Staycation Recap

In an effort to not let my staycation end without some fun, Friday we went to see The Secret Life of Pets. It was between that and Suicide Squad which we’d like to see eventually, but it was pretty crowded at the theater for a weekday and our movie was much fuller than it would have been on a Monday, so we decided to save Suicide Squad for then (although we didn’t end up going at all).

Saturday we were bored and decided to check out a forest preserve we’ve never been to called East Branch. As we were walking the path around the lake we surprised by all the people who had dogs with them off-leash. It was a little unsettling, and it wasn’t until we got back to the parking lot and were leaving that we noticed the verbiage at the bottom of the sign that said “off-leash dog area”. Duh! We headed to a different East Branch entrance but that path just curved back to the street toward a business park which was disappointing, so we decided to scope out Armstrong Park as a future spot to go rollerblading since based off memory it has a nice flat paved path. We arrived to a very deserted park which was eerie. It was extremely overcast and threatening to rain, but it was still strange how deserted it was. We walked around a bit, including around the reservoir, when it started to drizzle so we left before exploring one of the lakes that had a bunch of water fowl in it. I also missed seeing any Purple Martins thanks to the rain.

From Armstrong Park’s website:

The colony of Purple Martins at Armstrong Park is the largest established colony of the Purple Martins in the country. The colony is housed in several apartment-style houses or “castles” on Balog Island, located on the west side of the park. The Martins have been returning to Balog Island since the mid 1970’s. Their presence and their unique needs have brought about a partnership between the Purple Martin Society and the Carol Stream Park District.

Now that I’ve linked to the park’s website it’s pretty apparent why it was so deserted on a Saturday afternoon – the park had just reopened after some extensive construction. It looks really nice, too, which further contributed to our confusion over no one being around.

ArmstrongPark

Sunday morning we visited Northside Park in Wheaton for a nice walk, and then went to Cosley Zoo. I only brought my small camera so none of the pictures I took came out very good. I did get a nice video of a Great Blue Heron fishing, at the park, however.

Monday we visited Morton Arboretum with the intention to hike one of their many trails but with the overcast weather the mosquitoes were out in droves and we didn’t want to get eaten alive, so we drove around the grounds instead. We came across two fawns in a field and stopped to watch them for awhile with our binoculars. When they decided to sit down in the field you almost couldn’t see them at all, except for a twitch of their ears. It was really cute but of course that was the one time I decided I didn’t want to lug my camera along so I didn’t get any photos. After walking a couple of loops around Meadow Lake (surprisingly mosquito free) we left and made a stop at Willowbrook Wildlife Center. I love checking out all the birds they have, plus the pet rats. I only saw one (a dark female) this visit.

We also decided to visit the Wheaton Library where we made a quick stop at their cafe just to see what it was all about (very nice!) and then read some magazines before visiting nearby Memorial Park where we had a picnic lunch and watched people come and go looking for Pokemon. It was nice, but I was a little sad because I do miss the days where we’d go looking for a new place to eat lunch. With our limited income and after spending so much on Indiana Beach I don’t want to spend any more money than we have to, so it sucks having to always find free things, or stuff that we’ve already paid for like the zoo and arboretum, both memberships of which are due to expire this month and we’re contemplating not renewing right away since money is tight.

It’s kinda sad when you get excited about buying a new scale and some socks from Walmart.