Illinois sucks. :(

[Teknoid]

Does anybody know of any good weekend camping/hiking places in Illinois or one of the surrounding states?

Starved Rock state park is pretty good

http://www.starvedrockstatepark.org/index.cfm?pageID=155

The Twin Lakes area of Wisconsin is nice, and I had friends that went to Devil's Lake all the time and liked it.

http://www.devilslakewisconsin.com/



And yes, IL bites. I went to Great Lakes too, and lived in IL for 17 years before escaping (due to a job).

[El Tejon]

Wait a tick.  Maryland and Virginia are southern states, not East Coast.

Yes, Illinois sucks (El Tejon, inmate, Chicago, '92-'95), but shortly it will not suck as badly after the 7th Circuit gets done with it.

State Parks?  May want to check out the Indiana Dunes.  Not sure what you want to do, but the Dunes are always relaxing.  If you sail, may want to rent a sail boat out of Beverly Shores or Town of Pines.  I enjoyed learning to sail up there as a kid.

Indiana Dunes=>http://www.friendsofindianadunes.org/

[lee n. field]

Here's something you might find a little unusual.



A castle built in the middle of the great depression (the one in the '30s, not the one coming up) as a weekend retreat for a rich Chicago family.  A couple hours travel from Daleygrad.

Disclaimer -- it's been decades since I last visited.  Don't know what they've done with it lately, other than it's still there.  And, being associated with the PCUSA, there's likely to be evidence of obnoixous lefty influence here and there.

(WTF do they have a labyrinth for???  Never mind.....)