Review Visit: August 9th, 2016…read more Somehow I am usually the last to learn of cool places. Farmdale Reservoir is no different. I have driven past signs for Farmdale many times in my life and just thought it was a giant water reservoir or something like that. Then one day I decided to google it to see what it was. Well, talk about kicking yourself in the ass for taking forever to do something. I came out here and hiked for a few hours and enjoyed every second of it. I decided to hike the 'tough' trails and they proved to be a challenge. Especially if you were mountain biking. While I only hiked about 4 miles and it was just a small section of the map, I was very impressed and will be back in 2017. The entire area is beautiful and far enough removed from society that you do feel isolated, but not far from help and home. This could be a great place to bring dogs, if you have one and they are properly trained. They say Illinois is boring... but we have beautiful places like this to help dispel that notion.

Hidden Washington backyard gem, hiking, running, biking, and dog walking trails all over with some…read moresurprising views for central Illinois sprout out this suburban park as essential oxygen to check in frequently. Coming from Indiana I didn't realize what was here til introduced recently and quickly fell for this lil slice of Gatlinburg. Parking isn't well marked but just like life I kept going until I found what I wanted. A decent Saturday morning gave clear nice weather without a crowd, will definitely be back!

Review Visit: August 11th, 2015…read more Not to be confused with the Riverfront Park in Pekin. Though both offer a majestic view of the might Illinois River. Just how majestic is the view of the Illinois River? I'd rate that a 2.5/5 only because the landscape is pretty. If you come to Riverfront Park, you really need to visit for a few reasons. One, this park is a wide open flat park that is just serene on a beautiful day. Also, there is an old train turntable that nature has taken over. Just what it is doing there after the railroads have long since disappeared, I don't know but I can say that it was a nice little surprise when Matt and I came upon it during our walk of the park. I would have to guess that it is a relic from the old days when Peoria pumped out the alcoholic spirits en masse. Reason two for visiting. There is a nice little garden set off to the side of the park. It's called the Constitution Garden and you can read about that in the linked blog post. Last reason to visit is to check out the Dan Fogelberg Memorial which, again, you can read at the linked blog post. Aside from those three things, there isn't much else to do at this park but maybe get some running in. With it being next to the river, I would assume there are some running trails carved out by either people or the park district. If you had an afternoon to spend on exploring some of Peoria's unknown attractions, you wouldn't be wasting your time here, especially if you came on a gorgeous spring day. I guess you could also get a view of the river, but that's not a real selling point for any Illinois resident.

This park became home to the Dan Fogelberg memorial in 2010, but prior to that it was still a cool…read moredestination in my book due to the old railway turntable or wheelhouse that is on display there. I'm sure it's been there since the 80s because I remember seeing it when I was a kid. The park itself is pretty nice with paved, lighted paths along the Rock Island/Pimiteoui Trail with views of the river. Several people use the trail there for running, walking and biking. The Peoria Riverfront Museum's Community Solar System model's earth model is located in the park as well. There is a parking lot at the site.

Hands down the best dog park we have ever visited. Very…read morespacious, full of trees, clean, and has two separate, fenced areas (one for the bigger dogs and a smaller area for the little ones). Also, doggie bags are provided and there is a water fountain for the pups. Being here you can forget that you're at a dogpark and walk around between the trees, enjoying nature. The only downfall is that the fence is old and since my dog is an escape artist he can get through both gates and into the parking lot. I like to think that I trained him not to do that anymore, but in reality he's probably just having so much fun with the other dogs that he forgets that escaping is still an option. We frequent this park multiple times a week and love it! The dogs are friendly and the owners are responsible.

This is such a cute dog park!…read more We are in the area visiting family and brought our Boston Terrier along. There weren't any other dogs there when we stopped by (during the day on a weekday) so we let him run free in the large dog area. The large dog section is huge compared to the dog park we go to back home. Love the trees and picnic tables. We will be back whenever we are in the area.

Review Visit: March 7th, 2012…read more After a whirlwind trip in Florida, I came back to Illinois and kept up the traveling. You could say traveling is my... forte. My friend Tim and I decided to check out what Fort Creve Coeur had to offer. Never having been in the area, I parked in a seemingly random parking lot that had a walk up point to a trail. I remember there being a small monument or plinth with an inscription on it. Referring to my photos, there was also a rock with an inscription dedicated to the fort. After we spent a few minutes reading the inscriptions and surveying the area, we hit the hiking trail. What a trail it was. The trail was a lot harder than I expected due to the constant elevation changes. It was a winding and roller coaster hike. After thinking we were about to get lost, we emerged to a clearing that lead to the fort itself. The fort was closed to public access. We could only observe the inside by looking through the spacing the logs provided on the front door. The interior of the fort seemed to represent the time period perfectly; that time period being in the ballpark of 1680. Looking in to the history of the fort, it seems to have been destroyed shortly after being constructed. You can read about it below via the Wikipedia link. Following and looking in to the Facebook and website page, it seems like they host some events. I haven't had the time to attend one, but they sound fun. If the rain ever stops, I would like to revisit during a time they are open and see the inside of the fort. Once I get to do that, I will update this post with some photos from the interior. Funny story... once we got done exploring the fort and the surrounding area, we realized that there was a parking lot next to the fort. We laughed at that fact since we spent a solid chunk of time hiking up to the fort. So, do yourself a favor if you aren't a fan of hiking and locate the nearby parking lot.

Fort Creve Coeur, in Creve Coeur, Illinois, is a historical re-creation of the winter, 1680,…read morequarters of the French explorer LaSalle, who went on from this site to explore the Mississippi River and who was eventually shot by his own crew in what is now Texas. The park and re-creation are probably near to the actual fort site. The re-creation itself will be of interest not only to history buffs, but also to civil and military engineers. There is a small museum/gift shop that offers some background about the town of Creve Coeur and the surrounding area, as well as a bit on LaSalle and his expedition. More about the expedition itself and their time in the Illinois country would be very welcome. The fort itself is in a neglected condition: all the labor and staff are volunteer, and the group that seeks to preserve the fort and its history operates almost entirely on donations from visitors. The fort site-museum/gift shop is open from 10 to 5 Tuesday through Saturday. There is no admission charge, but donations are very welcome. There are interpretive events featured at the site a couple times a year. The fort's website (www.ftcrevecoeur.org) has more information on these. This is a site that might disappoint people who are hoping to have a lot of detailed historical re-creation, but for those who enjoy letting their imaginations fill in the details, a visit to the site could be very rewarding. Young children probably won't be impressed (there is playground equipment near the museum/gift shop). The site might be best for more mature children. The site appears to be pet-friendly: a father, son, and their off-leash dog were just leaving the fort when we were about to enter. The site offers camping. A state nature preserve adjoins the fort site. There is a trail through the preserve, but the trail is not well-maintained as of this writing (8/2013).

It's not a park no cookout grills no benches , no play area , they say park but it just a river…read morefront and that's it .

The views you can get from the lookout points are phenomenal no matter where on the walk you stand…read more You can see both of the bridges as well as the downtown skyline which is beautiful at night. There is a little park so you can park your car and walk along the riverfront which is great.

There's only 4 swings here anymore :( super big letdown. It looked really cool from the pictures…read moreand I'm not sure where all the equipment went.

Fun playground for kids, with the IL river as a backdrop-- all wooden with swings and a zip line…read moretoo! We stopped here to stretch our legs on a long road trip. I'm always on the lookout for a good place to stop with kids and let them run without going too far out of our way. Its easily accessible from i74, playground is beside the Riverplex/Children's Museum so there were clean bathrooms and lots of parking-- we even had plenty of room for our trailer.

Another childhood location revisited…read more Detweiller Park is a place I have fond, if not faded, memories from my childhood. I remember coming here on a few field trips and also coming here to slide down their sledding hill. My friend Mary and I set out to hike some trails we grew up traversing and I said yes. We got there early to beat the heat and discovered about 30 games of kindergarten-level of soccer being played. Glad to see kids will have fond memories of this place as I do. Once we got parked, we headed out and hit some trails. Being super rusty with the area, we poked around here and there trying to find where and what to hike. At one point, we had an elderly gentleman walk up to us and give an assessment on some trails we were debating on hiking. We didn't really want to take this northern path that lead 7 miles away, so we took the Pimiteoui South trail about the lower part of the park, then took Dry Run trail to stretch out the afternoon before ending it too early. It was a nice leisure stroll with a friend on a sunny and breezy afternoon. The entire soccer fields, once full with kids, were completely empty. In fact, the park was nearly empty by the time we got back to the parking lot. We saw more cars drive through the park than people hiking in the park. While there are some trails, this isn't the place to come if you are looking for some dedicated hiking trails like you can get at Forest Park Nature Center but still a great place to escape to nature.

This park is soo Amazing & beautiful scenery also. Would highly recommend this park for anything…read more Lots of room to play sports and etc.!

I'm not an avid frisbee golf player but I occasionally like "bro-out" and play a round of frolf…read morewith my boyfriend. And, you know what? I've come to appreciate the sport and courses I've played in. So, from my limited experience (only playing about 4 different courses in Illinois and Kansas), I would rank Northwood Park at the top. Top Three Reasons: 1) I think it's a well designed course. It has a lot different terrain; ranging from wooded to open flat to hilly areas. It's visually appealing and fun to walk around. 2) Even though there's a lot of different landscapes, it easy to find the next basket. And if you get turned around somehow, people that play there are nice and can probably tell you where to go! 3) It's a good course for all playing levels. There are few tricky/challenging holes but on the other hand, there are also some easier ones. The mix of difficulties makes it fun. Now, the only criticism I have for the park is you occasionally find trash around the tee off areas. It's sad because it's such a nice park! Anyway, trash receptacles throughout the course would definitely help!

Absolutely my favorite disc course anywhere. This is also the reason why PDGA uses this course for…read moretournament championships and the sort. Fantastic blend of wooded and open. Blind drives and straight shots abound as well. Hole 5 is a bastard 'cos of the tree line and traversing up a hill then down and crossing a small crick to land on the island pin. Delicious. 18 is the majestic capstone hole. Teeing off 100 feet above the fairway and walking across the crick leaves discers with a lasting impression. Well worth the drive on a nice day. Spend sun up to sun down here. The challenge is to get in the mid 50s. My personal best was 47. Replay: Very High if you are not tuckered out.