Cantigny Park

What’s up everyone?

We have been experiencing some technical difficulties.  So the post that was meant for Wednesday wasn’t able to make it.  But we are back up and running.  With that being said, let get into it.

In my previous post I had mentioned Cantigny Park and realized that I have yet to talk about it.  I had planned on it, but put it on the back burner for other things.

Cantigny is located in Wheaton, Illinois which is about thirty miles west of Chicago.  It is a 500 acre park consisting of gardens, walking paths, two museums, golf course, and other public areas.

Cantigny was originally acquired by Joseph Medill in the late 1800’s.  Medill built a 35 room mansion on the country estate and called it Red Oaks.  The mansion was design by famed architect Charles Allerton Coolidge.  The house is currently one of the two museums on the property.  It is open to the public for tours and has been featured in several movies.  Medill lived there for the remainder of his days.  After his death, Red Oaks was passed down to his grandson Colonel Robert R. McCormick.

McCormick is kind of a big deal out here in Chicagoland.  His family started the Chicago Tribune and he is credited for building it into the media empire that it is today.  Before all that he worked as a war correspondent for them.  He was sent over to Europe to cover the fighting of World War I.  After returning back to the U.S. after his assignment, he promptly joined the Illinois National Guard.  In 1917 the ING was called to serve in Europe.  He was part of the 1st Battalion, the 5th Field Artillery Regiment, with the 1st Infantry Division (thats the Big Red 1 for my military buffs).  He fought in several battles one of which happened to be that Battle of Cantigny.  Upon his return home from the war, he renamed his estate Cantigny to honor those that fought there.

McCormick had no heirs upon his death in 1955, so he left his vast fortune to establish the McCormick Charitable Trust, better known as the McCormick Foundation now, and to transform his estate into a park for public use.

The main area of the park is made up of four major gardens: the Formal, Rose, Idea, and Prairie.  Each garden has its own uniqueness to it.  The Formal Garden is what you would expect to see at a grand estate.  One of the focal points is a large pond with a fountain surround by flowering plants of all kinds.  Many that I have never seen before.  I know that I do not have the wealth of knowledge when it comes to flora, so that could be part of it.  

The Rose garden is as the name implies.  A 12,000 square foot area filled with over 70 varieties of roses.  You can literally  stop and smell the roses and enjoy a quite moment underneath the famed pergola.  This garden is favored by many a bride for pictures.  

The Idea Garden is design to inspire all the at home gardeners.  It is a one acre block filled with inspiration.  Within the garden you will find plants that most amateur gardeners try to grow.  Vegetables, herbs, and flowers can all be found here.  You can enjoy the koi swim in the little pond as you walk around.

The Prairie Garden is designed to take you back to a time before the concrete jungle dominated the region.  It is set up to display the native species of trees, shrubs, and plants of the midwest.  As you travel though garden you come upon the central point of the Prairie Garden.  The Spirit of Commitment is a statue that represents mans civic duty in times of peace and war.  In the quietness of the area take some time to reflect upon things.  Good or bad, it doesn't matter, for all can over come their trials in time.

Cantigny is home to two museums the aforementioned Robert R. McCormick Home and the First Division Museum.  The McCormick home is decorated as it was when the McCormicks lived there.

My favorite part of this whole place was definitely the First Division Museum.  On the outside of the museum is what they call the Tank Park.  Here you can look upon tanks from around the world and from different times.  If you are lucky, you can also climb upon them.  The museum itself was built to honor the history of the First Division.  The First Infantry Division is the oldest continuously run division since its conception in 1917.  Inside you will see exhibits and artifact dating back to the Revolutionary War.

We had a lot of fun exploring Cantigny when were there.   Currently the park is being remodeled and update so some of the areas are closed.  We are excited to she the improvements that they are working on once they are complete in August.  If you get a chance go check it out.  I think it was worth it.

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time.

Josh

 Don't forget to check us out on Facebook.  We post a lot more pictures of our adventures there.

Running Amuck in Chicagoland

What’s up Everybody?

What a crazy weekend we have had.  Erin’s brother and sister flew in to visit us.  They didn’t really have any specific plans.  They just wanted to come out and see us.

They flew in Thursday evening.  Since it was later on in the day, we decide on just going to dinner and hanging out back at the homestead.  We gave them some option and let them decide on where they wanted to go.  They settle on Dell Rhea’s Chicken Basket.  This restaurant had humble beginnings when it opened its doors in the late 30’s early 40’s.  Initially a lunch counter located within a gas station on the famous Route 66.  As the story is told.  One faithful day two local women walked in and overhead the owner talking about wanting to sell more food.  According to legend the two ladies approached him and told him that they would teach him a fried chicken recipe on one condition, only if he would buy his chickens from their farm.  He agreed and soon he would out grow the lunch counter and convert his two garage bays into a dinning room.  The restaurant continued to grow, until the restructuring of Route 66.  During this time they fell on hard times and almost closed their doors.  With peoples newfound love for Route 66 and all that goes with it.  It has become even more popular then it was before.  It was even featured on Food Networks Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.

If you like fried chicken, you definitely have to stop in.  Even if you don’t thats fine too, they offer other items as well.  The chicken is fried in a different style of breading than you would find in most restaurants.  It is very well cooked and very delicious.

Unfortunately both Erin and I had to work on Friday, so the kids went exploring on their own and some fun at Cantigny Park.  We met up with them later on and decided to run around Downtown Naperville.  One thing that Erin has wanted to do in Naperville since we moved here was to take out paddle boat.  So thats what we did.  For about $10 you can take up to 4 people on a 20 minute boat ride.  They do offer 40 minute rides and kayak rentals.  Pricing varies for each activity.  We piled in and off we went.  It was an enjoyable leisure cruise.  It was nice to be able to sit there and enjoy the scenery of the pond and surrounding area.

Saturday was the most interesting day for us.  We had a game plan, but I can’t say that it was executed very well.  We had decide to head up to Schaumburg and checkout the Lego Discovery Center, but what we missed when we bought our tickets was that you had to be accompanied by a child.  Otherwise you could not enter.  Which makes a lot of sense if you think about it.  You don’t want a bunch of weirdos going in there and creeping around the joint.

So we settled for plan b.  Schaumburg has a art center known as the Prairie Center for the Arts.  It was located not far from where we were at, so we went in that direction.  Come to find out the center is closed on Saturdays.  Luckily the grounds were still open so we walked around and stumbled upon their sculpture walk.  The walk contains sever sculpture, many were left up to you on how you want to interpret them.  I liked most of them, but there was some that were just out there.

We still had half the day and din’t want to spend it sitting back at the house.  We finally settled on Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve.  The Preserve is located in Darien and is about 2,492 acres of forested area.  Fill with plants of all kinds and little streams.  Of course there is the falls that give the area its name.  Scattered throughout the Preserve are walking and biking trails.  We did not explore the area very thoroughly though.  We were not prepared to do vigorous hiking, so we opted to take the quick route to the fall.  I will let you know this, it not the biggest waterfall out there, but its fun to see anyway.  At the bottom of the fall is a little area for you to play in and enjoy the flow of the water.

To end the day we decided to go see Spider-man: Homecoming and get some ice cream.  No worries though, I wont spoil the movie for you, but it was a very good flick.  I really liked it.

It is always fun to have family and friends come and visit us.  We may not always have the best plans but we figure it out as we go.  Sometime that makes for the best adventures.  Can’t wait to have the next group of travelers to come see us.  I’m sure we can get ourselves into trouble somehow.

Until next time.  Thanks for stopping by.

Josh

Independence Day in Chicagoland

Happy Independence Day Everyone?

During the summer there is no lack of activities to do out here in Chicagoland.  It seems like there is a festival of some sort going on every weekend.  I’ve already told you about Swedish Days up in Geneva.  This is especially true when it comes to the 4th of July.  Over the weekend Erin was able to attend Eyes to the Sky Festival in Lisle, a village not to far from us.  Here are her thoughts on it

I’ve always loved the concept of hot air balloons. Their beauty and the science behind how they stay in the air is beyond me. I find them fascinating, keep in mind I will NEVER ride one. My fear of heights goes into anxiety overdrive just thinking about it. I definitely admire these feats of flight from a distance. Having seen pictures online promoting a hot air balloon festival peaked my interest. I knew I wanted to check it out in person! Just a few blocks from Main Street Lisle is a yearly ‘Eyes to the Skies’ festival. At first when I walked up it didn’t look like much, but as I entered the east entrance over a bridge it became clear this was unlike any festival I’d been to before. This large city park was completely taken over by the event. First I entered a long stretch of boutique and craft fair booths. I love discovering local artisans, there was a large amount of jewelry, clothing, home goods, toys and other specialty items. As well as information booths for different local businesses. But then I hit the jackpot as I turned the end of the lane to another area…. CARNIVAL FOOD! 

They had everything from pork chops and steak on a stick to mile high, effectively named, ‘heard attack’ nachos. My friend Brooke and I decided on footlong corndogs, red velvet funnel cake and fresh lemonade. All of our selections were amazing. From the crispy and delicious corndog to the airy and flavor filled funnel cake. The lemonade was other worldly, it was clear so you’d think it was watered down but it had such flavor! They even put a lemon chopped in half in your 32oz plastic cup! Next we had to check out the carnival side. There were plenty of rides you could buy tickets for and enjoy. Rides ranged from a ferris wheel to fast spinning for thrill seekers. I truly believe getting on those you take your life in your own hands. Some were even propped on 2x4’s in the parking lot it was staged in. Walking further out I noticed there was not one but 2 full stages set up across from the festival with live music playing from both. But my last stop was the baseball field. Around 8pm they start to inflate a field full of balloons, I counted about 10. Now at this point EVERYONE that had come to the festival crowds around behind the chain link fence to watch the balloons and take pictures. I couldn’t believe how many people were surrounding me. By myself at this point I made my way to different vantage points to watch. In this standing room only and selfie stick in tow I was able to capture some memories to share. I would highly recommend this event, at least once. Knowing ,while it is a large crowd, there will be lots to see and you won’t go hungry!

-Erin

Our family has a tradition of heading to Yellowstone for the 4th, but unfortunately none of us were able to make out this year.  A sad day for all of us.  So Erin and I decided to participate in the local Bolingbrook Firework Show.  

We were invited by some friends of ours to join them at the show.  Usually I’m not one for large crowds, but I figured that this was not an everyday occurrence.  So I shrugged off my anxiety and went for it.  If I knew then, what I know now I might of had a different opinion.  The festival took place at the Bolingbrook Golf Club, one of our local golf courses.  The gates opened at three o’clock for people to start finding places to sit.  We did not go that early though.  They had food trucks and vendors of all kind, a stage with live music and some other events throughout the event.  Many people had set up games of all kinds, as well as, throwing footballs, baseballs, frisbees and the like.  

We grabbed our chairs and headed out around five.  Knowing that parking would be horrible and in short supply, we caught a shuttle that took a right to the golf course.  We made our way to where our friends had set up camp and made our self at home.  We talked about a many of things until hunger finally fell upon us.  We settled upon the classic fair food.  Hotdogs, nachos, and of course deep-fried cookie dough.  If you are wondering,  the deep-fried cookie dough is as name implies.  They stick a wad of cookie dough on a stick, dunk it in to some batter and drop it into the frier and dust it with powder sugar.  It was pretty good, not sure if I would try it again though.

As night fell we all stood as the Star Spangled Banner was sang to us in prep for the fireworks.  The show was good, probable one of the best that I've seen in a while.  All in all, it was a good day.  Hangout with good people and enjoying each others company.  Celebrating one of the greatest countries in this world.

I hope that your Fourth of July was as good as ours.

Thanks for stopping by, until next time.

Josh and Erin

Swedish Dazed!

What’s up everyone?

Every year the sleep little town of Geneva Illinois is transformed into a Swedish lovers paradise as they celebrate their midsummer festival, Swedish Days.

Geneva is a small village located in the western suburbs of Chicago.  With a population around 22,000 people.  The residents take pride in their small town feel.  The area was first settled in the 1830’s.  It was eventually incorporated into a village in 1867.  During this time it went through several names before they settled on Geneva.  Many believe it was named after Geneva, New York.  But I can neither confirm or deny this claim.   Its location on the shores of the Fox River which made it an important hub for manufacturing and shipping.

Geneva has several tourist draws.  Not too far from the village lies the Fabyan Windmill.  It is an authentic, fully functional, five story Dutch style windmill built in the 1850’s.  We were not able to make it to see the windmill, maybe next time.  We were able to walk around parts of Geneva’s famed Fox River Bike Trail.  The parts that we were able to walk was beautiful.  Plenty of open spaces with benches and picnic tables, a children playground and clean rest areas.  If biking and walking not really your thing you can also grab a fishing pole and drop in a lure.  Just don’t fish off the bridges, its highly frowned upon.  Geneva is also host a museum, shops, restaurants, and historical architecture.  

The villages biggest tourist draw is of course, Swedish Days.  In the latter parts of 1800’s, Geneva experience a large influx of Swedish immigrants.  It was such a huge rush that over half the population were of Swedish descent by 1900.  So Swedish pride runs rampant there.

The festival is a five day event, each day has it own unique events as well as the typical street fair events.  Booths, carnival rides and street food was all on tap.  We decide to get a group together and head up on Saturday morning.  Since we were all coming from different parts of the city we decided to meet up at the local Starbucks.  One of our good friends actually grew up in Geneva, so he gave us a brief tour of the village.  He told us all about how it was growing up there and what had change since he moved away.  We found it all very fascinating.  We spent most of our time exploring the little shops and booths.  I had to try really hard to keep Erin from touching things.  She has a tendency to touch everything or, I mean, she likes to look with her hands and not here eyes.  One day she’s going to touch the wrong thing and break it.

After all the excitement of the festival we decide to stop and get something to eat.  We happened upon a local resident that was more then happy to suggest some local favorites.  We ended up at Local Burger, an artesian burger joint.  We searched the menu feverishly, trying to decide what to have. Burgers, wraps, mac and cheese, it all sounded really good.  We finally decided on what to have and placed our orders.  They came out grilled to perfection and served on a pretzel bun. It was very good and filling.  If you are in the area make sure that you stop in, I doubt you will be disappointed.

Lately we have been experiencing some rainy weather.  It was great to finally be able to get out and do something outside for a change.  We all had an exciting time getting out to Geneva and experiencing Swedish Days.  Hopefully we will be able to make it up there again and see what else Geneva has to offer.

Get out and experience your local festivals.  As always, Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time.

Josh

Memorial Weekend Hijinx

What’s up everyone?

I have probably mentioned this a few times throughout my posts, so I’ll be repeating myself I’m sure.  For as long as I can remember, my family has been riding dirt bikes and atvs.  I literally mean for as long I can remember.  There is a picture of either my brother or myself as a baby sitting on an old Honda three-wheeler.  I wish that I had easy access to it so that I could share it with you.  Its adorable.

For us it started as male bonding time.  My father, brother, myself and some close friends would gather our gear and head out for a days ride.  We would usually stop at the local gas station to get some fuel and some snacks for the day.  Ah….Doritos and Chips Ahoy.  To be honest, there is no better snacks then that for getting down and dirty in the Utah’s backcountry.  As we grew older our manly bonding time turned into quality family time.

That is one of the things that I miss the most since we moved out to the Chicago area.  Maybe its my ignorance or lack of knowledge of the area, but it seems to me that the people here do not participate in outdoor recreation like we do out West.  I feel like you could be driving around any street in Utah and see at least one person with an atvs, utvs, dirt bikes, snowmobile, jet ski or a boat.  But driving around here, I may have seen a handful of boats and jet ski.  Very rarely do you see a atv.  Something that is a very foreign to me.

Lucky for us, when we made our tip back home we had the opportunity to head back out into Utah’s backcountry.  My family has some property in Fillmore, Utah.  A small little town around the middle of the state.  In fact it was the capital for a time before Salt Lake took over the title.  Not too long after we had landed, we gathered our gear and hit the road.  Two hours later we were there being greeted by smiling faces and a wonderfully prepared meal.

The following day our adventure began.  After a quick breakfast, we packed our coolers and decide on where we were headed.  With our path decided we headed out into the wilderness.  We passed through a few small towns before making our way up the canyon.  To me nothing beats a drive on a dirt road up in the mountains.  The smells of the forest brought in by the slight breeze blowing about you.  Very nice.  We eventually made our way to the top of the trail and was met with an obstacle.  We had been told by fellow adventurers, that there was large snow drifts on the higher roads.  We found us a nice place to pull over to discuss our options.  Some of us went to investigate the road, while the rest stayed behind to mess around.

After a few minutes our group was reunited.  We came to the conclusion that it would be wiser to turn around and head back then try to force our way through the snow and possibly getting stuck.  So we turned around and headed back the way we came which brought up a new problem.  We had been driving around for the majority of the day and some of us were starting to run low on fuel.  At the rate that we were going at least two of us were bound to run out.  Once again we pulled over to discuss our options.  Fortunately we were about 15 miles away from a little town.  It was a little out of our way and we would have to backtrack but it was the best option for the situation.

We crept our way into town.  Filled up and headed back out.  With a new found vigor and the feeling of dread vanishing, we felt that we could take the time to enjoy the scenery.  We finally rolled back into camp.  Filthy and covered in dirt.  I’ve been dirty before, but I haven't had to scrape dirt off my face in a long time.  We busted out the wet wipes and gave ourselves a quick sponge bath.  Don't worry we did eventual shower later that night before going to bed.  We lit a fire and enjoyed our dinner.  Reminiscing about the days events.  We came to the conclusion that we had traveled about 127 miles in total.  Not a small feet in utvs.  All in all it was a good day.

I have always enjoyed getting out in to the wilds of Utah.  Whether it riding, jeeping, camping or whatever, its always enjoyable.  We have explore a lot of terrain in Utah throughout the years.  I’m hoping to be able to learn more about Illinois.  For myself and for everyone else.  I may never have the intimate knowledge about Illinois as I do with Utah, but it will be fun trying to figure it out.

As always.  Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time.

Josh

BHS Graduation

What’s up everybody?

I have to apologize for our little hiatus.  Being on vacation and dealing with some things at work, has made it a little difficult for me to find time to sit and write.  That being said, everything is now set in order and I should be able to keep up with my weekly posts.

As I had mentioned above, we recently returned from a trip back home to Utah.  Like most vacations, we would've loved to have spent a few more days out there.  We were not able to visit with everyone that we wanted to, but it was awesome to see the ones we did.  Next time hopefully we wont be as rushed.  We did go on a few adventures while we where out there that I’m excited to tell you about here in the next few weeks or so.

The main reason that we made it out to Utah was to celebrate our sister Makenna’s High School Graduation.  She was 1 of 786 (plus or minus a few) students graduating from the prestigious Bingham High School (BHS).  BHS has a long tradition of excellence in both academics and sports in Utah.  They always seem to be the high school that all other school gun for.

Makenna’s graduation was quite the big deal, as she has become the last sibling to graduate from high school.  The days leading up to the big day had became a stress filled mess.  Pulling everything together for the celebration afterwards became the priority.  Getting food, cleaning the house, putting up decorations and so much more was on menu.  I think Erin’s mom was on the verge of a mental break down.

Once the chaos had settled everything turned out great.  The day of was pretty much as you would expect.  We took pictures and attended the ceremony.  Lucky for us all the speakers were fairly upbeat and kept the audience engaged.  I don’t know about you, but for me I hate it when I’m listening to someone speaking and they are monotoned and uninteresting.

The after party went off without a hitch as well.  Family and friends all came to pay their respects and to wish Makenna well on her big milestone. As the night went on, little by little, everyone eventually left and the core family members were left there to reminisce about the days events. Before running out the door to take new family pictures. Since opportunities to have the whole family together become more infrequent.

I want to personally say how proud we are of Makenna.  I have been lucky enough to watch her grow up into the strong and independent woman that she is.  We can’t wait to see what is in store for her, and the future she will make for herself. We know that there are great things headed her way.

Congrats to all of the graduating classes of 2017.  Until next time.

Josh

WE'RE TRAPPED AND CAN'T GET OUT!

Courtesy: escapestrategyauora.com

What’s up everybody?

Have you ever had the experience of being looked in a room and forced to find away to escape it.  Something like you would see in some horror film.  No?  Well thats ok, nobody really wants to experience that.  Unless you want to partake in an activity that is sweeping our nation.  I’m talking about escape rooms.

If you are not familiar with them, I will give you the gist of it.  Understand that not all places may follow this pattern.  This is just generally speaking.  They give you a scenario of what has taken place in the room.  Then you are locked in said room and have to solve the puzzles and escape before the time runs out.  DON’T LET THE TIME RUN OUT!  You wont like what will happen if you do.  Naw, Just playing.  You’ll just have to deal with shame of losing the game.  Unless you really are in a horror film.  Then heaven help you.  Save yourself.

The place that we went to was Escape Strategy.  Located at 4151 E. McCoy Dr in Aurora.  Some of our group was having some issue booking their appointment.  Escape Strategy staff were friendly and worked hard to fix the problem that they had.  

Escape Strategy sports three rooms for you to choose from.

The Mad-Hatter Room:  In this room you help Alice solve the clues and make it to the tea party on time.  But don’t lose your head to the Queen.

The Senators Office:  You work for a prominent Senator that you suspect of espionage.  You set up a fake meeting to get him out of his office.  You need to  find the evidence before he gets back so that he doesn’t pin it on you.

The Crime Scene Room:  You play the role of a detective.  You have received a phone call that your partner has been killed.  You are tasked with going over the clues left behind to hind the killer, the murder weapon and the way that he escaped the scene.

We had booked the Crime Scene Room.  I don’t want to give away too much, so I am going to keep it a little vague.  No spoilers here.  When we arrived the staff gave us some brief instructions about the room.  When we first entered the room, it was a little overwhelming.  There are “clues” scattered throughout the the room.  For me at least, I kind of stood there for a moment dumbfounded deciding were to start.  Each of us split off in different directions and started our search.  We started figuring thinks out and everything started to fall into place.  Unfortunately for us we ran out of time on the last puzzle.  If we had just a few more minutes we could have solved it.  So close, but not close enough.

All in all, we had a really fun experience.  If you are the type of person that like to solve puzzles and mysteries.  You’ll have fun too.

Until next time.  Thanks for stopping by.

Josh

P.S.  Sorry no picture this week.  They would not let us take our phones in with us.  Like I said.  No Spoilers.