" Tour Guides On Buses were Great "…read more The American Queen Steamboat Company hires Tour Guides from the Quad Cities Convention And Visitors center to give lengthy tours around the Quad Cities areas. The Tour Guides are very knowledgeable about the different areas in the Quad Cities, and give extensive knowledge out to their passengers about the Educational and Historical sites. Great Job Tour Guides.

Was in town for work on a steamy July day but wanted to explore the path along the Mississippi…read moreRiver and decided that renting a bike might be a good idea. The Google machine brought me to the visitors bureau. For $7 an hour you can rent a nice bike to use on the miles of trails surrounding the river. The bikes are new seeming Trek bicycles and you're offered the option of getting a lock and a helmet. There's also a water bottle cage in case you think you're going to get thirsty. The visitor's bureau is more gift shop than bicycle rental shop, but...there's a lot of neat stuff to see. They also offer segway tours throughout the week. I didn't have time or I would have checked that out, too. Definitely worth checking out if you're in from out of town and want to go exploring.

Very Welcoming and friendly. The woman at the front end walked us outside to show us the way to the…read morecanal . She mentioned the mule named Mo and said we would have a good time on the boat .

Café situated in at the I&M Canal Gift Shop. Everything (except for a couple bakery items) are made…read morefrom scratch in house by the chef. Food was phenomenal of course, and the servers were super helpful and accommodating! The place had wifi so you can connect and study/do work. Prices are extremely reasonable, I'd even put it in the "one dollar sign category".

Starved rock is a beautiful destination for hiking. Lots of pretty trails and depending on the…read morerain and time of year they have waterfalls. The lodge and visitors center and clean and welcoming.

I found out about Starved Rock State Park as there was some Facebook post of great road trips. We…read morewere going to Springfield and Normal IL anyway. I took vacation wednesday-friday from work. We did Matthesen park first and stopped in after 4pm but the visitor center was closed. The gift shop is still open, and she gave me a pointer on the visitor center at the same time to see Starved Rock from the other side and Buffalo at Buffalo Rick State Park. We returned around 9 am. Thursday, and I hiked the Starved Rock trail myself. Spouse and I also did St Louis Canyon together. Didn't get any overpriced t shirts or sweatshirts, but I found a Bigfoot magnet and State Park sticker. It's such a cool state park to hike that is free. Go later in October for colorful leaves.

First time coming here, I needed a place to stop at just because I was in need of a rest stop to…read morestretch my legs and relax at while coming back from Wisconsin Dells. Out of all my times coming in and out of Wisconsin I've never stopped here before. Of all the rest stops in the state of Illinois this one is by far to clean us of them all. This place was particularly empty and it was well caps and maintained but it still had that 80s nostalgic style to it. They keep up with the Landscaping here as well this place also features plenty of picnic tables as well overall it's a typical rest stop to come to but I was very pleased with my visit here

I've never posted a review of a rest area nor saw the need, until I have been here. Yes, it is just…read morea rest area. That said, it is cared for with a passion I rarely see from employees. The grounds are immaculate and every visit I see someone cleaning. Cans are always emptied and there is never trash on the grounds. There are multiple picnic gazebos and a dog walking area. I don't believe large semis are allowed but RVs are always present. Even the bathrooms are regularly cleaned and well kept. On this visit I had to take a moment to compliment an employee on how well they do and I hope you will do the same if you like what you see. Sometimes we just need to enjoy the small things...

Located at the Starved Rock Lock & Dam,the Visitors Center is operated by the US Army Corps of…read moreEngineers. The small museum explains how Illinois Waterways are part of our National water system. From the visitors center you can go upstairs to the outdoor viewing area and watch the operation of the lock and dam. Unfortunately the day we visited there were no boats passing thru. You might get lucky tho and see an eagle or merganser flying overhead. Open 7 days a week from 9-5. Plenty of parking is available. Free admission.

Interesting museum with exhibits about the locks and maps of Illinois rivers as well as Illinois…read morewildlife taxidermy. There is an outdoor deck with telescopes where you can watch the locks in operation if you are lucky enough to have a barge going through.

I've passed here a couple of times and thought it looked like more than I would expect. It was…read more It is very clean and a great bathroom stop too. There are racks of area brochures. A cute pond inside. There was a cool flight simulator, but either it wasn't working or I was the malfunction and couldn't figure it out. Nice stop for area information.

When you're traveling, a good source for information about the area in which you are traveling is…read morethe convention and visitors bureau. Over the years, I've run into some good some and some bad ones, this is a particularly good one. While most C&VB are loaded with local info, this one stands out for both having lots of good info but also for being a very new and attractive facility. The staff is knowledgeable and very friendly. Freeport is a very interesting area, there is a lot of history here beyond the famous Lincoln-Douglas Debate that was held here. The city also has its own carousel in Krape Park, which is identified here in the southwest corner of the showroom with a representative model and two carousel horses on display. The city of Lena, not far from Freeport, boasts a brick water tower, and a large model of the water tower is on display here. The C&VB is conveniently located on US 20, just east of town and just before the highway turns north to bypass the city. If you're westbound, you can quickly stop on your way into town. If you're eastbound, it's worth bypassing the city to visit here, then backtrack into town. Freeport has a lot to offer, the visitors bureau is a good place to learn about it all!

A truly beautiful hike filled with caves to explore! There are a total of nine caves, ranging in…read moresize from massive walk-through caverns to smaller, single-person passages. Two of the largest caves let you walk straight from one entrance to another, while one of the smaller ones requires squeezing through two tight openings before you can barely stand inside--definitely an adventure! The trails are not wheelchair accessible. The full hike took us about three hours at a steady pace. I'd recommend bringing a flashlight for exploring, though it's not absolutely necessary. Between the unique caves and the gorgeous trails, this park is a gem. I'll definitely be returning to Maquoketa Caves in the future!

Fun and interesting state park with plenty of caves to see...but wear good shoes for climbing and…read morewalking along steep paths and clothing that will probably get dirty (layers are best as the caves can get cold). Many of the caves have streams running through which are very cool but can also cause slips and falls... I'd also be careful of some of the off-the-beaten-track paths as one led us to some pretty steep cliffs. And again don't underestimate the slipperiness of even the regular paths... The gift shop is just a few tables set up outside of a shelter-type open building (I had to get my usual magnets) in the parking lot, and the visitors center is a separate building off of the main road (Caves Road) and 98. The visitors center has a few interesting displays and we watched a film about the history of the park, Well worth a visit, and especially recommend seeing the Dance Hall Caves....