Too late for eagles

On Saturday, Jane, Jan, and I went down to Starved Rock to look for eagles. We knew we were late. The eagles hang around in January and February, fishing in the open water by the lock and dam on the Illinois River. Still, it was such a bitter cold winter that we thought there might be a chance that the ice wasn’t yet gone.

Jan’s father loved the lock and dam. As a child she went on family trips there often. Thus, she could navigate our way past Utica, IL to the road along the river. We saw a bufflehead duck in the flooded lowlands next to the road. And geese. Canada geese everywhere. There was no ice, however. Not a good sign for eagle watching. Jan saw a large white bird which she thought was a swan. I wondered if it was a pelican. I never heard of pelicans in Illinois.

We pulled into the parking lot at the Lock and Dam Visitor Center. The Visitor Center had an upper and lower outside viewing area. We spent quite a while on the upper deck. There were no eagles. We were too late. The large white birds were, in fact, pelicans. I loved watching the pelicans in North Dakota. I nearly drove off the road more than once watching flocks of pelicans soar over the prairie potholes. There weren’t so many here, but we did see a few of them soaring.

Three pelicans

Several pelicans sat near the dam on something solid. I couldn’t see exactly what it was.

Pelicans hanging around by the dam

 

The lock and dam is right across from Starved Rock. I had never been to Starved Rock, so Jan explained the story. A tribe of Indians sought refuge from their enemies on the top of Starved Rock. They were trapped there and starved to death. I figured that they didn’t call it Starved Rock because there was a cheerful story behind it.

Starved Rock

We crossed the river and entered the park. It was after 11:00 now, and I was getting hungry. We drove up a hill to the lodge.

Ravine near the Lodge

 

Most of the Lodge was built by the CCC in 1933. “I always think of Louie when I hear about the CCC,” Jane said.

“He was in the CCC?” I asked. Louie was the ranger at Camp Pokonokah Hills, where all of us had worked for many years, although my time did not overlap Jan’s.

“Yes, he was.” Jane said.

“I didn’t know that either,” Jan said. That surprised me. I though Jan knew Louie at least as well as Jane did.



Lodge entrance

The Lodge was built of huge logs that were still round. It was a good, solid, enormous old building like the CCC could only build. They stand the test of time, those buildings.

We went inside. The gift shop was amazingly high end. There was a sale rack of women’s clothing and scarves that made no reference to the park at all. I saw some fleeces embroidered with the park name and some pine trees for $37, which was pretty reasonable. I didn’t buy one, though.

We got a table by the windows and had a lovely lunch. I had a grilled portabella sandwich with an enormous pile of home-made potato chips. Hooray! I love home-made potato chips. I made the waitress take my plate before I finished every last one.

Jan and Jane at lunch

After lunch, Jane and Jan waited on the outside deck of the lodge while I hiked the 0.3-mile trail to Starved Rock. I went down a lot of steps and came out at the Starved Rock Visitor Center. Damn it, I thought, I should have taken my phone and called to tell Jane to meet me down here. Meanwhile, Jan and Jane were thinking, “We should call Bev and tell her we will pick her up at the Visitor Center.”

Jane’s first call, for reasons we do not understand, went straight to voice mail. Meanwhile, I continued hiking across the flat part behind the Visitor Center and up the stairs to the top of Starved Rock. There I learned from a plaque that it was an Illini tribe that was trying to escape the wrath of Ottawa and Potawatomi. I had assumed from Jan’s story that those pesky European white folks had been involved, but the story (never verified) dated from pre-European settlement.

The view down the river from the top of Starved Rock

I took some pictures of the river from the overlook. Jan and Jane thought they spotted my red coat and tried to call again. This time, the phone rang—in my purse that was stowed in the front of Jane’s walker. I stopped at the Visitor Center to use the rest room, my logic being that it would be that much less weight to haul back up the 150 steps to the Lodge. I counted on the return trip.

The first of 150 steps to the Lodge. Steps continue to the right in the background.

One of numerous chain saw-carved sculptures

 

We stopped at the first of many ice cream parlors we came to in Utica. We got lucky. The shop had ice cream from the Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream Company of Madison, WI. I got a kick out of the disclaimer that was on the side of the building.



Sign outside the ice cream parlor

We asked the girl what the most popular flavors were. She said “This Just Got Serious,” which was salted caramel, cashews, and fudge ripple and “Yippee Skippee” which was peanut butter ice cream with salted caramel ripples (salted caramel is everywhere these days), brownie chunks, and chocolate covered pretzels. I had one scoop of “This Just Got Serious”; Jane had one scoop of “Yippee Skipee”, and Jan had one of each. It was most excellent ice cream.

It was a good day in spite of the absence of eagles.