This is a clean, open, and easy place for a hike. It's not particularly woodsie but the lakes are…read morelovely. Paved path. Clean bathrooms. Plenty of parking. Covered picnic area. Easy access from Butterfield & Route 53. Enter on Route 53, across from Walmart and McDonalds. There are few trees to buffer the wind, so dress warmly. Lots of dogs on the trail today. Watch your step, as not every dog-owner tidies up after their dog, but the trail is mostly clear of droppings.

Hidden lake forest preserve is truly a hidden gem. Located in Downers Grove. It was a nice sunny…read moreSunday to just get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. It was a nice escape getaway from the city life. An ideal and nice place to relax and collet your inner thoughts. While walking along the trails everyone was so friendly and welcoming. It was a breath of fresh air to be out in nature. A perfect place to jog,kayak, fish, hike, have a picnic or just come and take a scroll. Not crowded and everyone social distances themselves. I came across a few people walking with their dogs. All dogs MUST be on a lease. Really enjoyed the scenery and the water from the river and lake was calming and peaceful.

Went for a nice walk and really enjoyed it. The trail was well-maintained and perfect for a…read morerelaxing stroll. There's also a small lake on the property that I believe is open for canoeing, which adds to the peaceful atmosphere.

One of my favorite preserves to walk around especially if you prefer a preserve with a nice lake…read morescene. Can get busy during the weekend, but several paved trail paths and places for both biking, walking, fishing, and animal-watching. Trails can be taken in a way where you can range from 1 mile to 10+ miles of walking/biking. Bathroom available in one of the parking lots.

They have redone the entire park. The paths are beautiful couple new playgrounds along the way just…read morea nice place to take a long walk or sit and relax on a wonderful day

This place is one of the nicest parks / nature centers in Addison. It has bike and walking trails,…read morebridges, ponds, benches. It also has a covered shelter with picnic tables and everything is in pretty nice shape. Not the biggest place but what it lacks in size it sure makes up in beauty. The only things that keeps it from five stars are that there are not enough trash receptacles and I spotted some litter here and there. On a side note, in my opinion, people that litter should be beaten with a large stick! However, overall this is just a beautiful, peaceful spot. I bike through here almost everyday and always enjoy it. If you are in the area it is worth checking out.

It almost seemed like a dream. From the very start, cruising through a large patch of lotus plants,…read moreit felt otherworldly. Very peaceful, going at our own pace. Enjoyed the cliff walls of Buffalo Rock and the shallow waters of some side passages. We paddled for 5 hours, covering 8 miles total. After we were done we headed to charming, historic downtown Utica for drinks and dinner at Skoog's Pub & Grill in North Utica, IL. I was impressed with the logistics and operation of the kayaking experience, from the guide* to the equipment and online booking process. *Full disclosure, the guide was my twin sister, but I am being objective...seriously.

I have mixed feelings about this kayak tour company. I signed up because although I'm a very…read morecapable and seasoned kayaker, I didn't know this river and I like learning about the ecosystems and local wildlife. For this reason I like having tour guides. Going up the river was fine. Coming back went a bit sour. I went as slow as I was capable of paddling or not paddling, but apparently it was too fast for the preference of our tour guide. I was barely touching the water with my paddle. I have no idea how I could have gone any slower. It wasn't humanly possible. After shouting at me several times, he took to chasing me down and ramming my kayak so it'd spin in circles. Would I rent a kayak here and kayak the river alone? Yes. Would I personally use a tour guide here? No I wouldn't. Would I recommend? If you're a family with little kids or a drunk sorority house, absolutely. If you know what you're doing, just go it alone. You'll probably enjoy it more. Edit: If the tour guide had concerns for group safety, he could have said so. Although ramming my kayak with his seems to be a bit of a conflict as far as my safety goes. It was an unprofessional approach when he could have simply explained why he needed me to slow down

This park has a playground, tennis courts, a baseball field, a pool, a cabin, basketball hoops and…read morea nice path. They have a great hill for sledding when we get snow. There are things for little kids as well as older kids at the playground. There's a zip line and the wait can get long for that. Usually some Mom has to intervene as the older kids try to cut in front of the younger ones. The little kids area has a spot which sprinkles water and there's sand by it as well. Just bring your kid in their swimming gear and let them go to town. No need to get uptight about their clothes getting all wet and sandy! The pool has a nice fenced in area for toddlers as well as a slide and diving board in the big kids area. There's also an area for snacks, but you can't bring in your own. You can eat them outside of the pool, but not within their confines. This park has had some major work recently and there are nice brick pavers on the ground and it just looks great. I've spent lots of time here over the years between the day camps my kids attended, visiting the playground and the pool. Once summer hits and there are day camps,be mindful of the following. Summer camp kids are at the park 9-12 and then at the pool until about 3. The pool can get really crazy with all those camp kids and most of them are hanging out in the area that's 3-4 feet deep.

When I visit the area this is my go to for my walks. Since growing up in the area they have been…read morerenovating it over the years and tonight was an absolute delight! Light rain, beautiful calmness and quiet.

I bought my first boat ever at an outdoor show this past January, from Lake Holiday Marina. As I…read morehad no place to store a boat at that point in time, my salesman, Parker, indicated they would hold the boat for me until the weather broke. That gave me plenty of time to make room to park the boat at my property. There was no storage fee for this. A big advantage for me was that because they are a marina, when I went to pick up boat, Parker took me out on the lake and showed me the nuances and safety features of operating the boat. Again, this was my first time owning a boat, so being able to pick up my boat at the dock vs a dealer's show room was a big plus. As often happens with a new vehicle, weather it be a car or a boat, I had a couple minor problems, e.g. a defective battery. I had also broken a couple of the tire down clips and the winch was bent which made bringing the boat onto the trailer difficult. I contacted Parker, who introduced me to Greg the Service Manager. Greg is a great guy and really easy to get along with. He offered to fix everything, albeit much of the work was under warranty, with no fuss or condescending "how did YOU do this?", or otherwise implying everything was fault. I can't say enough about what great guys Parker and Greg are to work with. At no time did I feel pressured to buy anything. Both guys are eager to help and readily available to answer questions. Parker was extremely patient in dealing with my "newbie" phone calls! One while actually on a lake fishing! If you are in the market for a new boat, definitely check these guys out.

This business is awful. The owner Tom called me and accused us of picking up our boat without…read morepaying for it and threatened us with legal action! I told him we'd paid for it and hadn't picked up the boat and that he needed to find our property and HE LAUGHED AT ME and said he wasn't interested in finding my property. He then had his secretary or office manager call me back to tell me that everything was paid WEEKS ago and to confirm that we picked up the boat. I told her we hadn't and about Tom's response. She ultimately found our boat and we have it now, but we will NEVER do business with them again. Stay away from this place unless you want to be threatened, laughed at and have your property lost-when you are in the right.

This place is awesome for dogs. It's huge and there are tons of trails and ponds with beaches. I…read morelove the place but sometimes have a problem with the people. For the most part, the dog owners who are there are very friendly and understand that they are probably going to get dirty. However, some people seem to not realize that this is a dog park. Recently I've seen some people here who don't have a dog which is fine but I just wish they would realize where they are and not get scared or give us dirty looks when our dog runs up to greet them. I saw a woman here with two very small children who could easily be knocked down by the big dogs that dominate this place. Why!? What are you thinking bringing little kids here? And they didn't even have a dog, it's so annoying! There was also a very elderly woman walking on the trail who was absolutely terrified of our dog. Luckily we had her on the leash when we passed this woman because she was dressed in a nice skirt and shirt and would have probably been very upset and maybe even knocked off of her feet by a jump from our wet, muddy puppy. Go somewhere else! Hello! Are you out looking for a lawsuit? Also, The last time we were here we crossed paths with two teenage girls who were all dressed up and going for a walk. We have a lab puppy who loves to swim and jump in the mud. Our puppy ran up to these girls to say hi and the girls started screaming. This of course got our puppy even more excited and she started to jump on them so then they screamed even more and then she got more excited and it was just an annoying mess. If you're scared of dogs please don't come here! We paid for the permit to come to this spot to get away from people like that! Also, don't wear anything that you don't want to get wet and muddy. Dogs will brush up against you and jump on you after they have been in the water and mud, it's an off leash dog park and that is to be expected! So overall this place is a great place to bring your DOG, just not so good for kids, elderly, fashionistas and those afraid of dogs (duh). There are plenty of free forest preserves for people to enjoy, at this one, dog owners have paid to be here so can we please just have this ONE for the DOGS?!

Well a blue heeler attacked my dog and bit him and then they walked away. I was left with a $300…read morevet bill.. If this was you it would be nice if you reimbursed me.. I understand this isn't the fault of the forest preserve but I just wish they maybe had security or cameras idk just in case? Children walk there too and people with untrained animals are putting people and other dogs at risk. Other wise it's a pretty area and nice they have poop bags. It's clean.

The idea of buying a boat - canoe, kayak, or inflatable - is super daunting!!! Which is why I…read morewanted someone to walk me through it. Offshore of Lake Bluff has a solid selection of boats, and even in the off-season ( this visit is in January) there's decent variety in stock. Sam took me through the store and answered a ton of questions I had without pressure - selling. He's been boating since he was a tot and it's pretty clear that he loves his job as his eyes twinkled while he explained the ins and outs of different models of boats and gear. I was pleased to hear that while they have some boats in stock, they can usually order another if the one I want sells, since I should probably (I mean really) consider my income and savings situation before making a purchase. I will definitely be back when I know what I can afford. I am excited about getting out there in a boat I own instead of a rental. And I'll be proud to make a purchase here. It's always nice to support local businesses, especially if they provide excellent service, like they do here.

Offshore contacted Eddyline and changed their order with them so I could have two matching colored…read morekayaks, a Caribbean 12 FS and a Caribbean 14 FS, and delivered them to my home in Noblesville Indiana. My local Eddyline retailer was unable/unwilling to do the same. Great communication and pleasant demeanor. Highly recommend Offshore in Lake Bluff.

We were visiting this area and this park / play ground within safe and walkable distance from where…read morewe were staying. Play ground is pretty good. Has swings too, however they get a bit flooded after rain. No bathrooms but portable potty ( which wasn't smelly to my surprise) what I did not like is the waking trail, which is covered in white dirt or whatever it is, if you walk there even couple days after it was raining mud is still sticky so your shoes and stroller wheels will be all muddy. There are a lot of geese there, fun to watch but they poop a lot :) not complaining about that because obviously everyone poops :) I like that playground surface covered with shredded rubber/tires. Not as dirty as mulch and soft if kids fall. Tip : If you are staying at Holiday INN, the best waking route would be on the sidewalk past Giordano's till you get to the first light ( MacArthur Dr) turn left on MacArthur ( no sidewalk, subdivision road, but pretty quiet) and walk about 100 yards and take left turn on Karban Rd. Walk about 40 yards till on the right you see creek with some white rock and white dirt trail. Keep following that trail and creek past backyards and then you'll see a lake a little past lake will be a playground.

This is a great place for children s programs. Give this place a try especially during the cold…read moreweather months.