a lunch with a sailor, spectacular canyons just outside of Chicago, a green river when it’s not even St. Patrick’s Day, the best place to learn about Mormons, a Swedish commune, Ronald Reagan’s boyhood home and a Moorish castle….Illinois is full of surprises!
We got to spend two fun days with my brother and family in Switzerland before it was time to return to the US. It was the first time for us to go through customs as US citizens. So it was only befitting that we flew back to that same old place: Sweet Home Chicago. Well, technically in our case it’s more what we once intended to become our home, before we took that 4,000+ mile, 27+ year long detour to Hawaii.
Joy was getting inpatient to hit the road again so we only spent two days in Chicago. “The Bean” is currently closed and they also closed our favorite bar on top of the Hancock building, so there would not have been much else to do in Chicago anyway…other than 74 museums, 250 theaters, about 77 distinct neighborhoods and some 7,300 restaurants, a lake and a river. When I think about that, it shows me how much we love Hawaii that we “forgot” to move to Chicago.
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| The Marina Towers on the right is where we might move if we were to move to Chicago, which we are not. |
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| We were honored to be amongst the first to see our friend fresh out of the Navy Boot Camp! |
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| At the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, we will leave the other 73 museums for future visits. |
We should know better, but we had no idea what natural beauty awaited us not even 100 miles outside of the city of Chicago. What a good start to the last leg of this year’s road trip. The “Starved Rock” and “Matthiessen” state parks were surprisingly spectacular. Not what I would have expected Central Illinois to look like. Granted, there are a lot of corn fields, but there is also stuff like this:
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| Did you expect Illinois to look like this? At the Matthiessen State Park |
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| Starved Rock State Park Not even 100 miles from the concrete canyons of Chicago |
We took a mule towed boat trip on the I&M Canal. This replica of a historic canal boat has no sail or motor, it gets pulled by a mule, just like it was 170 years ago. Today, this is the only boat on that little remaining stretch of the canal, which is totally covered by duckweed, turning it just as green as the Chicago River on St. Patrick’s Day. Considering how quiet the place is today, it’s surprising how busy and important this canal was when it opened in 1848. It opened an inland waterway from New York to New Orleans. It was so important for the city of Chicago that the population grew more than tenfold in the 20 years after the canal’s completion.
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| Mule towed boat ride on the very green I&M Canal |
The slogan of the state of Illinois is “The Land of Lincoln”. We have been to several Lincoln sites in the state before. But even though I had heard it before, I was still surprised to find another president’s birthplace and boyhood home on our Illinois state map. Ronald Reagan was born and raised in Illinois, so of course we took a little detour for ‘the Gipper’. According to local legend, his proudest achievement in life was that he saved 77 people while life guarding at a river outside of Dixon, IL. His father struggled with alcoholism and they moved around a lot, but one of his boyhood homes has been restored and honors our 40th president. You got to like the guy, regardless of whether you like his politics or whether you are one of the 77 people he rescued.
Bishop Hill is a sleepy little town in rural Illinois. With only about 100 residents, we were surprised they even had an open bar, let alone one with a really popular taco night. If anything, they should have a popular Swedish Meatball night: Bishop Hill was founded in 1846 by Eric Jansson and 1,000 of his “Janssonite” followers. He left Sweden after being jailed for splitting from the state church. This seems ironic, because today Sweden is one of the most religiously tolerant places I know. The commune was very successful at first, but disbanded a few years after Eric Jansson was killed. We visited a few of the historical buildings and museums. The history and heritage of this Swedish commune is still being preserved, but apparently not enough to compete with Taco Night.
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| Tack för gästfriheten, Bishop Hill! |
There was a time when everybody knew who Carl Sandburg was. But I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t know about his three Pulitzer Prizes for his poetry and his Lincoln biography. Neither did we until we came across him first at his home in North Carolina and now at his birthplace in Galesburg, Illinois. The little museum only takes 15 minutes to visit, the cottage where he was born another 5 minutes. So including a little chat with the enthusiastic docent, we were in and out of there in just under three hours. We love not being rushed on our road trips.
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| Our Minnie Winnie seems big compared to the cabin where the literary giant Carl Sandberg was born |
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| We saw Agatha Christie's "A Murder is Announced" at the Prairie Players Civic Theater in Galesburg, IL |
Nauvoo is a fascinating place if you are at least a little bit curious about the history of the Mormon Church or better “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints” as they are actually called. Fleeing from persecution, they thought they had found a new home in Western Illinois, but in 1846, before they had even finished their temple, they had to flee again and finally settled in Utah. I have to admit, I am somewhat fascinated by the Mormons:
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| Historic Nauvoo |
On the one hand, I find it one of the weirdest religions out there. I’m not even talking about the polygamy (which has been banned for over 130 years) or their underwear (which is none of my business). The part that I find most peculiar is that they believe that humans came from Jerusalem to the Americas 2600 years ago, supposedly had a thriving society with millions of followers here, but left no trace that any archeologist or historian could find.
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| One of many interesting tours in Nauvoo... ...and how can they all be so nice? |
On the other hand, every Mormon place that I have ever visited is fabulous: The Polynesian Cultural Center on Oahu is run by the Mormons and I think it’s the best and most fun place anywhere to learn about Polynesia.The state capitol in Salt Lake City is one of our favorites and was built without going in debt. Nauvoo is a fascinating place to visit and doesn’t cost a penny. And even more impressive: Every Mormon I have ever met was extremely nice and pleasant to talk to, including the dozen or so guides we had at the various sites in Nauvoo. It’s probably good we had to move on before they could convert us.
Villa Kathrine, a Moorish castle, surprised us almost as much as the canyons in Starved Rock State Park. What is a place like this doing in Quincy, Illinois? The original owner must have been quite the character. Supposedly, he also had the largest dog in America. But mostly he loved to travel, including to Hawaii before that was really a thing. And apparently he loved Moorish architecture, even when (or in particular when) it’s a little out of place.
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| Villa Katherine in Quincy, IL |
And that’s the news from Lake Illinois, where all the sites are interesting, all the canyons are good looking and all the people are nicer than average.
A hui hou,
Chris & Sandra
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