McKinley Woods
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. Lehman Community Park for a longer loop through a prairie. Daylight Savings Time ended, but we still had plenty of light to go for afternoon walks. (Curtis also learned that Daylight Savings Time ending isn’t as fun when you’re working a night shift — instead of getting one more hour of sleep, he got one more hour of work!)
As our time was wrapping up, we had one more day where Curtis was able to go in to work later, giving us more time for a walk. We chose to use our extra time to drive to McKinley Woods to hike some more along the I&M Canal Trail. This specific part of the trail was exciting because it was across the river from the plant where he was working. We walked about two miles round trip, and enjoyed watching the sun set over the wetlands. We again wrapped up our day with getting more pizza from Giordano’s. In general, the food we had here was mostly from chain restaurants and not much different from what we grew up with in the Midwest, so it didn’t seem as special, but Giordano’s definitely made up for that!
Towards the end of our 2 weeks in Joliet, there was talk of the work being extended and us having to stay here longer, and we truly would have been okay with that because we were enjoying being here. But that never panned out, so exactly 2 weeks after we arrived, we packed up our things and made the short drive back home to Iowa. We ended up spending just over a week there with my family, catching up, enjoying the nice weather, and celebrating an early Thanksgiving. There were a couple days when we thought there was a chance Curtis would have to return to Joliet for some follow up on the job, but thankfully that never happened.
And with that, Curtis’ fall season and first year of his new job is complete! Given a couple months “off” before his spring schedule starts, we planned a little trip to celebrate and to escape the impending colder weather. More on that, coming up next!
Also, just for fun, here are our rankings of the 5 places Curtis was assigned to this year, from least to most enjoyed:
Curtis
5. Lancaster, PA (plant was 1 hr away, no days off, exhausting)
4. Ottawa, IL (great location but spent way to long inprocessing)
3. Joliet, IL (fun work, but very slow, location was fair)
2. King of Prussia, PA (good work life balance, short assignment)
1. Oswego, NY (good work life balance, got into a good groove)
Jess
5. Lancaster, PA (didn’t get to do much together – would give it another shot!)
4. Joliet, IL (I really liked it and would gladly go back, but overall the places we were able to visit here weren’t as exciting as some other locations)
3. Oswego, NY (Nice town and fun walks by Lake Ontario)
2. King of Prussia, PA (lots of time together, exploring Valley Forge, and favorite variety of restaurants)
1. Ottawa, IL (loved the town, hiking in Starved Rock State Park, made friends!)
