A perfectly lovely weekend

Some weekends outshine others.  Most of our weekends are good weekends; maybe we have a picked a super awesome spot for date night or get tons accomplished or something that makes it an excellent weekend.  But every now and then there is a weekend like this past one that is just fantastic... the kind where all four of us are completely tuckered out on Sunday night.

Friday kicked off the weekend with gorgeous sunlight, blossoms on the trees, and a crispy roasted chicken for dinner...

And then Saturday brought a neighborhood walk and computer time followed by a perfectly lovely visit to the Art Institute.  There was a photography exhibit for work from the early 1930's which I am so glad to have made time to see.  Dan's patience in waiting for spaces to clear out for just the shot I was hoping to get was rewarded with a trip to Macy's for new shirts.

And Sunday was the day of activity.  We got our behinds out on the lakefront path for an eight mile run and then made a completely delicious quiche (filled with bacon, leeks and gruyere cheese) before heading out to the Palos Sag Valley Forest Preserve for a three hour hike. 

A little bit of culture.  A little bit of nature.  A lot of activity with just enough relaxing time.  It was just what we needed to shake off the cabin fever from this slow start to spring.

31st Street Beach Hike

Tempted by the glimpses of sunshine, we decided to pull out the 60 Hikes book and see what we could find that was close in and that we had yet to explore.  We found ourselves headed down to the south side and to the 31st Street Beach for a little stroll along the lake.

We were promptly reminded that just because the sun is shining doesn't mean that it is warm out... Dan's ears are still pink.  But all four of us loved being out in the fresh air.

60 Hikes: 3 Down

Our second hike out of the 60 hikes book was Pratt's Wayne Loop a couple of weekends ago. It was an odd fall day at 80+ degrees. The warm weather has kept the leaves from changing too quickly around here but there was some color to be seen. This hike was a series of ponds... and unfortunately still had mosquitoes.

This past weekend we almost let the weekend slip away without a hike but we managed to sneak one in at the last minute. We did the Herrick Lake Forest Preserve path which is part of the listing for Danada Forest Preserve... we have done both before but now we can officially cross them off the list of this series! Hopefully I can drag Dan away from his computer and I can fit in a break from studying so we can get another hike in this weekend!

60 Hikes: Fullersburg Woods Forest Preserve

One of the things that we love to do is to go for hikes. We have been known to complain about how flat Chicago is and that while city walks are wonderful we miss woodsy hiking. So when I saw the book 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles at the book store over lunch I had to get it.

We are trying to get as many of them in as we can before it is too cold. And I was skeptical that the hikes would just be flat prairie preserve trails... it does look like that is what most of them are... But we will take what we can get as it is a nice, free activity that gives all 4 of us a bit of exercise.

We did the first hike out the book today. It was a loop at the Fullersburg Woods Forest Preserve in Oak Brook. It was a gorgeous autumn day and the leaves are just changing. The dogs were incredibly excited- they love hiking and exploring. We came across a few hills and dam; Eddie was super curious about the dam and Shelby wanted no part of it. We were all just happy to be out of the house and enjoyed the scenery...

Next up is the Chain O' Lakes hike...