Starved Rock

One of the adventures we undertook while Troy and family were here was a trip up to Utica, IL to visit Starved Rock State Park. I don't think I have ever been there before and it was a beautiful area. Steve had to be down at school, so I took the kids myself. We had quite the group- 2 grandparents, 3 parents, and 9 kids ranging 4 mos (Ryan and Matthew are just 3 weeks apart) to 8 years. We had a great picnic then began our hike. We started with Starved Rock. The story of how the area got its name is quite tragic:

Starved Rock State Park derives its name from a Native American legend of injustice and retribution. In the 1760s, Pontiac, chief of the Ottawa tribe upriver from here, was slain by an Illiniwek while attending a tribal council in southern Illinois. According to the legend, during one of the battles that subsequently occurred to avenge his killing, a band of Illiniwek, under attack by a band of Potawatomi (allies of the Ottawa), sought refuge atop a 125-foot sandstone butte. The Ottawa and Potawatomi surrounded the bluff and held their ground until the hapless Illiniwek died of starvation- giving rise to the name “Starved Rock.”

The kids did awesome. We were out hiking about 2 1/2 hours. Ryan and Matthew were in front carriers, Troy took turns with Sarah, Amelia and Katie in the backpack carrier and the rest hiked the whole way. Katie ended up falling asleep in it and slept through the end of the hike. But the thing that was too funny was my girls. I promise- they play outside all the time and I even let them get dirty if they want to. You'd never know it. Katie and Sarah freaked out with every little bug (or black speck that could be a bug) that they encountered. And we're in Illinois- there are lots of bugs. As we were hiking along Mom and I were trying to encourage Katie to keep going and enjoy herself. Her response? "But it's so dirty!" Then I saw a caterpillar fall out of a tree. It was a cute one, reminiscent of the chubby green caterpillar in "Bugs Life". I had Sarah come take a look. She leaned over, took a nice long look at it... and commenced in one rather quick move of her foot... to squish the poor thing. Ah yes- my nature-loving children.