Gorgeous, spacious park!…read more Picnic benches galore Lovely benches Trees of all sorts New art installation- feels like you're under water! This park is always full with families and people walking dogs! I've only ever seen one questionable person smoking a cigarette scrolling her phone on a park bench. And by questionable, I mean completely unaware of the beauty of Wilder Park! The new art installation is very cool to stand under or heck even lay on the ground like I did!

Beautiful park with festival this weekend. The umbrellas are…read moreso vibrant and very cool. It didn't rain today so we couldn't see them in action. Great exhibit. The ones downtown made more sense.

Dunne Park is a hidden gem in Rosemont, IL. Tucked away between the highway and Higgins Rd, behind…read moreMcDonalds and the Westin on River Road, is the small but mighty Dunne Park. Small, because it is not as big as some of the other outdoor public spaces in the area, but mighty for everything it has to offer. Dunne provides a much needed respite from the very busy O'Hare area. It has a walking path, a playlot for kids, a gazebo, fountain, a man made but lovely waterfall, ducks, swans, dragonflies and all the good stuff that makes an urban park. It is clean and meticulously landscaped. It can take a minute to tune out the highway and airplane noise, but once you do, you will hear the sounds of tall grass blowing in the breeze, birds chattering and the waterfall. Great place to take a walk, read a book or sit and have lunch outdoors. Limited 2 hour parking, but I have always found a spot even at peak times.

They have redone the entire park. The paths are beautiful couple new playgrounds along the way just…read morea nice place to take a long walk or sit and relax on a wonderful day

This place is one of the nicest parks / nature centers in Addison. It has bike and walking trails,…read morebridges, ponds, benches. It also has a covered shelter with picnic tables and everything is in pretty nice shape. Not the biggest place but what it lacks in size it sure makes up in beauty. The only things that keeps it from five stars are that there are not enough trash receptacles and I spotted some litter here and there. On a side note, in my opinion, people that litter should be beaten with a large stick! However, overall this is just a beautiful, peaceful spot. I bike through here almost everyday and always enjoy it. If you are in the area it is worth checking out.

The Hub at Baron Park reeled me in with a Groupon deal and I'm totally sunk for them now. They have…read morea normal deal of $14 for lunch, batting cages tokens and miniature golf which is a pretty darn good meal in my opinion. My Groupon deal was $14 for all of that for two people - 12 batting cage tokens (12 pitches with each token) which is normally $1 per token or $5 for 6 tokens. 2 hot dog combos with chips and drinks normally $4 each, and two rounds of mini golf which is a $10 value. My friend and I went on Tuesday when it was 100 degrees out so we were really feeling the heat but I had so much fun! It was fantastic to have it all right there in one place plus their concession stand had a decent variety of drink choices and a few flavors of Dippin Dots. When we were ready for our hot dogs, we sat in a nice shaded picnic table area. All the young guys & girls working at the Hub were helpful & friendly and didn't have the lackadaisical attitude sometimes displayed by teens in their summer jobs. The Hub has a spray pool but we didn't go in there - it was filled with kids & their weekday babysitters. The batting cages were great - 4 cages with different speeds of softball & baseball pitches. Please note, I own at softball. :) The mini golf was a fun time but not the fanciest mini golf I've ever been to, pretty plain. I think they could amp it up just a tad to make for a bit more fun! All in all, I had a great time at The Hub and wouldn't hesitate to go back!

Why has no one ever mentioned this place to me?!? Thank goodness I found a Groupon. There is a…read moreplayground, a spray park, batting cages, mini-golf, and a concession stand. You could spend an entire day here! The family went on a Sunday to use our Groupon. We did the mini-golf which was just fine. The course doesn't really have a theme but there are lots of butterfly plants and lots of butterflies. We also visited the batting cages. My five year old had a blast. It seems you can also rent out the space for a picnic. There was a large church congregation having a picnic that day. They also have sports fields for football and whatnot.

What a gorgeous option for outdoor space, walking trails, and picnicking!…read more After a large lunch nearby, we decided to stop by the Catherine Chevalier Woods for a quick walk since it appeared to have walking trails. With a bit of hesitancy since there was not a lot of information online, we stopped by and were immensely pleased. First of all, there was a plethora of parking spaces, making this a very accessible location! Second, we were immediately inundated with wild life, from lounging and munching white-tail deer to chipping chipmunks to singing birds, we no longer felt like we were in the midst of the city! Third, there were many spaces for picnicking and gatherings of people! What a great place to come for an outdoor gathering! Finally, we discovered miles of maintained and gorgeous walking trails. People were sparsely populated on the trails providing a beautiful and remote hiking experience! If you are in the area and are in the need of a good walk in remote outdoor space, head over to Catherine Chevalier's Woods!

Really awesome place. Deer within feet of the paths. Great spacious areas for picnics or parties…read more There were numerous large parties going on while I visited. The paths are great for biking although I recommend you have an off-road or hybrid bicycle.

I love nature. Being outdoors makes me happy. Being outdoors at home is awesome. That said,…read morealthough I think I have a sweet patio set-up at my apartment (does anyone want to give me a hammock to make it even better?), it's incredibly tiny and faces the parking lot -- so there's not a lot of 'nature' in my 'backyard.' Because of this, I seek out nature centers, forest preserves, and farms quite often. I was excited to find this place not too far from where I live. It also has a couple geocaches (http://www.geocaching.com/) scattered about, so I was eager to bring my husband here a couple times. This little nature center is tucked away in a lovely Itasca neighborhood. There is a small parking lot, a barn-like building with an greenhouse/workshed (the actual center), a little shelter with picnic tables, a bridge leading to a couple paths around the grounds, and some prairie. Trees surround the grounds and a little creek runs through. It's cute. It's small. It isn't really much. The walking path is quick. From looking at maps, it seems the grounds are bigger with three different trails, but we only found one short, paved trail with a couple paths leading towards the aquatic center and neighborhood. Maybe we didn't look hard enough. At one point we thought we found more trails but ended up wandering through a private yard before realizing our mistake. Weird. I can't say much for what's inside the center. Both times I came (weekends, during hours), the building was closed. There were a couple cage areas outside for birds or other creatures, but I never saw any. In fact, I didn't see any animals here -- just the occasional dragonfly or bumblebee. Oh, and there were some lovely ducks on the little creek that runs through the property. Our visits were very short. And we picked up a geocache, which is always good. I like places with quiet areas or long walking paths or animals to look at. This place didn't really have any of those. It's a nice little addition to the neighborhood, and maybe a good place to take your kids for a bike ride, but just isn't for me.

I used to visit this nature center all the time when I lived in Elk Grove Village. It's small, but…read morevery cute. There's a turtle tank inside and birds of prey, like owls and kestrels, outside. There's a nice path where you'll come across deer, turtles, and frogs, not to mention the usual birds and squirrels. It's also a great place to see different insects like dragonflies. Oh and keep a look out for the box elders! One year they were carpeting the ground.

We had a wonderful time. The venue suited all our needs…read more Inside seating for 60 guests, extra space for the buffet, covered pavilion for socializing, and the playground right behind that and so close for the kids. Showing pictures to people - they thought it was beautiful. Your guy was very nice. My daughter and her husband will have great memories. Our guests as well. I recommend it to everyone. Thank you. Pamela Varchetto

Absolutely beautiful!!! I needed a place to relax after my…read moreflight into Chicago. While I waited on my daughter's flight to come in (about 5 hours later). Next trip I'll be planning a picnic either when we land or before we fly out. What a beautiful and well maintained space. Filled with so much information and respect for America's heroes. Can't wait to come back!

Built in 1975, this memorial honors the men and women of Des Plaines who have served our country in…read morethe armed forces from the Civil War to the present day. This was a collaborative effort by the city, local VFW and local American Legion Post. The pavilion hosts numerous events including the annual Memorial Day services, the Live at the Lake summer entertainment series, Concert Band performances, the summer Movies in the Park and the annual Fall Fest. They were selling Christmas tress while I was there. The restroom facilities are also co-located here. The Pavilion is well maintained and consist of a bandshell and a walk way that has a plaque detailing every war from the Civil War to the Afghanistan War. Inside the bandshell you will find plaques with the name of the Des Plaines veteran that lost their life and which war it occurred. The center of the bandshell has the seal of all 5 of the US armed forces. There is a flag pole and a brick walkway leading from the bandshell and ends in a small circle. Because the pavilion provides somewhat protection from the elements, homeless people seek refuge here. This is a small, but fitting tribute to the honorable veterans that made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

Great little park in the middle of the neighborhood. Good for little children and has a nice path…read moreto walk. They keep it clean and keep the dog bag dispensers stocked.

Cutest farm with chickens and lambs and a historic farm house! My 3 year old loved it!read more

Definitely a fun place to check out and to bring kids if you've got them. The house is really neat…read moreto check out. They've got some artifacts inside. I don't think it's original to the house since they let you touch stuff which is pretty cool. I feel it gave my young son a different experience than you typically get a historical houses for this reason and because you could walk around by yourself. The animals outside were a huge hit, particularly the chickens and the pigs. Another cool thing is you can buy farm fresh eggs in the gift shop (which we did). We watched the eggs get collected and they were delicious the next morning for breakfast. They also had a variety of meat for sale from the farm, but we didn't try that this time.