjacent to the far western Cook County preserves mentioned.

[seventythree]

20. I also enjoy Galena,

in fact, Galena and Chicago are the only places I can say I "vacation" in Illinois. I like Chestnut Mountain in Galena in the summer as well as the winter -- love to ride the sled trough down the slope in the summer. From Stockton on, it is a fantastic scenic drive. I always enjoy Chief Blackhawk looking over the Rock River and Oregon is an enjoyable day trip, especially during fall fest. La Vigna is a popular Italian restaurant just out of town near Sinnissippi Woods (it's a state park, now, and am not sure if it still called by the same name), which has some nice, peaceful hiking, along the Rock River. I believe they have canoe rental in Oregon, also, and a small river boat for diners. There are a couple of B&B's in Oregon -- listed on the chocolate trail.

[Radical Activist]

16. Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois

Lots of great places. Gardent of the Gods, Cave in Rock, Giant City. I love those places.

I like Cahokia mounds. I've been meaning to visit the WJB site for years.

[AntiSmirk]

18. Giant City / Shawnee NF

I really learned to appreciate far Southern Illinois while I attended SIU-C.

We are staying at Giant City again this Memorial Day weekend I take my family and meet up with my old college roommate's family. We each get a cabin and have a great weekend.

[catshoe]

19. Fun stuff in Normal?

I'm doing a reading and poetry workshop down there this summer, and I'd love any ideas for places to eat or things to do. B-)

I did a visiting poet reading at UIUC last fall and had a blast! It's my husband's alma mater, though, so I had to spend a lot of time explaining why U Michigan is far superior... :eyes:

~Mary

[CubsFan1982]

22. I'm a huge history buff

So obviously the Galena and Springfield areas are my favorites. I haven't been down to Springfield in nearly 14-15 years, though I've been to Galena more times than I can count, since it's only 100 miles west of Rockford. I'm planning on going down to Springfield for a couple days during Spring Break. It's cheaper than Florida, and for the most part, a lot more interesting.

[benburch]

23. New Salem Village!

A great day-trip!

http://www.lincolnsnewsalem.com/