I love Laura Bradley Park! It holds lots of fond memories for me. There's a playground in the top…read moreand bottom section of the park! Gotta love the dog park if you have doggos. Lots of little attractions to see like the Chinese bridge. Plenty of roadways in the parks for walking and bike riding. Great place to visit year round!

Beautiful park near Bradley University. Plenty of walking areas, not really many trails, more of an…read moreopen set up. This park has a lot to offer, including a Frisbee golf course, two fenced in dog parks, sand volleyball, picnic areas and tennis courts. Plenty of free parking in multiple lots throughout the park. The dog parks include a smaller, more secluded dog park on the top and a large dog park on the bottom, separated into small and large breed fenced areas. The dog parks are often packed with wagging tails on the weekends. No fee and doggie bags are provided by the people. Each season brings something gorgeous to view in nature's little hideaway.

Review Visit: August 11th, 2015…read more Not to be confused with the Riverfront Park in Pekin. Though both offer a majestic view of the might Illinois River. Just how majestic is the view of the Illinois River? I'd rate that a 2.5/5 only because the landscape is pretty. If you come to Riverfront Park, you really need to visit for a few reasons. One, this park is a wide open flat park that is just serene on a beautiful day. Also, there is an old train turntable that nature has taken over. Just what it is doing there after the railroads have long since disappeared, I don't know but I can say that it was a nice little surprise when Matt and I came upon it during our walk of the park. I would have to guess that it is a relic from the old days when Peoria pumped out the alcoholic spirits en masse. Reason two for visiting. There is a nice little garden set off to the side of the park. It's called the Constitution Garden and you can read about that in the linked blog post. Last reason to visit is to check out the Dan Fogelberg Memorial which, again, you can read at the linked blog post. Aside from those three things, there isn't much else to do at this park but maybe get some running in. With it being next to the river, I would assume there are some running trails carved out by either people or the park district. If you had an afternoon to spend on exploring some of Peoria's unknown attractions, you wouldn't be wasting your time here, especially if you came on a gorgeous spring day. I guess you could also get a view of the river, but that's not a real selling point for any Illinois resident.

This park became home to the Dan Fogelberg memorial in 2010, but prior to that it was still a cool…read moredestination in my book due to the old railway turntable or wheelhouse that is on display there. I'm sure it's been there since the 80s because I remember seeing it when I was a kid. The park itself is pretty nice with paved, lighted paths along the Rock Island/Pimiteoui Trail with views of the river. Several people use the trail there for running, walking and biking. The Peoria Riverfront Museum's Community Solar System model's earth model is located in the park as well. There is a parking lot at the site.

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.

we stayed in a caboose for our anniversary...what a treat!!…read more everyone was soooo friendly and welcoming and that was before we got to the park!! haha!! the next day we visited the park and trails. we had a private feeding with Patrick(who was so awesome!)...unforgettable...if you have the chance, DO IT! so worth it!! we feed bears, wolves, and cougars...drove in the fields with the buffalo....WHAT?!?! who gets to do that?!? Patrick is so knowledgeable about the park and animals. everyone at the park with staff and volunteers were so great. we had a great chat with the volunteer in the old school house. that was such a treat. my favorite was Mr. B the badger...he was so rad! we will be back to explore more...two days weren't enough... thank you Prairie Park for the memorable weekend!!

We went to the park about 10 years ago and found it quite interesting. This time we found it overly…read morecommercialized and very rundown. Many of the enclosures were not maintained and many of them animals looked as though they needed attention by both park workers and medical intervention. It is very obvious that the park is not AZA accredited.

Several websites recommended that my husband and I check out the Luthy Botanical Garden and after…read morevisiting, I can't figure out why this place was recommended. We went there on a Saturday morning. Parking was very difficult to come by. There was no clear entrance. On this Saturday, there were vendors selling their wares. There were too many vendors taking up too much space. I went there to enjoy nature, not feel forced to buy things. There was a singer and guitar player who was too loud and not very good. I enjoyed walking and seeing the flowers and sculptures but there was not enough of that at this garden. Luthy Botanical Garden is too commercial and there is not enough garden.

Wha a lovely stop on my day trip today! I loved observing the winter phase of the outdoor gardens…read moreas well as the permanent art pieces and sculptures. The real treat was the greenhouse space though! I really love to learn all the names of everything around me and they're all expertly labeled with large font which my group appreciated. And nice that admission is free! Be sure to leave a donation though.

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.

Another childhood location revisited…read more Detweiller Park is a place I have fond, if not faded, memories from my childhood. I remember coming here on a few field trips and also coming here to slide down their sledding hill. My friend Mary and I set out to hike some trails we grew up traversing and I said yes. We got there early to beat the heat and discovered about 30 games of kindergarten-level of soccer being played. Glad to see kids will have fond memories of this place as I do. Once we got parked, we headed out and hit some trails. Being super rusty with the area, we poked around here and there trying to find where and what to hike. At one point, we had an elderly gentleman walk up to us and give an assessment on some trails we were debating on hiking. We didn't really want to take this northern path that lead 7 miles away, so we took the Pimiteoui South trail about the lower part of the park, then took Dry Run trail to stretch out the afternoon before ending it too early. It was a nice leisure stroll with a friend on a sunny and breezy afternoon. The entire soccer fields, once full with kids, were completely empty. In fact, the park was nearly empty by the time we got back to the parking lot. We saw more cars drive through the park than people hiking in the park. While there are some trails, this isn't the place to come if you are looking for some dedicated hiking trails like you can get at Forest Park Nature Center but still a great place to escape to nature.

This park is soo Amazing & beautiful scenery also. Would highly recommend this park for anything…read more Lots of room to play sports and etc.!

Are dogs on a leash allowed in the park? I have a French Bulldog. My dog would like meeting farm…read moreanimals.

Great place for toddlers! The animals are very well taken care of and the place looks very clean!…read moreMy niece who is 2 years old has an amazing time feeding the cows, rabbits, ducks, horses, sheep and hens! The park has a good play area too! They also have plenty of seating arrangements - benches, wooden swings and chairs where you can rest and relax under the trees. Overall I would totally recommend this place!

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.

It's not a park no cookout grills no benches , no play area , they say park but it just a river…read morefront and that's it .

The views you can get from the lookout points are phenomenal no matter where on the walk you stand…read more You can see both of the bridges as well as the downtown skyline which is beautiful at night. There is a little park so you can park your car and walk along the riverfront which is great.