Heron Pond

We were navigated to Heron Pond by Connie, of Connie's Vienna Hot Dogs. This was really far out there, it took a while to get to and was way off the beaten path. To get to the pond you have to travel off the main road and down a one lane gravel road, and hope you don't meet another car on your way. I thought certainly we would be the only ones, but surprisingly there was at least 8 other cars in the parking lot. We had several options of paths to go on, we took the Heron Pond path, and walked about a mile to the pond.

 It was so beautiful the whole way, and we kept seeing patched or purple seek through the green forest...this was the cypress trees and swamp we were looking at. e finally came up on it, and it just comes out of nowhere. You walk down a dock for about a quarter mile into the swamp among the Cypress trees. I had never seen them before, some of which are the oldest trees in Illinois, over 1000 years old, and these are all located in the Cache River area. if you come back out of the swamp, and take the trail further down, you come to one of the largest trees in Illinois. It has a base of over 25 feet. you can keep going down the trail for like another 5 miles, but having a three year old we turned back there. It was exceptionally beautiful, and Id love to see it in the springtime as well as in fall. If you like things unexpected off the beaten path this is definitely a good place to visit.

From Vienna at jct. Hwys. 45 & 146, take Hwy. 45 south 5 miles to Belknap Road, then go west 1.5 miles to gravel road, then turn and go north 0.5 mile

For Further Information Contact: Site Superintendent or Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Natural Heritage Biologist, Ferne Clyffe State Park, P.O. Box 67, Goreville, IL 62939 (618/995-2568)

Bald Knob Cross

After stuffing our faces with hot dogs at Connie's, we moved on to Bald Knob Cross in Alto Pass. It wasn't far from Anna-Jonesboro, and none of us had seen it in person. You can see the cross from quite far away, you'll see it on a hill to your left long before the road winds you around to the cross itself. It was completed in 1963, and when lit at night you can see it from 7500 square miles. It's in pretty bad shape right now but different groups have raised a large sum of money and are lobbying to get it repaired. Even as it sits, its quite spectacular. The base of the cross is made of Illinois marble and the upper portion is covered by reinforced steel porcelain panels. The cross can withstand winds of up to 150 miles per hour. It is hollow, and visitors were originally able to go to the top. This was discontinued at some point before 1982. There are several panels missing and you can see the stairs inside of it. I wish we would have been able to see it at a time when you could still travel up to the top, even just standing at the base, you can see for miles and miles, I can only imagine what it would be like from the top of it's 111 feet.

Theres a long story as of how the cross came about, but the short version is that Bald Knob is the highest point around, and a few men decided it would make prime real estate for sunrise Easter service. after several years of this and many crosses later, they decided to erect a permanent cross and got to raising money. a few miracles later, Bald Knob Cross was built. you can learn more here:
www.friendsofthecross.net

Bandy's Pumpkin Patch

We recently have made a trip to Bandy's Pumpkin Patch in Johnston City Illinois. What a time! They have everything you'd like to do on a chilly fall day. The Pumpkin Patch is only open October 1st through the 30th, (9 am to 6 pm daily) so you better plan several trips within the month! If your kids aren't in school yet, the best time is during the school day, where you might happen upon a bus of kids but it will be relatively quiet. On the weekends the place is bustling with kids and adults alike, all trying to find that perfect pumpkin and enjoying all the activities. They have a giant corn maze (3 miles!), a smaller hay bale maze for the kids, a play barn with bounce houses and a big slide with bins of corn for the kids to play in, hay rides through the pumpkin fields, a show with pumpkin juggling and carving, a concession stand, and fire pits. You can reserve 2 hour slots for birthday parties, and there's plenty of space for the kids to run and play. they even have face painting. There are more than enough pumpkins, gourds, squash, and Indian corn to choose from, ranging from pumpkins the size of your hand to monster ones my kid was using as a seat. and the pumpkin carving show was alot of fun, younger kids especially liked that one, but adults are involved as well. you can tell that the owners just really like people and have a good time at what they are doing. I definitely suggest stopping in sometime in October and saying hello to the Bandy's and their beautiful farm.

Bandy's Pumpkin Patch
J.T. and Johna Bandy
15020 Pumpkin Patch Road
Johnston City Illinois, 62951
618) 983-8676
www.bandyspumpkinpatch.com

from I-57:
take the Johnston City exit 59 and turn West onto 2 heading away from town. follow it less than a mile, then turn south onto Pumpkin Patch rd. you will see a big pumpkin sign right at the edge of the road with Bandy's name and hours of operation on it. You will see Bandy's almost as soon as you turn onto the road, and there's plenty of parking in lots on both sides.

Blue Sky Winery

Some friends and I recently decided to go on the Shawnee Wine Trail for an afternoon of relaxation and wine tasting. We never made it past Blue Sky.

Blue Sky Winery has a big, majestic building reminiscent of an old Italian winery with rustic and rugged accent pieces, like wrought Iron pillars and light fixtures. Everything is deep colored wood and earth toned plaster, with an extensive bar and large patio. the first thing you notice upon entering is the bar, with shelves and crates full of wines with colorful labels. the people are friendly and knowledgeable  and all you really need to say is "I like this type of wine..." and they will tell you the best sellers as well as their favorites and what most people with similar likes drink. There's a whole top shelf with a bottle of each wine on it, and each bottle has medal upon medal placed on it, showing the various awards each has won.

Once you get your glass or bottle or even pitcher of wine or sangria, you can sit indoors or head out onto their gorgeous patio and drink the day away. umbrella covered tables look out onto their pond, waterfall, and gazebo  the day we were there a man brought his dog to swim in the pond and there was also a wedding on the gazebo.

They have pizzas and appetizers as well as wonderful smelling breads with dipping sauces and cheeses. we brought out own cooler full of breads and chips,and no one seemed to mind that we had done so. The entire place is just so laid back.

It isn't hard to find, and you can go to http://www.blueskyvineyard.com/ and click on the directions link, and it will have you enter your address or starting point and give you tailored directions on how to get there. As a tip, don't use cell phone navigational systems, it will not get you where you need to go! You will still be several miles off from the winery.

I ended up coming home with a sweet red wine called Concorde, their best seller. My fiends took home Mysterioso, which is #2 on their sellers list. both are sweet wines, and have that deep glossy red color. Hopefully next time we do the Shawnee Wine Trail, we will make it to more than one winery, but I have to say I would not mind spending another day relaxing at blue sky.

Blue Sky Vinyard/Winery
3150 S. Rocky Comfort Rd.,
Anna (Makanda), IL 62906
618) 995-WINE

Yoder Bakery

Good luck trying to find this one on the net, I sure couldn't. My husband told me about an amish Bakery in Galatia Illinois, he's a local truck driver and goes thru there all the time on his way to the mines. Just outside Galatia on rt. 34 you will see a small handmade white sign proclaiming YODER BAKERY. OPEN FRIDAY-SATURDAY and the hours of somehting like 10 am to 7 pm. go about half a mile down a long gravel road and you will see two farmhouses with tin roofs and lots of yard. The second house is the bakery. Go down their driveway and youll go past their garden and chicken coops. A small addition onto the farmhouse is the bakery, when we went it was nice outside and all the windows were open, they were talking to us thru the screens before we even hit the door. Inside you will find a small shop loaded with handmade doughnuts, cookies, and jams. There were even pies and candies waiting for us. We've been twice now, the first time my son got "Whoopie Pie" cookies, which were thick, moist, devils food cookies with cream filling. one could have made a meal, and Im pretty sure I paid less than three dollars for half a dozen. We also got the most incredible cherry jam Ive ever had. We went back a second time (although Im sure it will be far from our last) after we ran out of aforementioned wonderfull jam, and got another jar plus rhubarb jam and M&M cookies. all this for under $6.00. They are wonderfull people, as well as bakers, and wont hesistate to chat you up about the days activities. There's no power going to the house, so I dont know if they still operate in winter at the same times as mentioned above, they may cut back to 'daylight hours.'

Rim Rock - Pounds Hollow

My family and I stayed at Pounds Hollow Campsites for three days on the weekend of July 12, 2008. It was, to say the least, incredible...or it would have been had it not thunderstormed on us all weekend. Even that, though, was in a way spectacular, a big storm came through, and your surrounded by these big pine trees, and the trees were swaying like mad but we never felt the wind at tent level. The campsites are very nice, we stayed at site 46 at Pounds Hollow Campsite and it was great. You can actually walk down to the lake to swim every day, its that close. I Mention our campsite because, if you drive down to the lake, on your way back up you pass a small cave, which is accessable from our campsite. At the back of the site was a small hiking trail which we explored, to find it led right down to the cave. It isnt big enough to do any major exploring, and the thought of snakes kept us pretty well out of it, but its interesting to see anyway.

There are bathrooms, pump water at an adjoining campsite, fire pits, and picnic tables at each site, and they are good large sites as well. Its $5.00 a night to stay as of July 2008.

Pounds Hollow lake is a great place as well, you can swim in the designated swimming area, which is fairly large and has a beach, as well as the bottom of the swimming area being sand instead of lake mud. There are lots of picnic areas with concrete flooring and picnic tables, and a sheltered picnic area on top of the hill. There are also bathrooms and water fountains there. Theres a sign that says you can rent paddleboats, but we didn't see any. You can also boat and fish. There are several porch type platforms set up around the lake you can fish off of, as well as going off and setting your hook somewhere.

Right next to Pounds Hollow (and actually connecting to it) is Rim Rock. If you don't do anything else in the Garden of the Gods area, you HAVE to see Rim Rock and hike the trail. Rim Rock isn't really a specific rock formation, its just a set of sheer bluffs that kind of separates it from the other areas of the park. you start out basically on top of it, and wind your way down into the hollows. Theres a nice trail, which leads you onot an observation deck. from there you have several options, you can circle on back up to where you started, or you can follow both wooden and carved stone stairs through a large rock and down onto the floor of the hollow. Once down there, you find yourself looking at Ox Lot Cave, a big cave carved out of the rock face. There is a sign post saying what the cave was used for and why it was named Ox Lot. Back in the early 1900's, there was extensive logging in that area, and the log men would keep their Oxen and equipment in that cave as a shelter and feeding area while logging went on all around them. From Ox Lot, you can again circle up and around back to the starting point, or you can continue on to Pounds Hollow. We've been there twice, the first time circling back, the second time we followed it to the Hollow and swam afterwards. No matter which way you go, it isnt a long trail, and my three year old did it without too much complaining.
Shawnee's website rates the rail as "difficult" but there really wasnt anywhere I would consider it to have that kind of rating. I would call it moderate at best. The shortest route is .4 miles, but its a bit more than that if you continue to follow down to Pounds Hollow.

UPDATE:
We stayed again in April of 2010 with a couple of friends.  Even better time!  We each brought our dogs, which several people in the area had also done.  We were at a campsite at the end of a closed off road (leading to more campsites) where we scavenged for firewood.  We walked the trails again, and took more and better pics.  There's just so much to do in this area, and I don't want to eat it all up on this one post, but if your looking for a better campground this is it.

Garden of the Gods

My family and I recently took a day trip to Garden of the Gods State Park in the Shawnee National Forest.

I definately reccomend going there if your looking for breathtaking sights, a little excersize, and lots of options for further exploration. Garden of the Gods is what remains of a huge sea from long ago. (think 320 million years) There are large rock formations, and you actually get to crawl around on them, although there are no barriers, and someone could easily get too close and fall off, so please keep a tight reign on your kids!

The Observation Trail is the main attraction at Garden of the Gods, which is a paved trail and is only about .25 miles long. It is part of an interconnecting system of trails that totals about 5 miles for someone looking for a little more sightseeing. You will see rock formations such as Indian Point, Anvil Rock, and Big H. We didn't go on this trail being as our son is only three and couldn't walk that far, but even the observation trail is very nice and kid friendly. You get to walk right out on top of the cliff faces, and there are several small caves and interesting places you can squeeze yourself into. Everything was very clean and well maintained.
If you have an afternoon like we did, there are lots of things to see within just a few minutes of Garden of the Gods, like Pounds Hollow, Rim Rock, and the Iron Furnace. Even better, if you have all evening, there is a campsite called Pharaoh Campground at Garden of the Gods, which has bathrooms, water, designated campsites, fire pits and picnic tables.

Everything is free and is open year round except the camping, which when we stayed was $5.00 a night.

How to get there:

From Exit 54 at Interstate 57 and Illinois 13, drive 25 miles east on Illinois 13 to US 45 in Harrisburg. Turn right onto US 45 and drive south 1 mile to Illinois 34. Turn left onto Illinois 34 and drive 16 miles to Karbers Ridge Road. Turn left onto Karbers Ridge Road and drive 3 miles east to Illinois 10, turn right. Continue about 1 mile to Garden of the Gods Road, turn left. Look for Garden of the Gods Recreation area on your left.

From the south take Illinois 1 North to Cadiz Road. Turn left and continue west 6 miles to Karbers Ridge Road. Turn left and continue west for 4 miles to Illinois 10 (Garden of the Gods Road). Turn left for about 1 mile. Turn left into Garden of the Gods Recreation area.