Dr. Ruben Boyajian is surgeon from Effingham, Illinois, renowned for his medical skill the world over……and also renowned for being an artisan in gingerbread. Every holiday season, Ruben creates a large scale, intricately detailed model of a local attraction and...

Fox Ridge State Park sits just eight miles south of Charleston, on Rt 130. Sitting just East of the Embarras (pronounced Ambraw) River, this scenic park has something for just about everyone! The Embarras river was a major North-South trading...

The General Dacey Trail is a multi-use trail for walkers, runners and bicyclists. Started in 2006, the trail continues to expand with additional sections each year. Named after Major General Robert J. Dacey, engineer for the Lake Shelbyville Dam project...

Nestled in a canyon, north of I-70 in Central Illinois is wonderful piece of nature, little known even to the locals. Rock Cave Nature Preserve is a Illinois Department of Resources preserve, 6 miles north of Altamont, exit 82 of...

Vandalia Illinois has the distinction of housing Illinois’ oldest capitol building. Yes, that’s right, Springfield hasn’t always been the capitol city of Illinois. Vandalia sits along I-70, about 60 miles east of St. Louis, and in the center of the...

(Additional Images in gallery at the end of this post) On the north side of Altamont stands a brick mansion that has solidly withstood the test of time, and remains to this day a marvel of architecture. Few today would...

A Forest Preserve with a lot more than forest….. North of I-74 near the town of Mahomet sits Lake of the Woods Forest Preserve. I had set off for this park early on a Saturday morning to feed my need of...

The air above Lake Shelbyville will be filled with many beautiful balloons this weekend, (October 7th-9th) as the Touchstone Energy Balloon Fest once again comes to town. Several flights are planned on Friday, Saturday and Sunday with a Basket Burn...

(be sure to check out the slideshow of images at the end of this post) The town of Arthur and it’s surrounding area is known as Amish Country in Illinois…..but in the fall, it’s known as Pumpkin Patch country. Every...

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Spanning Sugar Creek, just west of Glenarm, IL is the Sugar Creek Covered Bridge. Also known as the Glenarm, or Hedley bridge, this 60 foot span is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (#78001185) and is one of...