Joliet, IL Week 2 | Hiking the I&M Canal Trail in McKinley Woods | November 2023 Our second week in Joliet looked pretty similar to our first — just warmer, and us feeling more familiar with the area. We enjoyed going for walks at parks, usually Inwood Park for a short loop, or Ronald D….
Joliet, IL Week 1 | Hiking the I&M Canal Trail | Channahon State Park | November 2023 If I’m being honest, at the beginning of this fall work season, we were much more excited about Curtis’ assignment in Lancaster, PA than we were about this one in Joliet, IL. We had never been to Lancaster…
Road Trip to Wilmington, NC | Illinois to North Carolina | South Fork National Recreation Area | Andrew Johnson National Historic Site | Beauty Spot | September 2023 After a pleasant night spent camping in Shawnee National Forest, we set out to go for a short hike in Bell Smith Springs Recreation area before getting…
Road Trip to Wilmington, NC | Iowa to Illinois | Fort Madison, IA | Nauvoo, IL | Hannibal, MO | Pere Marquette State Park | Shawnee National Forest | September 2023 After spending most of July in Wilmington, NC, we agreed that would be our last visit together this year. And yet here we were,…
Independence Day Weekend in Iowa | Driving from Iowa to Kentucky | Camping and Hiking in Red River Gorge Geological Area | Black Mountain, Kentucky’s High Point | July 2023 We arrived back in Iowa on July 1, and stayed there with family until the 5th. It was nice to take a break from driving…
Driving from Ottawa, IL to Oswego, NY | Fallen Timbers National Historic Site | Cuyahoga Valley National Park | March 2023 Our time in Ottawa finally wrapped up, but not without an unexpected extension. Our original plan had us traveling all the way to New York over a day and a half, which we planned…