Friday, August 16, 2013

Giant City State Park

We spent arrived at Giant City State Park on Monday afternoon.  As soon as we arrived, the skies opened up and rained on us.  The folks got really wet because we didn't have full hook ups and Dad had to fill the water tank up. It took a while.  He went inside while it was filling, but he still got wet.  Mama got wet because she needed to direct Dad out of a tight spot with the motor home.

Our trip on Monday was a little stressful.  We couldn't get one of the jacks to come up all the way on the motor home.  It came up enough that we could drive with it, but it gave out a warning beep, beep, beep the entire trip.  It is kind of like the warning signal you get for not wearing your seat belt. Can you imagine that sound for 200 miles?  Dad said that if it didn't come down at our site and if our site was not level, we would not be able to put the sides out.  YIKES!  The jack didn't come down, but we are level enough to put the sides out.  The next day he did some research on the problem and found that a fuse might be the problem.  He replaced the fuse and the jack started working again. It seems to be working fine now.

Scout was completely miserable at Giant City.  She didn't want to go outside at all because of the horseflies.  The folks wanted to take us on a trail, but they knew Scout wouldn't be happy. I wanted to go, but I stayed behind with Scout so she wouldn't be lonely.

The folks visited the visitors center and watched two movies on the park. The guide suggested they take a trail that is one mile long and really shows why the park is called Giant City.  Mama bought a walking stick at the gift shop and she said it gave her more confidence when they had to walk on the rocks.  She is pretty clumsy.

 



This is why it is called Giant City.

There were a lot of old carvings.

Cool!


One of the places that a walk stick helps a clumsy person.

Balancing rock.




The folks decided to eat lunch at the lodge. They ate dinner there the night before and they were not impressed.  They decided to give it a second chance because they really didn't feel like going into town.

The lodge was built by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp) in the 1930's.  The folks watched a film about the CCC  at the visitors' center which made their visit to the lodge even more interesting.

These guys are at the entrance to the lodge.


The dining area.


The lodge.



The lodge is a very popular place for the locals to eat.  Mama decided to try the chicken which is served family style if more than one person orders it.  It is all you can eat.  It is $8.99 for lunch and $10.99 for dinner.


It comes with chicken dumplings, corn, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, coleslaw and biscuits. 
Mama says the chicken was delicious. They forgot to bring her coleslaw and biscuits.  She said she had enough food without those anyway.

Horseshoe Sandwich - turkey covered in cheese and bacon.
Dad said his sandwich was really good. 

Water tower near the state park.
We really liked Giant City State Park, but the horseflies and mosquitoes were really bad.  We are glad we stayed there though.  I hope we go again so that I can hike some of the trails.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Bites Back At Horseflies

4 comments:

  1. Joey, I'm so glad that you bite back at horseflies! I don't blame Scout for wanting to stay away from the insects.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've been thinking of you guys every day because I'm doing temporary work at a company in Elkhart, Indiana, called MOR/ryde. Every day there are folks, many full-timers, getting their RVs serviced. I agree with Scout...biting insects are horrible.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Giant City is on our dream list of state parks to visit! I'm so glad you guys saw it. The lodges at the Illinois state parks are all fantastic. You should tell your mom to stop and eat at the lodge at Starved Rock some time while your folks are to the north.


    Bunny

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bunny, the folks ate at the lodge at Starved Rock twice.

      Delete

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