I kind of mentioned Illinois the other day, and I definitely wanted to bring it up again, as I have made a couple of fun road trips to the state lately.
We were originally thinking about taking a few days off and going to St. Louis. We love St. Louis, and thought another trip was needed to that fun area. Well, as I was doing my research, I starting finding things on the other side of the river that looked fascinating.
So, with a somewhat limited amount of vacation time, and with our desire to visit new places over places we have been to before, we made the choice to skip St. Louis all together, and to just hang out in the Collinsville/Belleville area of Illinois!
In the area we visited the Cahokia Mounds and the Lewis and Clark National Park visitor center nearby. The replica fort at the Lewis and Clark center was great and so was the museum section! The Cahokia Mounds are unbelievable! BOTH sites were somewhat mysterious and strange. Obviously, I will write more on both later.
We went to the Skyview Drive In. WOW! It has been forever since I went to one!
This was a lot of fun. I do get a little nervous when cars are driving around, and a lot of people are walking around in the same area, but everything was OK.
This place gets a good crowd. We parked about 2 hours before the movies started and the lot was pretty packed by then. This was a fun treat, and I am going to have to do the drive in thing more.
Skyview went in to business in 1949! I love that kind of history!
http://www.skyview-drive-in.com/
We went to a Gateway Grizzlies baseball game too! See my other blog (kentuckybaseball.blogspot.com) for more on that. This is a friendly, gorgeous park.
The other thing that impressed us in the area was Eckert's Orchards and Country Store! Yeah, this place was very comfortable on a nice day.
http://www.eckerts.com/
After briefly resting at home, I made my way towards the southern end of the state for some traveling around Marion!
Cave-In-Rock and the city of Herrin were big on my "places to see" list. We also attended another Frontier League baseball game (again, see my baseball blog for more on that).
Look up Herrin and the Herrin Massacre of 1922 when you have a moment. It is strange how certain events ripple through history- Check out this web site for more info on a current situation relating to the 1922 event.
http://www.herrinmassacre.com/
We stopped at the Annex coffee shop/deli. Again, MUCH more on this place later. This is an amazing little place to stop for a nice meal or coffee in an old theater! This little shop is sleek for a little indy place. They have obviously put a lot in to the decor and the product.
PLUS, driving between the Calhoun area of Kentucky, and Marion Illinois is just a nice, relaxing drive. I would love to hear from others who are familiar with that drive!
"The only natural entrance to Mammoth Cave, discovered by a bear hunter in 1799. Millions of visitors, entering at this point, have viewed the wonders of the world famous attraction."
You can stop by and get a glimpse of the house from the road, but there are some clear no trespassing signs posted.
First off, the kids working there were VERY friendly. I don't know why more shops don't stress that it is good (and it helps sales) if you are friendly, but Eckert's has this down.
Later, at the custard shop, we were trying to figure out what we wanted. The bubbly custard expert told us that large floats were on sale for $2.50 today. That solved my choice making dilemma. As my wife asked if they had an oreo something or other, the employee excitedly said, "Oh yeah! We can do that!"
I am guessing this one was put out during the cave wars. On the back it says-
And, I fear that future generations may not be able to comprehend just how bold and dangerous that two plus year journey was back two centuries ago. The visitor center here does a good job of illustrating the needed items for the trip- and the many risks.
"This ancient White Oak is the sole survivor of all that was living here at the time of Abraham Lincoln's birth, February 12, 1809. This tree was a landmark of the time the earliest settlers came to this region. It is mentioned as a boundary marker in the original 1805 survey, of the tract that later became the Thomas Lincoln farm.
This great postcard showing the Corn Palace (see my older entry from my visit there) was issued by the Mitchell Chamber of Commerce.
This postcard showing Gutzon Borglum working on Mount Rushmore is probably from the early 50s. It notes on the back that he could not finish the monument due to his death, but his son did complete it.
