Tag Illinois

For about a year and a half we lived in Missouri, smack dab in the middle of the American Central Midwest. This, I can assure you, was culture shock to the extreme. As a vegetarian and flex vegan, Missouri was a whole new world, culinarily speaking. And not a good one. More like a Mad Max wasteland world, where everything was barbecued or deep fried, and nothing came with vegetables, despite the fact that they were being grown all around us.

In Missouri, we checked out Branson, of course, and St. Louis. Now, if you’re in the market for a solid heart attack, we’d suggest dining in St. Louis. Go literally anywhere. But St. Louis has some healthy options too. You could walk around the zoo, which is free. And St. Louis has a massive park (that houses the zoo, conveniently) and a nearby free science museum. All of these attractions are well worth a visit.

Indiana: Corn, Literature and More Corn

Indiana has some perks worth checking out. For one, Kurt Vonnegut, my favorite writer of all time, hails from Indianapolis. Sure, he spent most of his productive years elsewhere, but the midwest doesn’t have shit to claim, so we’ll let them have it. Indianapolis is now home to the Kurt Vonnegut Museum & Library, which is pretty sweet, to tell the truth. You can go right in, have a tour, buy some themed gifts or attend some of their events. They really are doing an awesome job of sharing Vonnegut’s vision. So, that’s something the midwest has going.

Indiana has an awesome downtown area. We checked out The Garage, an eatery for everyone with tiny stalls selling everything from lobster rolls to Pakistani to cheap margaritas and soup. We loved the downtown. We also checked out the Indiana State Museum, which at $17 was well worth it to see the throngs of taxidermies animals and era-by-era cultural items. Indiana has a lot going on back in the day, including being trampled flat by mammoths. True story.

Illinois: The Cornhole of America

Illinois has a few things to offer the intrepid tourist eager to see real America. I hear Chicago is nice. I went once. It was cold, wet, and everywhere we went a Sheik came up to us and said, “you probably shouldn’t be here.” Apparently south side Chicago is not where I’m meant to be? No joke, that happened more than once as we were looking for a well-known philately shop. I missed the downtown, the skyscrapers and the views of the great lakes because we ran out of gas and decided to leave after the third person in an hour told us to get out of there. So, we did. 

Cahokia is one of my favorite things in the midwest. This, at one point, was the largest native city in the United States. Now we know almost nothing about it, or the people who built it. All we have left are these huge mounds that you can walk around on. We climbed several, looked out at the ol’ Mississippi and enjoyed the views. I can see why they picked that spot. Endless flatlands for crops or grazing and the river for fish and transportation and trade. Still, very little is known about them, and most school-aged kids haven’t even heard of it.

The midwest has some pretty cool parks. Not Yellowstone or Niagara, but still. They try. One of my favorite things about living in Missouri for a year and a half was watching the farming community do their thing. I have to assume this is a labor of love, because they aren’t making a profit. Everything I read about farming suggests it’s all but a starvation wage after investing in everything needed to keep the farm active. Still, I can see the appeal of farming from a job-satisfaction standpoint. You work hard, hands in the soil, and you see real results. We watched the field near our house go from snow-covered to sludge to ribbed for seeds, to sprouting and finally to fruition and harvest. It was a thrill to watch the machines roll through and see real live farmers in coveralls out there checking the plants. I suppose if you’ve always lived near fields it wouldn’t be that exciting, but corn, soybeans and yarrow grew nearby and it was stunning.

We made trips to Minnesota, Colorado and Kansas in addition to our Illinois, Missouri, Indiana trips, but I’ll write about them later. For now, that’s the midwest as we saw it. You’re welcome to it, especially in harvest season when the sky turns grey with little tiny specs of husk and ear finely chopped and ready to clog your lungs.

If you missed our American Road Trip adventures, you’ll find more including routes on the Road Trip page.

Although still listed as the 14th most undesirable place to live because of the crime and unemployment, I’ve been lucky enough to come home for a couple weeks and catch up with friends and family. That has really been the best part about it. There are really some good people here and that is hard to come by in all the places we’ve been. Even though the weather is beautiful today, most activities and venues in Rockford are shut down for Winter. However, I want to take this opportunity to go through some of the awesome things to do in Rockford and a couple of interesting facts…or at least ones that I find interesting.

Making CiderEdward's Apple Orchard

Edward’s Apple Orchard

This place is just simply the best and has been for as long as I can remember. Crowds flock in from Chicago and all over the region to see Edwards Apple Orchard in Fall. I surprising could not find their website, however this is a must do in the Fall. Technically in Poplar Grove, every year thousands of people drive out of the city down country roads to visit this once quaint orchard farm. Over the years it has grown into a huge barn converted into a store with great Mid-West and country style goods that you can’t find anywhere else, tons of apples in baskets to choose from, and phenomenal apple cider. And the kicker – Edward’s Apple Orchard donuts! These sugar coated donuts are home-made right in front of you at the orchard and melt in your mouth. These are such a phenomenon here, I have even seen Orchard donut wedding cakes.  It is a great place to take your kids, as they have a free petting zoo, and another building full of country antiques. If that’s not enough, you can go downstairs and order cider by the cup, a single donuts, or anything else the place has to offer.

Midway Village Water Wheel

Midway Village

The forgotten museum of Rockford, I grew up about a mile away from this place.  As dorky as it may be, I used to volunteer out there during all of their events.  It started out as a ministry required volunteer program I had to do for school and then I just never quit.  I got all dressed up in some mid 1800’s gear and went down to the printing press and made people their name while showing them how movable type works, which was a great experience because my Great Grandfather owned the local newspaper in Comfrey, Minnesota.  I would also give them a tour of the hardware store where I memorized every detail about each item in the store.  This place was amazing during the Civil War Reenactments and Wild West Days.  These are of my fondest childhood memories and it is sad to see it not in use or busy on the weekends.  It seems as though they don’t have enough volunteers working there to have any of buildings open.  I think it is quite an experience walking through what appears to be a small pioneer town of the good ol’ days.

On The Waterfront

Crowd at Davis Park

The music festival of my youth.  We couldn’t go through a Summer without trying to spend almost every night down by the river for this monumental event for Rockford.  Tons of people come out for this several-day-long music festival.  I saw my first concert here, although I am too embarrassed to tell you who it was.  Regardless, Rockford brings in a lot of great bands for this event and everyone comes downtown to check it out.  Summer is the time to be in Rockford as there are just tons of things going on.  They have over 5 stages set up, probably more now, to suit everyone’s’ musical tastes.  From Steve Miller Band, to Cold or Powerman 5000, to Bobby Vee from my parents generation, they have all genres.

Historic Auto Attractions

I just heard about this recently from some friends and although I have not been here yet, it looks amazing.  This is actually in Roscoe, just outside of Rockford, Illinois.  Going through their website is pretty amazing.  It simply must be one of the best private car collections in the United States.  I am not going to load an image because you simply just need to see their website (click above on ‘Historic Auto Attractions’).  They have wax representations of tons of historic figures, most wearing authentic garb, a superman (wearing the actual costume from Superman 1), Bonnie & Clyde’s death hats, John Dillinger’s 1932 Studebaker… the list goes on and on.  Absolutely amazing.

Japanese Gardens

Anderson Gardens

From what I have been told, Anderson Gardens has been rated the best Japanese garden in all of North America, a pretty amazing accomplishment.  I drove by the gardens literally every day on my way to high school.  This is pretty typical for people of their home town, but I have never been here.  I’m planning on it this Spring though.  I am trying to view my trip home as part of our extended journey and am trying to see all the tourist stuff you miss out on in your own town.  They also have a pretty nice restaurant located on the grounds from what I understand but the menu does not have any prices … yes it’s one of those.  Probably something for the budget traveler to avoid (the restaurant only I mean) as I’ve fallen victim to that scam all over Central Asia.  I don’t want to be that guy who asks how much everything on the menu is…it is simply habit for me now after traveling for too long.

Rock Cut State Park

Rock Cut State Park

I try to drive or hike through the park in the Fall because it really is beautiful.  During the Summer I used to go down to the water, just slightly off of the right of this picture, and go fishing.  My buddy Matt, who met us in Ankara, Turkey earlier this year, and I caught a ton of small bass and blue gill just off the shore.  We would bring some food to grill out as well.  It always made for a perfect Summer day when I was younger and I highly recommend a trip out for the whole family.  Your bound to catch something, albeit not very big, if you throw a line in.  Rarely did I ever go home not having caught something.  There is even a bait shop and a place to pick up some equipment in the middle of the park.  Moreover, a great camp ground for tents and RVs is on the other side of the lake.

There are a lot of things I am leaving out, please feel free to add them in the comments and keep the list going – for all of you Rockfordians who want to prove that Rockford really isn’t as bad as the magazines state.  First one I left out that comes to mind already is Magic Waters!  The name says it all.

Progreso

I suppose reading the blog might have been confusing recently for some of our more attentive readers. We posted blogs from Canada and Chicago nearly simultaneously, one praising the Olympic ski runs at Whistler, the other lauding a drive from North Carolina to Chicago. Meanwhile, posts from Mexico and Texas are also popping up. If you’ve been confused, you’re probably not the only one. Here’s what has happened since ATC returned to America:

We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida- a beautiful and warm place complete with scenic palm trees and overpriced taxi rides – in early November, 2009. From Florida, we traveled by Amtrak to Columbia, South Carolina where our train arrived at the ungodly hour of 4:00am. We walked through the last of the hurricane season in Columbia while finding a hotel, and in the morning we booked it north….to North Carolina. We spent several days in the Carolinas visiting relatives and reacquainting ourselves with Krispy Kreame doughnuts and Starbucks coffee—two things sorely lacking in Serbia. No joke, the Serbians could use a few tasty treats to cheer them up a bit.

After our family time in NC, we rented a car and drove to Rockford, IL for some more family time before ATC was split as Lauren went to Minnesota and then Washington (and Canada) while Mike went to New Hampshire. Thus, the blog has postings from the slopes of Whistler, BC and the hills of New Hampshire almost simultaneously.

With the holidays safely behind us, Lauren and Mike have reunited and even managed to drive from Illinois down to Texas, where they were lucky enough to meet up with some Old China Hands (friends from Shanghai) who currently reside in Austin. Continuing on, they traveled south to find warmer weather and calmer skies on the gulf coast of Texas, where they launch mini-trips into Mexico weekly.

So, here I write from a windy but beautiful beach on South Padre Island, TX as the gulf waves crash before me and the salty sand and wind blow my hair into my eyes. The gin and tonics flow freely here, and while little on South Padre Island remains open past 4pm (this being a retirement community) I’m happy to report that this writer has finally found a quiet place to write, reflect and detangle.