usa: illinois: state parks, zion, and an arboretum

Now that I know how to find information about things to do and places to see, it seems like a whole new world when I go back to the States each summer. My friends live in a (boring) suburb of Chicago, but there is still heaps going on not too far away.

One of my first adventures after coming back to Chicagoland was on a regular work day. I went with Kelley to her job in Zion, then borrowed her car while she worked. I first drove to Illinois Beach State Park, which wasn't a long drive.

Once you go down the rabbit hole of clicking on different spots on Google Maps, you only come out hours later with a long list of places to go.

I parked near a small pond, and immediately fell in love with the quiet. Well, almost every part of the quiet. I could hear the mozzies straightaway, and they immediately found me as well. Sigh. There was a shelter with toilets, as well as a couple picnic tables and benches near the pond, it was all really peaceful. Standing close to the water were at least five fishermen, I wonder how much they were catching.

I walked around the other side of the pond, just enjoying being near the water. From there the trail took me through prarie grass, which truly felt undeveloped and almost secret. Walking through the grass was really nice, I was surprised no one else was out there.

The parkplatz was not far from my main destination of the day: the beach. It was the middle of July, but the water of Lake Michigan was still really chilly, there was no one else on the beach, let alone in the water. I was in heaven, as it was a slice of light sand with waves rolling in regularly.

As expected, walking along the beach was almost a workout. Just another example of why runners go to beaches and dunes to get a good workout. It's soft, but moving forward is hard work.

Further down the beach I found a trail leading to a completely new area, so I followed that for a while. I almost felt like an explorer, silly as that sounds. I can see why leaving everything you know behind holds such appeal to some people.

Eventually I turned around and came back to the beach, then followed the trails to another small beach area. 

This one wasn't as pretty, a couple large rocks even had graffiti. I'm quite sure I'd never expected to see graffiti in the States saying that the USSR is best.

When I returned to the car there were fewer people around, the mozzies seemed to be hiding, and there was no shade anywhere. Thank goodness for air conditioning in cars.

I drove back into Zion, my main stop was Shiloh House. This was the home of Dr John Alexander Dowie, the founder of Zion. Zion was founded as a planned conservative Christian community in 1901 by Dowie, a Scots-Australian evangelical Christian minister. 

He owned most of the land in the area, and the businesses as well.

In general when you hear the name of a community or world leader you tend to assume they are tall, as most of them are. Dowie was not, he was only 5'6" (168cm) and the way his house was built reflects his shortness. The steps are slightly shallower than is normal, and a few shelves had built in steps in some of the rooms.

The Shiloh House is a 3 story, 25 room mansion. Dowie shared the space with his family, as well as a couple friends and some family servants.

There is an entry fee to visit the house, but I was able to wander all over on my own, taking as many photos as I wanted. My favourite part was the winding, wooden staircase, which was beautifully carved. The balconies were also pretty fantastic, they were on all three level s of the house. Another unique part of the house were the bird head spouts on the bathtubs.

Each room had information about the furniture on display, as well as the person who slept there. The whole house is really well presented for visitors, I highly recommend visiting.

When Zion was founded, everyone who lived there was white. That's not anywhere close to reality now. There are currently about 25,000 residents of Zion, with a mix of African American, Latino, and white residents.

After walking through the house I found a random local cafe for lunch, then kept going. Another random sight spotted on a map was up next.

A pyramid!! The great pyramids of Egypt are famous for good reason, but I'd never expected to find one in the States. This one is an event center, so I wasn't able to go in because no events were taking place. 

There is also a giant statue of a pharoah nearby. Just. Wow. (I don't know if that is a good wow or not.)

A few days later Kelley had to work, but Jon and I didn't. We spent a couple hours cleaning up the house, then drove to Matthieson State Park, a bit over an hour away. Matthieson State Park is the relatively unknown neighbor of Starved Rock State Park, one of the most visited state parks in the state of Illinois.

Matthiessen State Park is named for Frederick William Matthiessen, who owned the 176 acres that are still the core of today's park. 

After his death in 1918 the family donated the land (which was then called Deer Park,) to the state. I don't know why it took so long, but the park was renamed in his honour in 1943, in the middle of WW2.

Matthiessen State Park is now 1938 acres, and none of the buildings from the original estate still exist.

Jon knew where he was going, so we pulled into a busy parkplatz and immediately started walking to get away from all the people. Even though this park is far less known than its neighbor, there were still plenty of people there. (Not a surprise in the middle of summer.)

There are a number of trails available in this park, so we randomly followed a couple of them. Since Jon has been to this park several times previously I wasn't worried about getting lost at any point, no matter where we went.

Even though the parkplatz was busy, and the trailheads were often busy, it didn't take us long to get away from everyone else. It was easy to find places with no one else around. It was easy to get to waterfalls. It was easy to find small canyons carved out by the eternal motion of water.

A few hours of getting out in nature was awesome.

The next day all three of us were free, so we piled in the car and drove to a place that had been on my list: Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois. The arboretum is a public garden, outdoor museum, and tree research center covering more than 1700 acres.

Morton Arboretum was established in 1922 by Joy Morton, who owned Morton Salt Company. The goal then and now, is to encourage planting and conservation of trees and other plants for a greener, healthier, and more beautiful world.

The arboretum probably wouldn't have made it onto my list of places to visit except for a recent addition to the plants and trees: a series of GIANT wooden trolls placed around the grounds. These six trolls were created by Danish artist Thomas Dambo, made from reclaimed wood.

The trolls are all made from untreated wood, so there will be no chemicals leeching into the ground as they are slowly taken over by nature.

When you enter the arboretum (paying an entrance fee of $15 per adult,) they give you a map of the grounds, showing the general location of each troll. 

There are small parkplatzes near most of them, so you don't have to walk all over if you don't want to. We visited on a hot day, walking would've been very unpleasant.

Near each troll is a small sign with a 'clue.' You're supposed to write down or remember the clues, and put them together with your map to figure out where the troll 'house' is in the arboretum. It's a neat way of getting people involved in what they're seeing, rather than just taking a photo and moving on.

I would love to see the trolls in fall or winter, I bet they're amazing.