Bernheim Forest / Lincoln Boyhood Home

Driving from KY to IL to IA | Visiting the Bernheim Forest & Arboretum in KY | Visiting Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in IN | A Week in Decatur, IL | June 2025

On the third day of our drive from NC to IL, we started early with breakfast and a short walk for Charlie, then got back on the road continuing East. We drove to Lexington, then took the Bluegrass Parkway to Bardstown before heading Northwest to I-65. We made our first stop of the day at the Bernheim Forest and Arboretum near Clermont.

Curtis had chosen this park as a place to stop because it was one of very few attractions on our route through Kentucky, and it is home to 3 Forest Giant statues created with recycled wood by Thomas Dambo. We’ve known about these giants scattered around the country (in 17 counties, in fact!) for a while, and it might seem like something we’d be interested in, given that we’ve already made a goal of seeing as many Whispering Giants statues as possible. However, the main difference between the two is that these troll statues are paywalled — they’re mostly in parks that have entrance fees, while the Whispering Giants have always been free (as far as I can recall). But this park runs off of donations, so we decided to check it out today. We started off by parking near a picnic area and having lunch, then Curtis and Charlie started on a little walking tour while I put things away. When they made it to the visitor center, Curtis intended on waiting for me, but someone opened the door and let him know that dogs were allowed inside, and Charlotte immediately took them up on that offer. I eventually caught up with them behind the center on the trail, and we all walked to see the first Forest Giant.

There were a lot of trails here, so we could have spent a lot more time than we did, but it was hot and humid and raining off and on, so after our walk to the first Giant we did a short driving tour to see a second, then hit the road again – we’ll have to come back to see the third I guess.

After driving through Louisville and into Indiana on I-64, we made our way to our next stop: Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial, the area where President Lincoln lived for 14 years, growing from a boy to a man here. We started at the visitor center, where Curtis went inside to get stamps and Charlotte and I wandered all over the parking lot and entry to the center. She seemed intent on walking with us all the way to the gravesite of Lincoln’s mother, but a ranger came out to give her some love, and gave her a Bark Ranger badge. Then I guess she decided that since she was already a Bark Ranger, she didn’t have to do any more work, so she chose a comfy spot to lie in the grass to hang out while Curtis and I took turns walking to the grave. There are more trails here that we could take further into the park, but since it was still hot we opted to drive. When we arrived at the back lot, Curtis and I took turns walking to the site of the log cabin, and briefly walked through the reconstructed cabin and living history farm.

Finally, we continued heading West into Illinois and to our chosen campsite for the night in Beall Woods State Park. I kind of expected it to be busy because it’s both a camping and fishing area, and being Father’s Day weekend, it just seemed like the kind of place fathers would want to be. But when we arrived, there was only one other vacant RV and a couple of visitors that left shortly after. We chose a campsite, then tried to figure out how to pay. The sign said someone would be around to collect payment, so we had cash ready, but no one ever came around. We enjoyed a very quiet and relaxing night here — the heat finally gave way to a cool evening, and after dinner Charlotte led us on a big walking tour around the campground. While on our walk, we spotted a skunk running through the field — thankfully he stayed far away from us! We finally settled in for a cozy night together in the van.

The next day, we had a 3 hour drive to reach Decatur, IL, where we would be staying that week. We broke up the drive by stopping at Fox Ridge State Park, where we went for a short muddy walk to the shore of the Embarras River. When we made it to Decatur, we checked into our hotel for the week. Now, this week would be Curtis’ first time working at a plant in central Illinois, and knowing nothing about the area, we assumed staying here would be fine. However, it didn’t take long before we realized that Bloomington would have been a better option — but luckily we found this out now, before we have to come back to this plant for a longer amount of time, so we changed our reservations for the next time we’re back in the area.

Besides it not being the most exciting area, we had a nice week here. We enjoyed going out for dinner each night, and Charlie and I made the most of hotel life by alternating between being inside in the air conditioning, and outside either sunbathing or checking out our ‘neighborhood’. The most excitement we had was on one of the days, there were severe storms and tornadoes touched down just Northwest of us. While that was going on, Charlie and I hung out in the lobby downstairs and she got some love from other guests and workers.

When our week here was over, we packed up and made the drive up to our hometown in Iowa, where we planned to spend the next week. On our way, we managed to get 3 new counties in IL, and stopped at the Dickson Mounds State Museum. Of course we couldn’t tour the museum with Charlie, but we were able to see some excavated remains of Native American buildings in the Eveland Village. We made one more stop to get Culver’s for lunch (including getting Charlie her own burger) and finished the drive up to Iowa.