Matthiessen State Park

There are some families who pick a place and call it home; kids born, raised and return to raise their families. Then, there are families like mine. We were more nomadic. This tendency has carried through with us all into adulthood. Even as adults, my siblings and I have moved around a bunch. Though, I've lived in the Chicago area nearly 15 years now, making it the longest I've ever lived anywhere so, perhaps, I'm turning over a new leaf.

My siblings and our families are strewn over the States, but every now and then a sibling will move closer to me.. which is always very exciting. One of my sisters moved within a day drive, a couple years ago. Which meant we got to hang out more. Sweet!

Then, this summer, she announced it was time for her to move again. Hooray for her! A little sad for me. However, it being summer and the time for doing fun things, we seized the day and met up for one last day trip at Mattheissen State Park. 

This was a new park for all of us, but the reviews online were good, so we drove out. It's really close to Starved Rock, but not quite so developed. However, there was supposed to be hiking and water, which sounded good to me! At the trail head, there was this fort. It was actually having some repairs done, but we snuck in before they started, so we didn't realize it was off limits. Whoops!

Then, off to the trail we went. In my research, I learned a new word "anticline".. apparently this park has the biggest anticline in the state! Woo! There were certainly a lot of steps going down.

Once you get down all the stairs, there are some trails around the falls and the river winding through. We could hear the falls as we walked around. And there were some really cool rock formations... and a fair amount of mud.

In our wandering, we found a neat, old bridge. The architecture in the park was cool. Some of it was really basic, just wood planks, but as we got to the lower areas the stairs and a bridge had lots of detail (that's how you know it's old).

The bridge was down a whole bunch of steps already, but the river as bunches more stairs down from there. The kids were on a quest for water, so down we went.

As soon as they saw the river, off came the shoes and the hiking was done. But the scenery was gorgeous and while the kids splashed, we grownups had a little time to hangout and chat.

Eventually though, it was time to head out. All those stairs going down were a breeze! Going up took a little longer. Happily, there were benches at frequent intervals along the the path.

We didn't make it to any of the falls, while a bit of a bummer, it just means that we'll have to go back again sometime! After all that walking, we decided it was time for something sweet. Our original plan was to check out this little place off the highway, Two Girls and a Cupcake. It was very pink. However, by the time we pulled up, they were all sold out. We consoled ourselves by playing on their statues out front...

...and with some ice cream from a shop a couple doors down.

It's always fun to hang with my sisters, and it's a joy watching the cousins play. Basically, it's clear now that I'm just going to have to figure out how to get myself out west so we can all play again soon!