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In this era of over $4.00 a gallon gas, people are looking closer to home for summer vacations. My husband and I did just that recently. We headed down to southern Illinois and checked out just a few of the activities the Shawnee National Forest has to offer.
Now, I don't know how many of you have been there, but I never had and I've been living in the Metro-East for about eight years now. Let me tell you, I've been missing out. It was a whole different world down there!
To start, we went to Giant City State Park, which is in Makanda, just south of Carbondale. The rock formations are amazing! It is called Giant City because the early settlers were reminded of tall building and streets when they walked through the enormous, straight edged rocks.
Native Americans frequented the area hundreds of years ago, and black soot marks from their fires still exists on the ceilings of cliff overhangs. We also found small pieces of "chert" that they would have shaved off of larger pieces as they made arrowheads and other tools. On top of one of the bluffs is a rock wall that the Native Americans constructed. It was reconstructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930's as part of FDR's attempt to help the struggling economy and to help preserve our parks and make them more accessible . The CCC also constructed an amazing lodge, all made from local materials. We had a great dinner there after a day of hiking on the beautiful trails.
We stayed at Woodland Cabins, which was just fifteen minutes from Giant City and about ten minutes from Carbondale. It was beautiful. Our cabin was very new, clean, and private. We had our own hot tub on our porch overlooking a pond. A large jacuzzi tub graced the bathroom and a fireplace topped off the living room. It was so nice and quiet. We couldn't have picked a better spot to stay and the prices were very reasonable.
On the way home we tried a few wineries on the Shawnee Forest Wine Trail. One that really stuck out to us was the Pomona Winery. The service was wonderful and they make all of their delicious wine from fruits, but not grapes. They had several apple types, blueberry, peach, strawberry, and more. We ended up taking home quite a few bottles for friends and ourselves.
We only spend two nights away on this trip, so you could easily do it in a weekend. It was a quick little getaway that really left us feeling like we actually got away. We are anxious to go deeper into the Shawnee Forest and explore it further, because I know it has a lot more to offer.
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