On our way to Giant City State Park we passed a billboard in rural Illinois advertising “affordable” colonoscopies. Yeah, that’s what holds people back from having one. And nothing holds me back from writing travel posts.
Why go spend a couple of days in Southern Illinois? Some would say a wild hair, others it seemed like a good idea at the time. I’ll leave it as an exercise for the reader to figure out which is whom. I’ll just note that the forecast dropped 10 degrees in the week in between booking and taking the trip. At least the leaves are pretty.
We’ve spent our trip like so many others – hiking, eating, and visiting the occasional winery. And taking way too many pictures. Until cold and tired, hiking the fourth trail of the day on jelly legs, we become a lot more selective and the picture taking grinds to a halt. But the hiking had to go on until the end of the trail and most importantly our car was reached.
The draw of Giant City is a cluster of sandstone blocks that you can walk between and in theory resemble a city for giants. Plus the park has a lot of bluffs. A lot. My spidey sense hasn’t been tingling, but my acrophobia has caused more than a few unpleasant moments. And the lodge that wins best chicken dinner in Illinois year after year – they have all the certificates on display – no doubt is another draw.
My only complaint about the park is they end every trail name with “nature trail” which implies to me an easy boring trail for small kids and old people. So it took us awhile to figure out that Giant City Nature Trail is the trail through the ”Giant City” formation. And oh yeah, the lack of water flow in the shower that I can only compare unfavorably to bathing in Mexico with a half gallon of water and a red solo cup.
