Very underwhelming. If you do not live nearby, it's not worth the drive. Took only about 5 to 10…read moreminutes to walk through the garden. The positives are that garden and parking is free.

The Villa Museum was closed when we visited early April. However the grounds is still a pleasant…read moresite to walk around.

Pretty view while I ate lunch. The sound of the water was relaxing and watching the birds and ducks…read morewas nice

Lots of space to run around! Great place to walk/run, ride bikes/scooters, go fishing, climb on the…read moreplayground, enjoy a cookout!

This narrow path is surrounded by lush trees & is ideal for biking and walking. There are also…read moreseveral picnic spots along the way. Parking is easy to find, & this forest preserve is located between Batavia & North Aurora. The gate is locked at the end of the day.

Beautiful at this time of year because it is full of goldenrod and cup plants. Many American…read moreGoldfinch hanging out. Bike trail along the river is popular for families which is nice to see. Several fishermen but surprised they brought boom boxes to such a lovely nature spot. Nice place for picnics and has bathroom facilities.

We looved the plenty of parking, shaded walk to the cave, and playing near the lake…read more We didn't get to see the animals so will have to come back! There are a lot of bikers in the pathway to the cave so I highly recommend holding your kids hands and staying to one lane because we almost had an incident. The cave is small but definitely something unique. The lake is dirty but cool that you can be so close to both! Would definitely come back here and explore more.

Recently came here to enjoy a walk with my wife. We are happy to see that there is plenty of…read moreparking here. I enjoy that there is a main trail and there are Spurs that create their own small Trail as well. This place has plenty of Scenic views to observe. Please be cautious that there are many bikers along the main trail, I do feel like there are not enough public restrooms so you may have to walk all the way down to the south side of the trail to find a porta potty but thankfully they were brand new and squeaky clean. Plenty of people can be observed kayaking, and just having fun Outdoors. I personally enjoyed coming here and having fun on a fully paved path. Solid recommendation!

It almost seemed like a dream. From the very start, cruising through a large patch of lotus plants,…read moreit felt otherworldly. Very peaceful, going at our own pace. Enjoyed the cliff walls of Buffalo Rock and the shallow waters of some side passages. We paddled for 5 hours, covering 8 miles total. After we were done we headed to charming, historic downtown Utica for drinks and dinner at Skoog's Pub & Grill in North Utica, IL. I was impressed with the logistics and operation of the kayaking experience, from the guide* to the equipment and online booking process. *Full disclosure, the guide was my twin sister, but I am being objective...seriously.

I have mixed feelings about this kayak tour company. I signed up because although I'm a very…read morecapable and seasoned kayaker, I didn't know this river and I like learning about the ecosystems and local wildlife. For this reason I like having tour guides. Going up the river was fine. Coming back went a bit sour. I went as slow as I was capable of paddling or not paddling, but apparently it was too fast for the preference of our tour guide. I was barely touching the water with my paddle. I have no idea how I could have gone any slower. It wasn't humanly possible. After shouting at me several times, he took to chasing me down and ramming my kayak so it'd spin in circles. Would I rent a kayak here and kayak the river alone? Yes. Would I personally use a tour guide here? No I wouldn't. Would I recommend? If you're a family with little kids or a drunk sorority house, absolutely. If you know what you're doing, just go it alone. You'll probably enjoy it more. Edit: If the tour guide had concerns for group safety, he could have said so. Although ramming my kayak with his seems to be a bit of a conflict as far as my safety goes. It was an unprofessional approach when he could have simply explained why he needed me to slow down

Some friends and I were in the Rockford area looking to rent skiis. Unfortunately, we arrived too…read morelate in the day to rent. I appreciated that the staff was honest with us instead of taking the sale and having us be unhappy. It also helped that they had the most adorable dog in the world. Stop by!

If you are in the Rockford area and looking to buy or rent some adventure gear, this is the best…read moreplace around! Some friends and I recently took a trip to stay at a cabin in the Rockford area. We had planned to go cross country skiing and found that Rocktown Adventures rents xc skis in the winter. What we had not planned on was how slow we would be at finally leaving the cabin to go pick up the skis. Since they unfortunately don't do reservations for the skis, we called ahead to make sure they had some before heading over. By the time we got there it was already around 3 pm and unbeknownst to us, they close at 5 pm on the weekends. We got started with the rental process only to realize we would have very little time to ski before sundown. After explaining a couple options we had for still getting out on the skis, the staff member ultimately told us it probably wouldn't be worth our money given our time constraints. Instead of staying quiet, taking our money, and letting us have a very short ski trip, the staff member suggested the option that was best for us! He then told us that if we were ever back in town to just give them a call and if they had skis available he'd have them ready for us when we arrived. Not only is the staff knowledgeable and caring but they have an incredible selection of gear. We didn't end up spending any money there, and that is exactly why this was a five star experience!

This location has a decent selection. They have some clearance sections and signage is clear. I…read morewas helped quickly in the shoe section.

I've spent a lot of money on my daughters there the last 3yrs. Softball, soccer, swimming and…read moregeneral apparel, and the last few times I've been in there the last couple of weeks, I am ASTOUNDED how bad the service has gotten. The kids that work there are rude and have no concept of how to communicate. On that note, I can't believe, as a 46yr old, I'm gonna say this, but having robots helping me, and they would actually help me, is going to be a HUGE IMPROVEMENT than what is currently in place.