Our Day at Starved Rock

My son and I went to Starved Rock State Park yesterday. The weather said that there would be scattered thunderstorms and that the temperature was going to be a little cooler, so we went prepared for rain or whatever the day brought. We started out our trip with breakfast at an oasis, which probably would have been enough excitement for my son but we continued on our way. Driving there, the skies looked a little threatening but by the time we arrived it had turned into a beautiful, sunny, warm day. We hiked for about an hour and a half. Its a great place to go with kids: the trails are all well marked, there's a wide variety of scenery (forests, rivers, rocks, canyons, caves, etc.) and the terrain is fairly level (when its not, there are stairs - LOTS of stairs, according to my son). My Aunt Janna lives just a few minutes from Starved Rock, so she met us up at the lodge and treated us to a very good lunch, that probably undid all the good of the hike, oh well : ) After lunch the three of us headed over to Buffalo Rock State Park and walked a few of the trails there. Then Logan rode his bike around, which he had been wanting to do all day. I was so happy that we were able to see my aunt and just hang out for a little while. We will definitely have to do that again. While my son did great on the hike, he started to slow down towards the end. So when asked what his favorite parts of the hike were, here is his list:

1. Seeing the end of the trail
2. Walking through the parking lot, back to our car
3. Eating lunch

Isn't he funny?

On our drive back, we decided to take a different way home, instead of the highway. We ended up driving by lots of farms and fields, which quickly turned into subdivisions and strip malls and then we were home. After all that driving and hiking, I was exhausted. I collapsed into bed at 8:30! Here are some photos of our day. Please excuse the Sox shirt, he's 8 and doesn't make the best decisions : ) Also, I think he put it on to spite the Cubs shirt that I was wearing.