Vacation Report

A little over a week ago, my parents-in-law were kind enough to haul down their camping trailer to the Forrest W. "Bo" Woods campground in Sullivan, Illinois (near Lake Shelbyville) and then left it there for us while they helped a friend of the family move.  Yes, you should be jealous; they are, in fact, awesome and generous in-laws.  (I would share, but they're rapidly running out of sons to marry off...)  We stayed for a week with most of the comforts of home--kitchenette, bed, tv, AC--enjoying the peace and privacy of a mostly empty campground.

Vacation highlights:

• Douglas-Hart Nature Center.  We stumbled onto this hidden gem on our way to the movie theater in Mattoon.  They have a gorgeous forbs-only prairie area at the entrance, a large nature center with classroom and bird viewing area, woodland hiking trails, a wetland, and another larger prairie area at the rear.
• Reading, reading, reading!  I don't think I've read this much in years.  Finished Three to Get Deadly (book 3 of the Stephanie Plum series), The Girl Who Chased the Moon (Isn't that a lovely cover?  I've never been able to get over choosing books by their cover.), Room: A Novel,...and a romance novel I won't share because I have RRS (Romance Reader's Shame).
• The newly constructed Lake Shelbyville Visitors Center.  Having opened earlier this year, the new visitors center features an interactive learning center, a beautiful painted prairie mural, outdoor balcony with a lake view, and most importantly, Pam the super-friendly park ranger.  We ran into Pam while I was snooping around looking at the rain garden plants they'd used in the drainage ditch.  I told her about my interest in native IL plants and complemented her on their usage, and she promptly walked us inside and dug up the landscaping plans so I could look at the complete species list.  Pretty sweet!
• Joe's Pizza in Shelbyville.  Home of the world's best meatballs.  Seriously cheesy and tender and dee-lish.
• The Book Nook in Mattoon.  Home of the craziest, conspiracy-theorist bookstore owner I ever met.  I can't say I enjoyed his company all that much, but he had a pretty decent selection of used books.  My husband is physically incapable of backing down from political debate, and so we spent longer than I liked talking to the guy.  I ended up walking away from him in frustration before they finished, but now I have a crazy bookstore owner story to tell, I guess.
• My Garden greenhouse in Sullivan.  I can't go to Sullivan and not stop there.  It's a tiny little greenhouse, but I always find something unique there.  Last year's find was candy-corn vine.  This year, a deep red yarrow to go next to the blanket flower I planted a few weeks ago.
• Shut 'em Uppers.  Akin to the s'more, the shut 'em upper consists of one roasted marshmallow and a caramel sandwiched and smooshed between two saltine crackers.  We found the ideal method for cooking them was to place the marshmallow and caramel on the roasting skewer at the same time.  This allowed time for the caramel to soften enough for proper smooshing.  (Credit to my friend, Janet Tulley, for sharing the recipe.  She has changed our camping dessert tradition forever.)