Pere Marquette State Park, Illinois

May 22, 2022

Our drive from Normal, IL down to Pere Marquette State Park was pleasantly uneventful.  We chose to take all smaller roads (2 lane mostly) to save on gas and make the drive more interesting.

Illinois farmland is not all boring cornfields afterall.

Turns out that getting off the interstate is tremendously more enjoyable driving and saved at least 1MPG (which doesn't seem like much - but when going from 6 to 7 that is a really big deal).

Campground Summary: Pere Marquette campground was pleasant and very quiet while we were there. Internet was very spotty, but the cozy lodge was easy to walk to and offered free wifi. Campsites are generally spacious, but not private. Our site (27) was just fine and was plenty long.  It didn't look like there was an obviously better one. Hiking was convenient and offered several options that were not spectacular, but provided a good 3-ish mile workout. The bike trail connected with the campground, and was very nice. Julie really enjoyed the town of Elsah which we biked to and where we had a picnic lunch.

We settled into our campsite Monday night for a relaxing evening.

Tuesday we were having Rich and Jean over for dinner, so we spent time getting gas, shopping, and preparing food.  While out shopping, we stopped at a park in Alton which was dedicated to the world's tallest man (who had lived there).

Life size statue - yes he was really tall

Bronze replica of his custom-made chair. Kind of hot to sit on in the sun!

We had a nice visit with Rich and Jean-- lots of chit chat and catching up on the many years since we had seen them. (Rick has known Rich since grade school.)

Wednesday was spent mostly updating the blog , taking care of bills, email, stuff like that. Since our cellular connection in the campground was spotty at best, we ended up walking to the nearby lodge several times during the course of our stay. The lodge was built by the CCC and had a cozy interior and nice grounds.

Apparently, the furniture had been constructed by inmates.

We had the place all to ourselves midweek.

The state park's namesake, Father Jacques Marquette, depicted with a peace pipe he received from the Quapaw tribe.

Thursday morning, we rode our bikes along the Sam Vadalabene bike trail. This bike trail is 20 miles long and extends from Pere Marquette State Park to the town of Alton. It passes by Grafton and Elsah along the way.

Not getting through this way!

A quaint inn on the river in Grafton.

Not sure quaint is the right word for this one.

Soon after reaching Grafton, a sudden appearance of menacing storm clouds convinced us to high-tail it back to the campground. A quick 5-mile ride back (thanks electric bikes) and we made it just in time to put everything away and get inside before it started to sprinkle.  Our phone alarms went off warning of strong storms and a tornado warning in the area.  It looked bad enough that we spent some time in the lodge where we could watch the radar until it had passed.  Turns out most all of it missed us.

Friday was slated to be a really nice day so we headed out for another ride on the bike trail. This time we packed a picnic lunch.  

Back in Grafton

Amazing how punctual the eagles are!

We went as far as Elsah where we had lunch. Elsah is a most adorable town with cute little houses, shops, and inns.

We saw a sign for Principia College so we headed up the hill to take a look at that.  There was a guard house at the entrance, and we weren't technically allowed in, but the guard  let us do the "driving tour" on our bikes. It was quite a pretty campus, and very well maintained.

Heading back to the campground

Friday night started the rain and thunderstorms which continued thorough Saturday and also brought in colder weather - only getting into the upper 50s on Saturday. Seemed like a good day to make our breakfast bread (first time in the camper!). We also spent some quality internet time in the lodge updating this very blog post 🙂.

Success!

Sunday brought us back to Grafton to St. Patrick's church for 8AM mass.

If you look closely under the eaves, you can see dozens of swallow nests!

Once again back to the lodge to order some shorts to be delivered to a gas station outside of Lincoln, NE so we can pick it up as we travel (Amazon lockers will be another new experience).  We also made up our shopping list for tomorrow's travel day.

There suddenly appeared a pen of cute little goats on the lodge grounds. Wonder what they are doing here?

After lunch, we took a hike on some trails which overlook the Illinois River.  Nice walk - but resulted in 4 ticks found on us (how many others are still hiding????)

Nice wooded walk

Suddenly, this view opened up as we walked out of the forest.

What do you think of Rick's method of carrying his unworn jacket?

Remember the little goats? Well, apparently Goat Yoga is a thing. Who knew???

Other random tidbits:

We both read a biography of Venerable Augustine Tolton, who was the first black priest in the United States. A very good read, and we highly recommend it. 

We tried a new recipe (Mango Black Bean Quinoa Bowl), which was very good, and made it into our favorites.

Monday brings moving day with stops in Quincy at a Menards (camper water parts) and Walmart (food shopping for the week).

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