We had an invitation to my partner's alpaca farm for Sunday, so decided to turn the whole weekend into a roadtrip! First stop was Dixon, IL, about an hour west of us, to tour Ronald Reagan's boyhood home. William and I have talked about a stop here for over a year, since it was his 2nd grade president presentation. But they're only open seasonally, but it didn't work out before now. It was a fun stop - around 45 minutes to see the video, tour the house and poke around the yard - before heading to the local pizza buffet for lunch. A friend of mine grew up in this town and her parents still live there so she gave me the scoop!
Not sure why I needed to post every picture I took! The house reminded me a lot of my grandparents' farm house - just smaller. Although when Reagan visited he said the house had shrunk! I'm sure it (just like my grandparents' house) looked bigger when he (I) was 10!
We drove through rural Illinois another hour or so to get to Starved Rock State Park. It was a beautiful Saturday so there were a lot of people there. It rained so much the week before that the main parking lot was flooded and out of commission. That meant when we first drove through the overflow lots were also full from early arrivals and we didn't find a spot to park. Instead we drove to our hotel to check in and rest for a little bit before trying again. William was very John-like on our hike. I've gotten to the point in the last 20 years where I understand that John is not going to stay with the group and will wonder off to explore cooler things than the path provides. . . .but Mama Bear still worries about the kiddo doing it. Luckily except for spiders and maybe some poison ivy, I didn't think too much trouble could befall him and I tried to chill out!
After our hiking and exploring, we swam in the hotel pool and relaxed our muscles in the hot tub. Then we had our second restaurant recommendation for the day and enjoyed dinner at Tangles Roots Brewery in Ottawa, IL, which I keep telling everyone considering a roadtrip is a legitimate brewpub. The whole downtown Ottawa area was actually really nice; sometime we'll have to explore it in the daylight instead of just rushing for dinner before collapsing back in our beds.
Sunday morning we were on a bit of a schedule to drive the last hour to my partner's farm. But first we had to enjoy our Hampton Inn waffles! There wasn't much need to eat at the hotel since of course there was a ton of food at the farm. But of course William was so busy exploring there that he didn't want to stop to eat either! This is his third or fourth trip to Bob's farm so he acts like he owns the place! The fishing this year was non-existent. Well, unless you ask the kids because they caught dozen of minnows! Not sure if it was the same one over and over......I tried hooking one for bait for a bigger fish but the ponds appeared to be empty.
Around 175 alpacas are permanent residents of the farm (along with many chicken, geese, some turkeys, a few little sheep and a farm dog. For Deloitte Day at the Farm, Bob also brings in two ponies for pony rides, gets baby chicks and baby ducklings, and sometimes (not this year!) stocks the pond. For the last few years this event has fallen near his birthday so I bring a cake. This year I passed that baton on to the manager on our joint engagement. He and his wife really delivered!
We drove through rural Illinois another hour or so to get to Starved Rock State Park. It was a beautiful Saturday so there were a lot of people there. It rained so much the week before that the main parking lot was flooded and out of commission. That meant when we first drove through the overflow lots were also full from early arrivals and we didn't find a spot to park. Instead we drove to our hotel to check in and rest for a little bit before trying again. William was very John-like on our hike. I've gotten to the point in the last 20 years where I understand that John is not going to stay with the group and will wonder off to explore cooler things than the path provides. . . .but Mama Bear still worries about the kiddo doing it. Luckily except for spiders and maybe some poison ivy, I didn't think too much trouble could befall him and I tried to chill out!
