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…
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…