Week 1 in Ottawa, IL | Hiking to La Salle Canyon in Starved Rock State Park | February 2025 This was our third year in a row spending February in Ottawa, IL, and we were truly happy to be back here. The hotel is familiar and comfortable, with such friendly hosts, the town is small…
Hiking to French Canyon in Starved Rock State Park | Spending 2 Weeks in Ottawa, IL | February 2024 Returning to Ottawa, Illinois this spring felt a little bit like returning to a home, a place we once lived, even though it had only been for a month. We arrived at the same hotel as…
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 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…
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…
Moving to New York, Part 2 | IA to MI | August 16-18, 2016 On Tuesday afternoon, we said our goodbyes to my family in Iowa and started the second leg of the trip: to Michigan to see Curtis’ family! On the way, we diverted a little from this very familiar and not particularly interesting…