it's not life that matters but the journey...

The weekend was pretty nice. Friday night I stopped at Trader Joe's on the way home from work and got a bottle of wine. My husband had bought some sushi, but I only ate a little bit since I was stuffed from lunch and cake.

Saturday morning we got up at 6 a.m. and left a bit after 7 to drive down to Starved Rock State Park. We arrived at the park around 9:30, and after packing up our stuff, we started hiking and probably got back to our car around 12:30 or 1 p.m. The weather had started cloudy, but by the time we started walking, the sun was shining and it was a gorgeous day! the only complaint I had is that the trails were so crowded, and got more crowded as the day went on. So it's a good thing we got there early and left before it was unbearable. People were very nice, but annoying - case in point: we sat down to enjoy our sandwich at one of the overlooks, and a huge group (a family I guess), including several noisy crying children, came up and wanted to have their whole group picture taken. I got recruited to take their picture! And they even had the nerve to try pushing more cameras on us - Masahiko took one more camera, but refused the third one. It's not like I wanted to spend all day taking photos of complete strangers, seriously?!

But despite stupid people, and the pollen which was flying around and making me sneeze and cough, we had a great time! We walked probably a total of 6 miles so we were exhausted (and still are!), but the nature was beautiful, and it was great to be outdoors and get away from stuff for awhile.

Before I post my pics, I think it's important to give a little of the park's history. This park is located about 100 miles (or a two-hour drive) southwest of the Chicago area, and is considered one of the "Seven Wonders of Illinois." The park lies right along the Illinois River, and it's mostly known for its gorgeous sandstone rock formations and canyons and bluffs - there's miles of hiking trails, and bluffs that overlook the river and give a view of the famous "Starved Rock". Here is the history of the rock: Starved Rock State Park derives its name from a Native American legend of injustice and retribution. In the 1760s, Pontiac, chief of the Ottawa tribe upriver from here, was slain by an Illiniwek while attending a tribal council in southern Illinois. According to the legend, during one of the battles that subsequently occurred to avenge his killing, a band of Illiniwek, under attack by a band of Potawatomi (allies of the Ottawa), sought refuge atop a 125-foot sandstone butte. The Ottawa and Potawatomi surrounded the bluff and held their ground until the hapless Illiniwek died of starvation- giving rise to the name “Starved Rock.”

I had meant to post these pictures last night, but photobucket was giving me so much grief! I tried to make a slideshow, but the pictures were too small - and when I tried posting it it together with a video, everything got all screwed up. So I am posting the pictures in their full size - (it's better to see the beauty of the nature that way)
I have a couple videos, I might post one of them later.

So without further adieu, here's my pics of the park:


Illinois River - with the riverboat we wanted to take (but it wasn't running when we were done with our hike):


Starved Rock:





This place is called Lover's Leap (but we decided not to do that):


the rest are of the really breathtaking ravines, with pools and waterfalls:














some cool rock formations - this one looks like faces (I think):




and a tree with mushrooms growing on it: