We're "Starving"

    We really are enjoying our time out here in Illinois! It has been fun to experience something so new and different than what we grew up with in Utah. One thing I really miss though that I don't know if I can ever get over of course are the mountains. I miss the beauty of them but I also miss what you can do in them! Skiing, biking, and of course hiking.
    To hike out here, you have to drive quite a distance away.. So 120 miles and 2 hours later we hit Starved Rock State Park. There are 18 canyons to explore that run along side the Illinois river.. and we originally had planned on exploring a couple of them, but to be honest.. we ended up on a different trail than what we had planned. Apparently in the spring there are lots of waterfalls through the canyons, so we plan on going back next year to hit those up. For now there were just small trickles of water down the rocks.
    The big difference between hiking here instead of in Utah (besides the fact that in Utah we normally hike mountains and this was a hill compared to it) is of course the humidity. It's like being inside of a steam shower sometimes! In minutes we are drenched in what feels like sweat but is really all the moisture in the air just sticking to every part of your body. 
   It was a beautiful trail to follow and it felt like we were going through a jungle because it was so green! Starved Rock is a butte that sits right along the river. We joked that it was called starved rock because we were all "starving" by the time we got back to the car. Anyway! We had quite the adventure and really enjoyed the hiking. We'll be back next year for some waterfalls!