Yesterday morning Travalon and I set out for the Illinois Railway Museum, where they were having Trolley Day. We rode on trains and trolleys all day - our favorite was an old streetcar from the late 19th century with benches along either side. The cutest streetcar, which wasn't in use, is an old horse-drawn one from the 1850's. It was Streetcar 8 in Chicago, and 8 is my lucky number. Travalon got some good photos of it, but the internet connection here is very pokey, so I'll post them when we are back home. We rode on the train with the green velvet seats just like last year, and it was so comfortable that I slept for most of the trip. I need some green velvet seats for those nights I have insomnia!
Then we drove south and had a wonderful dinner at the Uptown Grill in LaSalle. We drove along the Illinois river just after sunset, and it was so beautiful with the purple sky reflecting in the water. We saw some fireworks along the way and found a spot in Bayview Gardens to pull over and watch some fireworks right overhead. By the time we got to our hotel in Peoria, the pool was closed, and there was no refrigerator so we had to take our leftovers down to the front desk to put in a secret fridge. By then I was too tired to blog, so we just went to bed and slept like rocks.
This morning we went to the restaurant in our hotel for breakfast, then we walked to the cathedral for Mass. The cathedral is very beautiful, with a starry design with all the planets (even Pluto!) hidden among the stars, and gorgeous red and blue stained glass windows. Then we drove to Jubilee College State Park and found that the historic site isn't connected to the rest of the park. We looked at the building, but apparently they don't do tours inside anymore, then we went to the other part of the park and hiked for over an hour deep in the woods. We went over a bridge and could hear a pileated woodpecker pecking on a tree, so we peered into the woods and could hear its laughing call, but it was getting further away from us. Then we drove all over the park and popped out right by the historic site.
Our next stop was Goofy Ridge, an unincorporated community somewhat south of Peoria. We drove through Pekin, by two red-and-white striped smokestacks, and we stopped at a drive-in for treats: a root beer float for Travalon and a small chocolate malt for me. As it turned out, that was lunch. We drove down sunny backroads to a bunch of shacks and trailers... and that was Goofy Ridge. No businesses there whatsoever, and seemingly no rules. We found a trail out to a spot where we could see lots of swans (but of course Travalon forgot his good camera), and another birdwatcher with really good camera equipment followed us, but then we saw some natives driving around on the mud flats in their ATVs, so they probably scared off the swans before that guy could get a good photo. Then we couldn't get any signal on our phones, so we had to backtrack by memory... and we did it!!! I think we are pretty good navigators.
This evening we were going to go to a soul food restaurant, but it seemingly doesn't exist anymore... and we found another Catholic church even closer to our hotel than the Cathedral. (There is also a brewpub in a defunct and very beautiful Presbyterian church, but it was closed today.) So we had dinner at the restaurant in our hotel, and they played a random variety of songs in the background. They played one that sounded like it was by Stevie Wonder; I didn't know it, but I loved it. Of course I only remembered that my phone can identify songs just as the song ended, so it didn't work. I asked the waitress, and she said it was a set playlist from Corporate, and she had no idea how to find out what the song was called. So that was a bummer. Then Travalon and I went to the very cold hotel pool, but after a while we were used to it, and we used the beach balls, life preserver, and noodles in the pool to play games sort of resembling basketball, baseball, and soccer. I'll bet we burned more calories playing than we did hiking, between all the jumping and just having to stay warm in that frigid water. I think there are two kinds of adults: those who see toys lying around and put them away, and those who see toys lying around and play with them. You can probably guess which type Travalon and I are.
Famous Hat
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