Tuesday of the road trip

Some of the snowy view  from the Starved Rock Lodge in Utica, Illinois.

There is a porch all along the backside of the lodge, overlooking the Illinois River.

According to the weather report we were supposed to get another inch of snow. It was a bit hard to tell.

This is a top view of the visitors center down by the river.  There are all sorts of trails to hike. There are caverns, waterfalls, and lots of wildlife.  There is plenty of forest, and prairie.  I was surprised at how large the area is.  I want to go back and explore more.

There is a great room in the lodge with this inviting fireplace.

This is the lobby.  A lot of the furniture is made from the wood from the forest.

To top it all off, there was eagles.  They have started coming back.  I sighted at least 8 along the river.

We went to the lock and dam that is part of the canal system on the river.  As we arrived this barge was just interring the lock. You can see how low in the canal this one is.

See the eagle flying!

Here are the gates getting ready to close.

The gates are closed.

Now the water is being allowed to fill the canal 

See how much the boat has risen.

It is at the top level, and getting ready to be let out of the canal.

Here are two of the eagles watching the action.

The barge is now going out of the canal.  There were several  other barges waiting to all be hooked together. Each barge that goes through can only be so many feet long.  I think there were 6 that this boat was pushing up the river. It is such a simple method of getting a ship from one level of water to another. I love to watch this procedure.

Then we had to stop by the house being built for the sequel to the Superman movie.  This is going to look just like the house in the current movie. They are supposed to be filming in February.

There I had to see my favorite barn quilt.  It is here in Oswego!

These little road trips we take are so much fun.  We get to go to some awesome places and do fun things.
Have a great day.
Mary