My mom, sister and my sister’s four kids came to visit for my middle son’s graduation, so we went on a little road trip to visit our extended family a few hours away. While there, we went to Starved Rock State Park. I hadn’t been there since I was a child, and had forgotten how stunning the scenery is.
There are quite a few trails through a heavily-wooded forest. It’s one of those places I’d love to bring a chair and a good book, and just park myself for several hours, enjoying the beautiful scenery and bird songs.
The trail we took led us to this breathtaking waterfall, which was steadily flowing from the abundance of rain we’ve had the last several weeks.
My sister and I stood on one side overlooking the gorge, while the rest of our family went to the other side.
It’s a long way down to the bottom.
Here are all the kids (my sister’s 4 kids, 2 of mine, and 3 of my 2 cousin’s kids) at the bottom of the gorge.
My son and my niece do not make the best scouts…they have their fingers crossed.
Before we returned home, we also drove by my old stomping grounds. This is the grade school I attended from kindergarten through 8th grade. It looks nearly unchanged from the outside. So many memories of the old playground.
And this is my old home place, where I grew up. It looks so different, as they added on to the house, built a garage, and changed the layout of the driveway, but that tall blue spruce pine tree you can see in front of the house was planted by my dad about 30 years ago. I was taller than it when we moved when I was 17 (which was almost 30 years ago) and it towers above the house now.
I was dying to go running through the woods and see the place where we buried several animals and climb the trees I used to climb, but knew the owners wouldn’t take kindly to my trespassing. It really does my heart good to go “home” and revisit old memories, places and family. I had a blessed upbringing.
Blessings,
Angie
Angie
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Angie- What a beautiful spot you have there. How fun that all the kids got to go down to the bottom of the gorge. I don’t know where that is but it looks a lot like the area of Pennsylvania that I grew up in…..gorgeous!!!! xo Diana
Oh my, what a beautiful place … and what a fun day of memories for you. Thanks for sharing.
Hugs,
Audrey Z.
Going home is an emotional thing, that brings back so many memories of childhood! I recently offered to take my parents past the house we lived in up until I was in 4th grade. My mother almost cried at all the memories, and changes we saw in the “neighborhood” as we called it. (It was an isolated street nestled in between two highways.) The biggest take away from my perspective was how small everything seemed, whereas I’d remembered it being so big as a child. Thanks for sharing!
Over the last 30 years each time I have visited the old home place I knocked on the door and told them who I was so they wouldn’t wonder why some crazy lady was parked across the street staring at their house. The first time the people thought I was a celebrity because my name was in cement in the back yard (had to prove to them I used to live there). The second time the people didn’t speak English and slammed the door on me. I figured I’d stare from across the street till the police showed up!
Bliss
How fun Angie! Beautiful photos of your family! You must not live very far from me!At least possibly the same state! We took my daughter there a few summers ago.We plan to go back and stay in one of the cabins and then from there take a trip to Springfield to see Lincolns home!
xx
Anne
Great pictures, Angie! I love all of them. When I lived in the Quad Cities I sometimes would go to Starved Rock by myself for a weekend just to get away from everything. I had forgotten those memories until I saw your post. Great memories. Thank you for sharing.
How beautiful! We took our kids there to camp for a week YEARS ago. How fun to be in such a beautiful setting with all of your family — great pics!