Just when I thought I thurly enjoyed my last visit to Lockport I one upped the experience a second…read moretime around . The Illinois State Museum is show casing Surplus Scrap , art generated from the abandoned Joliet Prison . Such a wonderful group of artist contributing their prison themed collaboration . The curator and artists can offer vivid explanations of various pieces . Also I was shown great photo ops that I didn't think of . Easy free parking at the train stop lot . Check out the canal river walk in back of museum .

Loved the Growing Up Gen X exhibit! I didn't even know this branch of the Illinois museum existed…read moreuntil a post from the museum about the Gen X exhibit popped up on my Facebook feed the other day. I had missed this exhibit when it was in Springfield last year and was so happy to catch it closer to home. The entire exhibit was very well done and it was fun to show my teen things I had or used at her age. My fellow Gen X friend enjoyed it too. John was so knowledgeable about upcoming museum and town activities that I now have a list of things I want to attend in the near future. I saved the Facebook event to attend their upcoming Ferris Bueller movie showing event in a few weeks. I'm interesting in seeing the fine arts exhibit that will be replacing this one in a few weeks too.

They were closed when we stopped by on our travel down Route 66. Even though we only got to see it…read morefrom the outside and for a quick drive around, I'm good with giving 'em a 5. It's every bit like you'd expect from an 'old prison'. It was built in the 1800's and, of course, when checking out the gate where Elwood picked up Jake in the movie Blues Brothers it looked exactly as expected. Even from the outside there's some good photo ops. Probably won't ever be in the area again, but am sure glad we had the opportunity to see it.

Everything about the staff--helpfulness, knowledge, and professionalism--just shines! I chose the…read moreself-guided tour and enjoyed exploring the grounds and buildings all by myself. Parking was plentiful and the East Gate entrance (the ONLY entrance to the grounds) was fairly easy to find. The gift shop, on the other hand, is completely hidden and if not for a helpful staff member, I would have never seen it! Please, museum crew, improve the signage near the gift shop so you aren't losing money. This museum is a delight and I hope all Blues Brothers fans and others can enjoy it for years to come.

Clean and well organized. Welcoming and helpful staff. Thought we could purchase the Passport…read morehere, but were directed to the Illinois Rock and Roll Hall of fame around the corner. There is an admission to go past the lobby and gift shop and only interested in getting our passport, we took a few photos and left. Looks and feels nice though.

This is a stop to make on a Route 66 road trip. It wasn't too difficult to find street parking. It…read moreis a nice stop to learn about Joliet's history. The exhibition is nicely displayed.

I love museums, and this place being so close to my house makes it even better. This is a quiet…read morelittle place set right next to the river and off a few main roads. In fact, about half a mile away is the town strip club so it is very nice that the town can break up that badness with a quality park. Inside the main building is a great learning adventure for little kids. 4-8 year olds would probably enjoy this the best. There are old timey hats to try on, replica canoes, a wigwam to play in and plenty of animal and nature items to touch and look at. There are some nice trails behind the main building, a pond with a bridge and a reconstruction of a longhouse as well. This was a great place to take my son and kill an hour and the fact that it is free makes it even better. The people working there were all very nice as well. I am glad that there are some nice little places like this in our community.

I dig museums, and this one isn't much but it's not a bad stop if you're in the area. It's a very…read morevery small museum but it does tell some of the history of the area, and that was interesting to learn a bit more about that older history, particularly the native peoples in the area. I visited because the Journeys exhibit sounded interesting, and it was small but well done. I think the other half of the exhibit, that goes more into depth about the Potawatomi, the area pre-colonization, and the overharvesting of beavers and other animals in the area, is a permanent exhibit. That was actually more interesting overall than the Journeys exhibit for me but that's mostly because I knew less of that history and information. It was cool to see an example of a Three Sisters garden, which was method of agriculture used by native folks. There's a game I love called Three Sisters and it is based upon these concepts. Squash, corn, and beans are the "three sisters"; they're known as this because of their symbiotic relationship. The corn stalks give the beans a structure upon which to climb and grow, and the nutrients in the beans nourish the soil. The squash--specifically, the leaves--provide ground cover and keep pests at bay. It's so fascinating to learn about some of these techniques that aren't practiced as much in modern day society. Not inside the museum but outside is a longhouse, a cabin, and possibly in the growing season an example of a three sisters garden. There's also walking trails and what looked like a picnic area. There's a reasonably large parking lot as well.

One of the best hidden gems in Illinois! Perfect for both…read morekids and adults -- from the very first moment, you feel connected to the past. Tim is the heart of this place! His passion for classic cars and the way he shares their stories is absolutely inspiring. We had such a great time -- we'll definitely come back and highly recommend it to everyone!

We haven't been there recently but are definitely planning a return visit. Just loved it I think…read morethe gentleman giving us the tour was having as much fun as we were especially when my husband told him he was a mechanic and was building a Model-T frame and all.

So much fun to do this with my scary friends... they ended up having an amazing time as well so…read morethank you very much for a great time and experience

I would say I have an avid interest in the paranormal. I've always loved reading about ghost…read morestories, shadow figures, apparitions, orbs, and other phenomenons that challenge the logical mindset. When I saw that Haunted Hometowns had a ghost tour, I booked one and had a really interesting experience. The Tour itself lasts about 2 hours with different stops in the historic Naperville area. Diane is the owner and was our guide for the night. She told ghost tales of horror (did you know there was a huge train crash in Naperville?) as well as stories of history (we learned about the history of Naperville's buildings and its inhabitants). The coolest part of our tour was that one of the other people in the tour had an ovilus device. This uses energies for ghosts/spirits to manipulate words that appear on the screen. My EMF (electromagnetic field detector) which was quiet for most of the night started to go off at a random bush in the historic district. The other guy pulled out the device and the words "Map" and "Priest" came up. The area we were in was right by the old church which was really cool. All in all, it was a decent tour. The stories were fascinating but to be honest I was expecting more of a "ghost hunt" tour (like checking out an abandoned building- minus one star) as opposed to ghost stories at different locations. We learned a lot and had fun! Thanks again.

This was the first opportujity after landing in Chicago to purchase our Route 66 Passport and begin…read moreour drive to Santa Monica on Route 66. The facility is very clean and the employees are very helpful. They explained how it all worked and we received our first stamp. We did not take the full tour, but from what we did experience it was nice and worth the stop.

We stumbled upon this museum while stopping in Joliet on our Route 66 road trip. This museum was…read moreour favorite stop in Joliet. Being from Illinois, it brought back a lot of memories of favorite bands and DJs. I'll be back to visit with my husband.

I had such a good time on our tour of Kilgus Farmstead. I loved seeing all the animals and it was…read moresuch a pleasure to see how humanely they are treated. Now if only my local grocery store would start selling the milk from Kilgus. I really do prefer drinking milk that is from a local farm from cows that are treated like animals should be. The people at Kilgus are so friendly and their product is amazing. The milk and ice cream are better than any I've ever had! It's about an hour and a half from the south suburbs but worth the drive to get a tour, and to pick up some of their great products. Just make sure you bring a big cooler!

What a lovely store in Fairbury! We stopped by to try out their sweet treats tonight. I tried…read more"berry the tractor" ( chocolate covered strawberry) which was so tasty.