Funk’s Grove is a sweet spot, especially for those looking for some tall perspective in these pandemic times. Just off I-55 some 15 miles south of Bloomington, the place offers pure maple sirup, a museum full of minerals and towering trees looming over an outdoor chapel. Those trees and their ancestors have been around through […]
Mary Bohlen
Mary Bohlen is a retired journalism professor who is a regular contributor to Illinois Times. She specializes in writing about interesting places in Illinois and nearby states worthy of day or weekend trips.
Posted inSpecial Issues
Getting high in Illinois
Visitors from mountainous regions often marvel at the flat ness of our prairie state, but they need to look up. Illinois is full of things that soar into the sky, and a trip around the state will yield plenty of sore necks, from tall buildings to natural wonders to quirky structures. Here are some examples […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Pandemic pastimes
If you wonder what many of us are doing during the pandemic and plan to continue for the upcoming holidays, look no further than the alphabet’s second letter. Bonding, booking, baking, birding and biking are popular ways to cope with the stress of the virus and stay-at-home directives. Bonding Ryan Leake, owner of Little Lincoln’s […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
Exploring Illinois
Dottie Troop visits a lot of post offices but not to mail letters. Instead, she likes to gaze at Depression-era murals, the work of government-sponsored artists. More than 70 municipalities in Illinois have some form of post office art and, while Troop hasn’t visited all of them, she has made a dent in the list. […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
Much to do in Monticello
Here’s a trivia question for you: What do fu dogs, vintage trains and gas-fired glass have in common? If you have been to the Monticello area, you know the answer. The three are highlights of a day trip 65 miles east of Springfield on I-72. “Monticello is an easy drive and has a little something […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
Illinois escapes
North. East. West. South. Any direction you head in Illinois, the NEWS is good for salvaging some summer adventures. As the state awakens from its pandemic hibernation, tourism sites are opening and scheduling events for August and September – with precautions and caveats, of course – creating opportunities for daytrips and weekend destinations. As Carol […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
Explore outdoors at state parks
If you have a raging case of cabin fever, you can break it with a visit to state parks in central Illinois. A short drive to Clinton Lake, Sangchris Lake or Jim Edgar Panther Creek State Fish and Wildlife Area may be just the cure. All three offer wildlife, water and woods, with plenty of […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
Putting the pieces together
Springfieldians Doug Mayol and Amy Haugh have spent part of their pandemic lives putting pieces together. Both are fans of jigsaw puzzles, which have spiked in popularity during stay-at-home orders this spring Mayol says online and curbside sales of puzzles helped his downtown business, The Cardologist, stay afloat until he could open the doors May […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
Find comedy and history in Vincennes
Twenty-three years after his passing, comedian Red Skelton is still trying to Make America Funny Again. At least that is what the folks at the Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy in Vincennes, Indiana, hope. Through May 3, the museum is exhibiting Skelton memorabilia from his relationship with presidents from Franklin Roosevelt to Bill Clinton, […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
Take a trip to historic Quincy
Try walking out of Underbrink’s Bakery in Quincy without a box full of mouth-watering cookies, scrumptious pastries, freshly baked bread and iced angel food cupcakes – I dare you! If you can resist those goodies, you have more willpower than most. Underbrink’s, just named the top bakery in Illinois by Taste of Home, has opened […]
Posted inOpinion
Remember the real victims of lynchings
It was the panels. Row after row after row of hanging panels, shaped to resemble coffins, with name after name after name inscribed. That was where my mind went last week after Donald Trump insensitively claimed he was the victim of a lynching by impeachment investigators. Several critics suggested Trump should visit the National Memorial […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
Enjoy an unusual boat ride in LaSalle
Larry may be semi-retired, but he still has to pull a boatload of tourists along the Illinois and Michigan Canal nearly daily from April to October. He doesn’t seem to mind. The 26-year-old mule formerly worked much harder in the fields of Amish farmers, says boat captain Jake Krancic. “This is a vacation for him.” […]
