Memorial Day Adventures Part I

Jay worked the weekend so we were saving up our holiday fun for Monday, Memorial Day.  Last year we 'discovered' how cool southern Illinois was on an impromptu day trip and were going to head that way again.  But after Jay did some research, we headed to the other side of southern Illinois and explored a bit over there.  Our original intention was to eat the BEST FISH catfish EVER at the floating River Restaurant in Elizabethtown, Illinois, but we're trying to see new things and opted to go south and a little west...which has perks.

My grandparent's grave stones.

My grandparents (on my mom's side) are buried in a tiny little town just off of Interstate 57 in Ullin, Illinois.  By traveling that direction instead of just going straight south, I was able to stop and visit the grave sites of my grandparents.  Good deal.  My parents were heading down there to visit some cemeteries, and because it's soo far south, and Lambert's Resturaunt, 'Home of the Throwed Rolls' is just across the state line in Sikeston, Missouri, well, you know we had to drive a little further and meet up with them for a late lunch.  Y-U-M-M-Y.

But onto the in-between stuff...you know I have to mention the food first :)  We drove down and over to Carbondale and then went a little south.  That is the northern tip of the Shawnee National Forest.  Jay had found two places online that he wanted to find.  The Ponoma Natural Bridge and the Little Grand Canyon.  I had not heard of either.  The Ponoma Natural Bridge was on the map, which was helpful.  The Little Grand Canyon (LGC for short) was not, and I don't really understand that, but anyway...



We are standing on the natural bridge.



There is one thing you need to know about southern Illinois before heading out in search of things...the roads are insane.  They go up and down and turn and twist and you don't go the same direction for more than a quarter mile before turning again.  There is no STRAIGHT shot to anyplace fun to see.  It's crazy.  We find a sign for the Ponoma Natural Bridge which is pointing right (north) and it says 3 miles.  We go.  We drive a gravel road that twists and turns and there are no signs...even if there is a fork in the road...you just follow the most cared for road, I guess...and finally after what seemed like forever, there it was:  a picnic table and trash bin with a parking area.  Apparently, we had found the Natural Bridge site.  We followed the trail, which was short and sweet, and found the natural bridge.  It is a bridge that is basically made from large rocks, and it is natural, of course.  It is hard to make out in the pictures because of all the growth, but it was neat.  I love seeing green, but it may be easier to see when there isn't as much growth.  If you can tell, we are standing on top of the bridge.  It is hard to make out, but it is clear underneath there and there's plenty of room for passing under the bridge.  Jay is standing up above us (obviously) looking down.  We were trying to get a picture that showed the whole bridge.  It was tough.

Cool.  We had seen site number one and it only took about 40 minutes.  We headed back out to follow the signs to the Little Grand Canyon.  At the T-road where we had seen the sign indicating that the natural bridge was 3 miles to the right (north), there was also a sign that said LGC was 10 miles to the left (south).  Got it.  We go back and follow that sign...which takes us south about a quarter mile and then west and then north and then back east, and on and on and on.  I must mention this is serious wine and vineyard country.  We kind of figured out at the end of all this endless driving in circles, that the intent of the locals is for you to pass through and see every single vineyard and winery.  Got it.  Only thing...they were all closed. 

After driving nearly 25 minutes, and I am not joking, from the sign that said it was ten miles...we finally come to another T-road indicating that there is yet another winery to the right.  There is no sign telling us to turn left for the LGC but that is what we decided to do on a hunch...and lo and behold, there was a parking area with a picnic table, trash can and an added bonus, the bathrooms!!  We studied the map outlining the hike to the Little Grand Canyon and decided to take the easy and moderate trails highlighted in blue.  It mentioned 30-45 minutes to the site.  Okay, gotcha.  I took a water bottle with me that was about half full and my camera and off we went down the 'blue' trail.

It was a very well-maintained path.  Nice and wide.  As I mentioned earlier, this time of year there is quite a bit of green growth everywhere.  It was no different at the LGC locale.  Unfortunately for the rest of my family, a lot of that growth included poison ivy.  Jay kept hollering back "DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING GREEN" to all of us...and I know he meant well and it was a really good idea, in theory, but it was IMPOSSIBLE.  It was everywhere.  I would expect at least one person in our family will need a shot by the end of the week...and I'm not kidding.  When Jay and Madolyn get poison, they get it everywhere.  It won't be pretty.  I usually don't get poison, but won't be a bit surprised if I don't end up with it. 

We came to the first bench and sat down.  We'd only been on the trail about 10-15 minutes.  It is mid-morning and already pretty warm.  We decide to sit and rest a few minutes.  A lady wearing a cute outfit with matching adorable flip-flops had come up behind us and we thought we'd let her have a chance to pass us if she wanted to.  She stopped to chat with us instead.  She was curious about how far it was to the look-out.  We thought another 15 minutes or so.  I commented on her really cute flip-flops...she mentioned they may not be the right shoes for this trek, I thoroughly agreed, but she was here and wanted to see this beauty of nature.  So did we.  Off we went.



I think I'm going to have to make this a two-parter...number one, so you don't get bored with my post; and number two, I want to keep you in suspense...ha! So stay tuned for the rest of the story...