Review Visit: October 14th, 2015…read more First impressions are hard to change... If you live in Illinois at all, you know of the budget cuts, budget cuts, tax increases, budget cuts. Jubilee College State Park is one of those that has been hit by budget cuts. Decided to check this place and Jubilee Cafe out in the same day. My first time there, I encountered a few areas that were closed due to inadequate staffing. So a lot of places have become overgrown and broken down. This state park is beautiful and it's a shame that it is in such a bad shape. While looking up some info on it to write this short blog, it appears that after 3 years they finally have a (volunteer?) Park Ranger and a volunteer group to help clean the place up and make it usable. Having never been here, I tried quite a few different places that I thought were openings to go hiking, but I really never could tell what was what since everything was overgrown. Now if this volunteer group is helping out and making the place a bit friendlier, I would love to go back and check it out again. Maybe even update this blog post. I just hope I don't have to mark it 'Closed'. It fills me with such sorrow that beautiful recreational places like these are cut short on budgets and fall into disuse. I won't get into politics, but I hope they figure something out and restore this park and all the other closed/understaffed to their rightful natural beauty.

I stay here a lot but the last few times there have been many unleashed dogs therefore I had to…read moretake my dog home because she is old and can't handle other dogs. We had many coming in our site , even though your dog is to be leashed no one was doing it and no park employee driving thru so it made it unsafe for my dog which is a bummer.

Review Visit: April 1st, 2015…read more s from my apartment. Because even as an adult, who doesn't love to swing. Since I went to so many parks, I don't remember much about this one. I do remember that it was a very basic park. It had a few benches, two swings and a slide. Looking online, it seems there is a small loop hiking trail and a bridge. The nice thing about this park though was its remoteness. It was far enough from the bulk of civilization that you feel at peace and the land was wide and open, so you could feel a nice gentle spring breeze.

As far as parks go, this isn't really overly exciting, but it's a good park nonetheless…read more You might happen onto this park and see a sign that signifies hiking, and you might think "Oh wow, there are trails here!" Well, the trail is really just a loop trail, and it's a really short loop at that, but it does lead to a creek. We visited this park for many years between 2002-2012, and in the later years the park suffered from some vandalism including graffiti. There's playground equipment and a picnic shelter, and you can reserve said shelter through the Washington Park District for private events. Where the playground equipment sits there is a decently sized grassy area where you, your kids or your dogs can run and work off some energy. Not a bad deal for a free visit.

Review Visit: October 8th, 2014…read more A park as massive as the town is small. I'm not kidding when I say this park is massive for the size of the town its located in. When I set my destination to this place, my girlfriend (who is from the area) said it was a hangout spot for her as a kid. She failed to mention how massive the place was. We got there and parked and I had to ask, "Is this really it?! This park is huge!". She confirmed that my eyes weren't playing trick on me. This park really is spread out with lots of open fields and areas to hike. Time was important since the sun was setting, so we didn't get to spend the afternoon seeing what the park had to offer. We did get to walk around a little bit, play on some of the playground equipment, and check out Lee Cabin. The cabin was a cool little gem hidden in a park that is a gem itself. There isn't much else to say. Its a park that you can seemingly do a lot at. Walk, hike, play on the equipment, picnic... and who knows what else since I only saw parts of it. If you are in the area and have an itch to explore something between a small city park and a state/national park, Black Partridge Park is perfect for that.

Review Visit: October 11th, 2014…read more Another park visited in Bloomington! This was one of a few parks my dad and I visited while in Bloomington. In fact, I have written many blogs on them as of late. So if you are tired of seeing Park blogs, I am almost done for awhile. Anyways, on to the park! This one is a bit more ambitious than your standard park. It has a football field and a basketball court. May be the first park I've been to that has a football field. Then it has your typical playground and some covered areas for grilling/cooking out. There are some large open fields to wander and feel at peace. Overall, it was a decent park. There was a section of some fake grass/cement that needed repair (as seen below). Not sure what was up with that. I do remember the wide open fields were nice. It's not the best park Bloomington-Normal has, but it's not the worst. Definitely check it out if you are in the area and need to wear your kids out.

This is a fun park and yesterday I walked there with someone else and we put grocery sack bags over…read morethere for people to use

We looked at this park for accessibility for mobility challenged people. Know before you go! Here…read moreis what we found: - There are no handicap accessible parking spots. - There is one wheelchair accessible restroom. - There is only street parking which is about 30 feet away from the attraction. - The terrain is wood chips and cement. - There are two ramps to get into the park but no play ramps. - There are no wheelchair accessible water fountains. - The accessible equipment is the water park and the ramps to get into the attraction. Nice park!!!

I've been going to this campground my whole life. great staff clean campsites swimming hole is…read moregreat in the summer plants/trees are always trimmed and kept up. Bathroom is clean water is hot.

We couldn't be happier with the accommodations of this park. Everything is as expected from the…read morewebsite. Water hook us are sparse so bring the extra long hose and a splitter. Clean lake and shower facilities. Staff is so friendly and knowledgeable of the area. We came down the weekend before the "season" began. Had our pick of sites, quiet, and very impressed with the trails within the park. Our new favorite home away from home!

Nice little zoo, very clean and friendly staff. Easy path to follow that passes by everything…read more Animals were active and looked healthy. Some exhibits are all fence thus a little harder to photograph. Was surprised to see a smaller zoo have mandrills!

While in town, my husband and I went to the Peoria Zoo to see the zoo lights. It is highly…read morerecommended that you buy tickets ahead of time. Entries are timed so that the zoo doesn't get too crowded at any one time. Most animals are asleep or in other areas at night but we did get to see the lion and some other animals. The zoo was large and spacious. There were nice walking paths that you could take to get to the different areas of the zoo. The different sections of the zoo were well labeled. There were many, many lights and plenty of opportunities to take pictures. I would visit the Peoria Zoo again.

Nice park that has a good sized playground with many swings and slides and climbing areas. It's a…read moregood place for kids over 2 but also has baby swings that are good for infants. There's also a large grassy area that's used for soccer on the weekends and basketball courts. On the perimeter, there's a running/bike path that's probably 1/4 mile and is rarely busy.