Illinois is more than Chicago, but you have to know where to look. Here are some places that a good road trip should hit.
Parks and environmental recreation[]
- Starved Rock State Park near Ottawa. Very pretty especially during peak color (late September/early October)
- Matthiessen State Park. Also near Starved Rock. Similar, less traffic.
- Galena in the northwest corner of the state.
- Shawnee National Forest in the southern third of the state.
- Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie south of Joliet. Now 10 years old![1]
Education[]
For the college folk. The ones busily studying. Really. :-)
- University of Illinois in Champaign/Urbana
- Illinois State University in Bloomington/Normal
- Southern Illinois University in Carbondale
- Columbia College Chicago (Film school)
Oddities[]
- Superman in Metropolis, on the Wabash River
- World's Largest Ketchup Bottle in Collinsville (see this link)
- The combination bowling alley / French restaurant in Arcola. (Courtesy of a scavenger hunt)
Notes and references[]
abraham lincoln museum Springfield IL has holograms.