Camping... Shawnee National Forest, Trail of Tears

So we finally went camping.  We've had all the gear, except the tent, ever since we were married, and we hoped to go every year.  Well, this year we bought the tent and went!  It was great :)  We spent 2 nights, 1 day, and probably spent more time packing, setting up, taking down and packing again, than we spent time enjoying ourselves; but, it was still fabulous!!  The boys enjoyed it too, even though there wasn't much for them to do.  I think they enjoyed it because of the excitement of something different.

We traveled about 5 1/2 hours south, close to the border of Illinois.   After about 4 hours of cornfields and soybeans, the terrain finally became interesting.  The above photo is a shot a t a rest area beside a lake I can't remember the name of.  Very beautiful!  

Our little man... Peter!  He had a great time too, though I had to keep a constant eye on him to keep him from eating EVERYthing.

Our Tahoe was loaded to the gills with all our gear so there wasn't much room for toys.  The boys made their own fun trying to take rides in the bike trailer and pedaling back and forth in front of our campsite.

Here's our camp site.  The most fabulous you will find in Illinois, I'm sure.  Major selling point is the 3 walled cabin complete with fireplace.  Also, it was very private and quiet.  Downside, very hilly (hard for us people who are out of shape, to pedal) and no water holes for swimming or for fishing.  Great hiking trails, but not so great for little ones.

Old fire tower

Check out this look :)

Putting the Dirksen cup to good use :)

A few more snapshots of the peeps.