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Published: October 25th 2023
For about the past six months, we’ve been living and working in Aurora, the second largest city in Illinois, just 35 miles west of Chicago. When most people think of Chicago, they think of the United States' fourth largest city with about 3 million inhabitants. Toss in the total number of people that live in the suburbs and that total swells to about 10 million. We are going to save all that for the next blog and spend our time here describing some of the unique and cool things we did outside of this area. We’ve managed to do a lot of exploring and certainly do not want to provide a blow-by-blow of every weekend, but did want to talk about some of the highlights. If you are in the area visiting and venture away from "the big city," you will have plenty to experience.
Covered Bridges While in the Midwest we wanted to get out and explore some of the countryside. Sometimes we had specific destinations in mind, other times we had...well let's just say we had a general idea of what we wanted to do and let the day just kind of flow how it might. Illinois
The Red Covered Bridge
Princeton, Illinois 1863has many state parks one can take advantage of as well as a plethora of covered bridges which is a kind of architecture that draws our attention, and we find these bridges are reminiscent of a simpler way of life...back when the horse and buggy was a main source of transportation.
As we traverse the Illinois countryside searching for the next covered bridge to "ooo and ahhh" over we enjoy the calm and peacefulness of the small back country roads that take us winding and meandering through farm fields of corn, soybeans, tomatoes, and cows. Most of the farmhouses are well cared for as well as the barns and silos. Farming has become big business around the world, and we can see some of these farms are hundreds if not thousands of acres and we wonder how many of them are corporate sponsored. We believe the days of family farms in the U.S. has decreased substantially and sadly someday will be a thing of the past. Until then we can get out of the city and drive the tranquil country backroads. We hope you will enjoy the photos of the bridges we visited. If you are a covered bridge
fan, here are the ones we laid eyes on and the year they were built. Some are newer of course, but still unique structures.
The Red Covered Bridge in Princeton, Illinois 1863
The Captain Swift Covered Bridge in Princeton, Illinois 2006
Sugar Creek Covered Bridge in Glenarm, Illinois 1880
Amerock Covered Bridge in Rockford, Illinois 1970
Wolf Covered Bridge in Gilson Illinois 1974, arsoned 1994, rebuilt 1999
Naperville Riverwalk Covered Bridge. 1981
Starved Rock State Park & Midewin Nature If you enjoy being in out in nature and want to take a hike, walk or stroll you will not run out of places to visit. One sunny summer day we headed to Starved Rock State Park on the Illinois River. This park has 2600 acres that was formed 1400 years ago by melting glaciers. The hiking trails are dirt, gravel, and a few boardwalks with lots of steps. The waterfalls, canyons and forested woods are a hiker’s paradise. While not as famous as some of the US National Parks, they are still beautiful. We decided on a forested trail that took us on a moderately difficult four-mile hike that took
1863
Covered Bridges stand the test of time. us up and down terraced hillsides as we stepped over tree trunks and rocks. Fortunately, for us there were several scenic overlooks to stop a gaze at the river, canyons and valleys below. Geologically, this is not all level farmland formed by the terminal moraine of ancient glaciers. There are steep canyons cut by rivers over the millennia and make for pleasant vistas.
On another weekend our friend Michael was in town visiting from Seattle. We headed out to Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie. In 1996 the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie was established as part of the National Forest System on Lands formerly occupied by the Joliet Arsenal. Midewin is the largest prairie restoration project in our country and is the first Congressionally designated national tall grass prairie. Midewin’s vision centers on restoring the ecology of the tallgrass prairie—thereby promoting sustainable ecosystems, conserving populations of native fish, wildlife and plants. It was the original site of a munition factories to produce TNT. Built in 1940, it stayed open until the mid 1970's and at its peak was putting out 5.5 million short tons of TNT per week. Yes, you read that correctly. That's a lot of ammunition!
The United
Intricate Architecture
Covered Bridges endure over time. States Army Arsenal turned it over to the National Forest System in the mid-90's and now there is a beautiful tall prairie grasses that are even home to a herd of bison. We are surprised and happy by the success of this project. As we walked we saw hundreds of grasshoppers, dozens of butterflies, a few small snakes, a preying mantas and many amazing grasses on a gorgeous sunny fall afternoon.
Ronald Reagan’s Birthplace & Childhood Home One of our life goals is to visit all of the Presidential Libraries in our country. All told there are 15 of them. With that in mind one weekend we went on a quest to see the birthplace of President Ronald Reagan in Tampico Illinois (1911) and his childhood home a few miles away in Dixon, Illinois. Reagan came from humble beginnings. Ronald Reagan’s father Jack was a traveling salesman most of his life and changed jobs rather frequently due to his alcoholism. His mother Nelle was deeply religious and the bedrock of the family. Ronald Reagan had one brother named Neil. Ronald Reagan was our 40th President. President 1981 to 1989.
We had a wonderful docent at
both locations who shared many stories of their years living n these small towns before locating to California. The birthday place was a small apartment in the National Bank building. They’ve collected many personal stories from people in town who knew the Reagan’s to personalize the visits. Tampico was very excited in 1992 when Ronald and Nancy Reagan came to visit his birthplace. Looking back many people now suspect that is when he began to suffer with Alzheimer’s and wanted to revisit his memories. These small towns have done a very nice job honoring the memory of their famous resident. During his tenure in office he was able to stimulate the economy, improved relationships with the Soviet Union, he worked with Mikhail Gorbachev to negotiate a treaty that would eliminate intermediate range nuclear missiles.
Herbert Hoover Presidential Museum, childhood home & gravesite A national historic site in West Branch, Iowa was just a few hours drive so yes we had to go explore. We learned a lot about this man who had mixed reviews – an engineer, humanitarian and president. Herbert Hoover was far more accomplished and amazing than we realized. As you would expect he had an
impressive wife. His values included neighbors helping neighbors is preferable to government intervention, honesty and integrity are your most honorable assets, don’t let money be your scorecard – it’s a tool best used for those in need, “American Individualism” one’s own initiative is our most precious social idealism. Hoover created dams in the Tennessee Valley and California. He was responsible for prison reform and created the Veterans Administration. Hoover was our 31st President 1929 to 1933.
Abe Lincoln’s Presidential Library & Museum In Springfield, Illinois you will find a very well-done Presidential Museum. We read that this is one of the most visited presidential libraries. We were surprised by the number of well-preserved artifacts that assist in telling the story of our 16
th president. This museum has created replicas of the home he grew up in as well as high tech holographic and special effect theatres to share his life and story.
Lincoln was a self-educated man who was key in the passage of our 13
th amendment, the Emancipation Proclamation which made slavery unconstitutional. Many fought and died in our Civil War (1861-65) the conflict that began over a long standing disagreement over slavery. Lincoln changed the
Historic Clothing
Abe Lincoln Library direction of the United States of America. All too soon Lincoln was assassinated and was not able to complete the reconstruction of the Union. Many wonder how Lincoln would have altered our nations trajectory had he lived to finish his second term in office.
James T. Kirk (Wait...he's not a president!) Ok all you trekkies….A friend messaged us the morning we were at Herbert Hoovers Presidential Museum and told us about Riverside Iowa— the future home of James T. Kirk. We looked it up to learn about a town counsel meeting in 1985 where a resident suggested claiming Riverside as the birthplace of Kirk. On the TV series they has made mention that a town in Illinois was his birthplace so this town volunteered. They were trying to spark interest in the community. It worked. The town of 1100 gets a number of visitors annually. We came, we saw, we enjoyed. It has a small museum which of course is a bit cheesy, but the locals embrace the whole concept of being the fictional birthplace of a man who will not be born until March 22nd, 2233!
https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2081 Reconnecting & Red Wing, Minnesota One of the
things we enjoyed most was our drive to Red Wing, Minnesota to visit our friends Dennis and Dan. We had not seen them in about four years when they came to visit us in Florida. COVID played a large role in keeping us from visiting each other. Dave has known Dennis since his college days and they have stayed in touch over the years. Dan and Dennis are those type of friends that it makes no difference how long it has been since you last saw them, you start talking like you're picking up the conversation where you last left it. Special friends. They live in a bucolic setting in a lovely home.
Red Wing is an amazingly beautiful town……. Rivers, lakes, bakeries , small town life full of joy. It is also the home of......Red Wing Shoes, a very popular brand of footwear which has been made in this town since 1905. We explored Red Wing along with nearby Lake Pepin and Stockholm, Wisconsin. These are absolutely great places to visit, especially during the summer.
Being in the Midwest has given us ample opportunity to reconnect with friends. We were able to visit a couple of times
with MJ’s junior high school friend Michelle. It was a nice visit and proves once again that friendships can pick up where they left off years ago. We may have wandered, but the friendships have not.
We've mentioned we are members of the Travelers Century Club. Being in the area allowed us to attend the Chicago area meeting and afforded us the opportunity to meet another 30 world travelers and share stories. Plus shortly before this meeting Merry Jo and Cathy got together for lunch and a walk in the woods. Cathy is a Travelers Century Club member we met in Malta two years ago at the International Conference.
We were excited when our nephew Kevin was in town for a business trip and we enjoyed visiting and having dinner together and getting caught up.
Living in this area allowed us to reconnect with our friend Byron. We had a lovely afternoon dining at Le Colonia Vietnamese restaurant in Lake Forest and enjoying a scenic drive along the lake. We also enjoyed a comedy club together.
Dayton, Illinois As we were driving down the highway we saw a sign pointing to Dayton. Growing up in
Dayton, Ohio it was too much temptation, so we turned to explore. Dayton, Illinois is not much more that a crossroads on the Fox River with a gas station and a restaurant pub. Nearby is a landing field where they teach flight lessons and we saw several advertisements for skydiving.
Seneca, Illinois When we learned there was a Seneca, Illinois we needed to check it out as MJ’s mother is from Seneca, South Carolina. This town was established in 1865 and has a current population of 2100. The small town is among the farm fields but once was a booming town of The Prairie Shipyard where they made 147 ship tanks for WWII.
Toledo, Illinois There is also a Toledo in Illinois. As Dave is from Toledo, Ohio we had to have a look. Not much going on there with about 1600 residents, but fun nonetheless.
Woodstock, Illinois Who wouldn’t make a stop in a cute town called Woodstock, Illinois? This bohemian town is well known for many reasons. The author of the Dick Tracy comin strip lived in this cute town, Ground Hogs day with Bill Murray was filmed here and Orsen Wells
went to school here for several years. The Opera house has had many famous actors to include Paul Newman, Miceky Rooney, Beverly Sills, John Astin, Arlo Gutherie, Geraldine Page, Judy Collins, and Shelley Berman perform there. If you visit this town stop by D. C. Cobb’s Tavern for a nice lunch.
As you can see we are having a good time exploring the diversity Illinois has to offer. In our next blog we will discuss things to do in the city of Chicago and tell you lots of things about architecture.
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Home and Away
Bob Carlsen
Local travel...
It is so wonderful that you were able to get an in depth experience in the highways and byways to northern Illinois! Is you time there almost up?