Review Visit: October 14th, 2015…read more First impressions are hard to change... If you live in Illinois at all, you know of the budget cuts, budget cuts, tax increases, budget cuts. Jubilee College State Park is one of those that has been hit by budget cuts. Decided to check this place and Jubilee Cafe out in the same day. My first time there, I encountered a few areas that were closed due to inadequate staffing. So a lot of places have become overgrown and broken down. This state park is beautiful and it's a shame that it is in such a bad shape. While looking up some info on it to write this short blog, it appears that after 3 years they finally have a (volunteer?) Park Ranger and a volunteer group to help clean the place up and make it usable. Having never been here, I tried quite a few different places that I thought were openings to go hiking, but I really never could tell what was what since everything was overgrown. Now if this volunteer group is helping out and making the place a bit friendlier, I would love to go back and check it out again. Maybe even update this blog post. I just hope I don't have to mark it 'Closed'. It fills me with such sorrow that beautiful recreational places like these are cut short on budgets and fall into disuse. I won't get into politics, but I hope they figure something out and restore this park and all the other closed/understaffed to their rightful natural beauty.

I stay here a lot but the last few times there have been many unleashed dogs therefore I had to…read moretake my dog home because she is old and can't handle other dogs. We had many coming in our site , even though your dog is to be leashed no one was doing it and no park employee driving thru so it made it unsafe for my dog which is a bummer.

Review Visit: April 1st, 2015…read more s from my apartment. Because even as an adult, who doesn't love to swing. Since I went to so many parks, I don't remember much about this one. I do remember that it was a very basic park. It had a few benches, two swings and a slide. Looking online, it seems there is a small loop hiking trail and a bridge. The nice thing about this park though was its remoteness. It was far enough from the bulk of civilization that you feel at peace and the land was wide and open, so you could feel a nice gentle spring breeze.

As far as parks go, this isn't really overly exciting, but it's a good park nonetheless…read more You might happen onto this park and see a sign that signifies hiking, and you might think "Oh wow, there are trails here!" Well, the trail is really just a loop trail, and it's a really short loop at that, but it does lead to a creek. We visited this park for many years between 2002-2012, and in the later years the park suffered from some vandalism including graffiti. There's playground equipment and a picnic shelter, and you can reserve said shelter through the Washington Park District for private events. Where the playground equipment sits there is a decently sized grassy area where you, your kids or your dogs can run and work off some energy. Not a bad deal for a free visit.

Beautiful natural area, nature center is very kid-centered with friendly help, small gift shop,…read morebenches and picnic tables for resting!

Review Visit: September 29th, 2013…read more I remember coming here a few times as a kid on field trips. It was awesome as kid. They taught us about animals, bugs, nature and everything else outdoorsy. Then we got to hike a smaller trail as a group. Maybe this is what caused me to be such an avid outdoors person. Coming back here after about 2 decades was a huge nostalgic trip. Nothing had changed from what I remember as a kid. I'm sure things have been changed and updated since the early 90's, but it still retained that feel and look I remember as kid. The main building has set hours, but I do believe you can hike there before they open, as long as you follow the rule of 'no hiking before sunrise and after sunset'. Don't quote me on that. Inside the building is a small gift shop. There are quite a few learning activity areas to enrich yourself on local foliage and fauna. They hold a lot of events here, so you are surely able to drop in once a week and encounter some fun activity going on. There are plenty of trails to hike. If you want a quick hike, they have short trails. If you desire something challenging, you can hike some tough trails. Just be careful, I know a few people who have wandered off the path and ended up in a business area of Peoria Heights. The last time I was there, they had a 100-mile hike challenge. It was $10-15 to sign up and you record your hiking distances in a book there. Once you reach 100 miles, you get an award of some sort. I think it was a t-shirt and a certificate. Ive been wanting to sign up for it since I learned about it. But life gets busy. :/ Parking is plentiful but be warned; its a popular place, so there is usually a good amount of cars there at all time. But you shouldn't have a problem most of the time finding a parking spot. If you are native to the area and haven't been here, do yourself a favor and check it out. If yo are from out of town, also do yourself a favor and stop by for a quick hike. You won't regret it.

Review Visit: October 8th, 2014…read more A park as massive as the town is small. I'm not kidding when I say this park is massive for the size of the town its located in. When I set my destination to this place, my girlfriend (who is from the area) said it was a hangout spot for her as a kid. She failed to mention how massive the place was. We got there and parked and I had to ask, "Is this really it?! This park is huge!". She confirmed that my eyes weren't playing trick on me. This park really is spread out with lots of open fields and areas to hike. Time was important since the sun was setting, so we didn't get to spend the afternoon seeing what the park had to offer. We did get to walk around a little bit, play on some of the playground equipment, and check out Lee Cabin. The cabin was a cool little gem hidden in a park that is a gem itself. There isn't much else to say. Its a park that you can seemingly do a lot at. Walk, hike, play on the equipment, picnic... and who knows what else since I only saw parts of it. If you are in the area and have an itch to explore something between a small city park and a state/national park, Black Partridge Park is perfect for that.

I've been going to this campground my whole life. great staff clean campsites swimming hole is…read moregreat in the summer plants/trees are always trimmed and kept up. Bathroom is clean water is hot.

We couldn't be happier with the accommodations of this park. Everything is as expected from the…read morewebsite. Water hook us are sparse so bring the extra long hose and a splitter. Clean lake and shower facilities. Staff is so friendly and knowledgeable of the area. We came down the weekend before the "season" began. Had our pick of sites, quiet, and very impressed with the trails within the park. Our new favorite home away from home!

Clean pool with a nice area for toddlers & 2 playground areas. Has a diving board & concessions. $5…read moreadmission if you don't have a season pass. 4 life guards on duty. 10 ft in diving area. Ample parking. Would be nice to see more seating.

Stopped to look at while in town. Looks like it could be a neat stop, but was closed, I guess…read moredue to weather. It has been raining off and on that weekend, but it was fine when I was there for the rest of the day.

Check out one of the main attractions of Peoria Heights. It doesn't seem that exciting, and it…read moreisn't. Tower Park is of course a park with a tower. However many times the tower isn't even open. Meaning there's usually not much to come and see. As for the rest of the park, it's not bad. It has some playground equipment. The park is next to a city garage and has a good amount of parking. At least that part is free. It's $2 to go up in the tower. Honestly there's not that much to see up there, mostly houses. You can see the river though. Also has a plaque dedicated to Peoria native Dan Fogelberg. That's about it. Good place to spend a few minutes in and around. It gets boring pretty fast. There are some pretty good views.

This is a fun park and yesterday I walked there with someone else and we put grocery sack bags over…read morethere for people to use

We looked at this park for accessibility for mobility challenged people. Know before you go! Here…read moreis what we found: - There are no handicap accessible parking spots. - There is one wheelchair accessible restroom. - There is only street parking which is about 30 feet away from the attraction. - The terrain is wood chips and cement. - There are two ramps to get into the park but no play ramps. - There are no wheelchair accessible water fountains. - The accessible equipment is the water park and the ramps to get into the attraction. Nice park!!!