In November Kevin and I drove up to Starved Rock again – we went in 2021 and haven’t been anywhere together since then. How can this be rectified? Must find a cat-sitter willing to care for our herd of cats. They’re very nice cats, BTW, in case you might know anybody who might be interested.
Meanwhile…I kept making reservation for Starved Rock and then cancelling them because of one thing or another. We were initially scheduled to go in mid-October when the fall colors would have been glorious, but I know the weather was bad then anyway.
When we went, on November 14th, we were so lucky because the weather was really nice. The first thing we did upon arrival was to have lunch and Kevin was delighted that the world’s best cup of coffee (the elf Buddy didn’t look there, obviously) was back to being thusly. When we visited in 2021 there was a drought or something and the water tasted terrible which resulted in mediocre coffee.
On the 14th, things were off to a good start.
After lunch we headed out for a great hike, climbing up to the Starved Rock and then over to Lover’s Leap Overlook. Because it was November and the middle of the week there weren’t many other people hiking, which we always appreciate. We did see some very good dogs.
We enjoyed a delicious dinner back at the lodge and loved spending the night in our cozy cabin. The next morning we took a long hike including climbing up and down many stairs.
We crossed over this bridge where we’d been in years past. I can’t recall that the weather was every this perfect, though.
Such a beautiful day. When we finished our hike Kevin said “Let’s get ice cream.” He never says that, but I asked him if we shouldn’t have lunch first. “Ice cream!” was his reply so we did just that. It was fun to sit out on the veranda eating our giant cones.
That night Kevin lit a lovely fire in our fireplace. So peaceful…
And that’s our first two hikes of our short trip. For the first time I tried to not take a million photos for a change, and I think I did a pretty good job of that. It’s nice to just enjoy the experience instead of always taking pictures of everything like a maniac.
OK then,
G.H.