Hello! We just got back from a week long stay with my Mom in our hometown. It was good to spend some time with my Mom just hanging out. I also got to spend an entire day shopping with my sister. It was a fantastic week. The kids and I drove up on Monday and Tom brought the train up on Thursday. I reconnected with lots of people from my past. I also took the kids to places that they had never been before. It was a great time. Let me tell you about it.
The kids and I drove to White Pines State Park one day to do a bit of hiking. Actually, Jasmine drove. She drives most of the time now. Anyway, we got halfway through a 1 mile trail and it started to rain. It kept raining as we continued on, steadily getting harder. The forest was beautiful so we really didn’t mind so much. I mean really, when you can see nature that is so breathtaking who cares about a little rain.
And then I hear thunder and thought to myself, “I hope it doesn’t lightning.” And it didn’t….at least not for a while. Lightning did strike with thunder a millisecond behind it. It was a flash so bright it was like someone turned on Kichler lightingin a dark room. Melina ran to me with huge eyes and Clint and looked at each other. We both yelled, “CROUCH!” at the same time. We all crouched and walked for a long while. There was no more lightning so we straightened up and finished the trail. We were never so glad to see the end of a trail as we were that day!
We left the park and headed to Grand Detour, IL to check out the John Deere sights. After arriving, we all decided we didn’t want to spend the money that would gain us entrance to the John Deere things. So we stopped at the gas station to get drinks and snacks instead. As we were making our selections a man walked by me. There was something about him that made me think that I knew him. And I did! He graduated from high school with my sister and husband. His dad and mine went way back. And his older brother and I were great friends in high school. I knew he lived in the area but what were the chances that I would run into him.
As we went back through Oregon, we decided to pull off to see the Rock River and see if we could find the Blackhawk statue. The Rock river is much different from the Mississippi. We noticed right away how much lighter in color the water is. The Rock is high due to recent rains so the rapids created by the dam were pretty rough. It was really loud but also really neat to see.
We ventured up the road a bit and found the statue. Its HUGE! I didn’t realize it was so big. He stands 50 feet tall and was sculpted in the early 1900’s by artist Lorado Taft. Although he represents the eternal Indian, he is commonly known as Black Hawk. Black Hawk was a Sac leader that inspired the statue.
Black Hawk stands on the bluff looking across the river. Its a pretty view and I am sure he has never gotten tired of looking at it.
The kids decided to take the stairs down the 125 foot bluff to the river’s edge. I decided to do 1 flight of 25 stairs and wait for their return. If you look closely, you can see them at the bottom of the steps.
It was a lot of fun showing the kids some of the things from my childhood and discovering some new things, too.
