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…
Weeks 3 & 4 in Ottawa, IL | Downtown Ottawa | Hiking Kaskaskia Canyon in Starved Rock State Park | February 2023 At the start of week 3 in Ottawa, we thought that this was going to be our last full week here. We were satisfied with all we had managed to do during our…
Hiking in Matthiessen State Park | February 2023 On the Monday following our hikes in Starved Rock State Park, we decided to branch out a little and visit another state park near us. Just a little ways Southwest of Starved Rock lies Matthiessen State Park, along the Vermillion River. A lot of the scenery here…
Hiking in Starved Rock State Park | Illinois Canyon | St. Louis Canyon | February 2023 Even though Curtis was on shift work, working 12 hour night shifts, and only getting one day off a week, we still managed to fit in two more hikes in Starved Rock State Park over our second weekend in…
Hiking in Silver Spring State Park | Buffalo Rock State Park | Our Second Week in Ottawa | February 2023 We kicked off week 2 in Ottawa with a day trip in pursuit of new counties. There were 3 counties North/Northeast of us that we figured we could easily knock out, so we searched for…
Starved Rock State Park | Hiking a Loop Trail to Lover’s Leap, Eagle Rock, and Wildcat Canyon | Ottawa, IL | February 2023 One of the best parts about being assigned to Ottawa is that there are a considerable amount of hiking trails within only a half hour of driving. And by Midwest standards, the…