It has been on "my list" to go to Starved Rock State Park for a long time, and this year, we finally made it!
It isn't really a "hike", but you walk up some steps for a few minutes, and you're on top of starved rock, overlooking the Illinois River.
Unfortunately due to a really severe storm a few weeks prior, most of the trails at Starved Rock were closed. We did get to hike down to french canyon though (the only open trail.)
Who knew that 2 hours west was this type of topography? Cliffs and canyons!
Luckily, just 2 miles down the road was another, and lesser-known state park, Matthiessen State Park. All of the trails were open so we hiked around there. We liked it much better than Starved ROck and it was much less crowded.
At the edge of the park was a giant field of sunflowers.
There were bridges to cross, caves and canyons to explore, and since it was muddy, logs we had to tip toe across!
After getting lots of good fresh air and exercise, we headed to Bianchi's World Famous Pizza.
The pizza was fantastic and it is quite the unique place. It is a vintage building with all of the vintage details untouched inside. When we walked in, we were told it would be at least 40 minutes before we got our food. WHen I said OK, he asked to take our order right there, before we even had a table to sit in. When I asked to look at a menu, the host told me they didn't have one. "Pizza." He said. That's all we have. He showed me a piece of paper with toppings listed on it - no prices, no descriptions. Just toppings. The pizza turned out to be great, so despite the unorthodox system of ordering, it worked out.
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