Trip Stop 6: Wildlife Prairie State Park (Hanna City, Illinois)

Our dear friends, Dave and Elizabeth, who used to live in Texas but now live in Illinois gave us a GREAT idea to go to the Wildlife Prairie State Park on our trip. We were hoping to have the chance to meet them there, too. (They have boys that are almost exactly our boys' ages.) Though it didn't work to see them on this trip, we were able to still check out the state park on our own. It was really fun!

We had reserved Caboose #4 as our "cabin" for spending the night. Ian, still as much of a train lover as ever, thought it was AMAZING that we got to stay inside a caboose!

After getting all settled in the caboose, we started to explore the park -- a zoo of sorts for native Illinois wildlife. We explored the "nursery," where they were keeping a few hurt animals, like a woodchuck.

We pretended to be bison.

We walked through the reptile & amphibian exhibit. Here Ian is looking for the frog, I think.

Ryan thought the gigantic turtle was pretty fun!

Ian had never seen snake skin before and was very interested in learning about it.

The display here encouraged visitors to "scratch" a glove off their hand using just the rock to imitate what a snake might feel like when shedding its skin.

We headed down the road to a super cute restaurant called the Jubilee Cafe and then explored some more before bedtime. Ian enjoyed using the timbers as balance beams.

Ryan was obsessed with the pea gravel and kept trying to eat it.

We went as a family on "caboose trail" as a before-bed hike. (Good suggestion, Gottschalks!)

We were amazed to see this elk about 30 yards away from us! Here's the close up.

You can just barely see the horns behind the fence.

Ryan enjoyed walking for the first part of the hike and then preferred to be carried. :)

We got Ian back out of bed when we noticed all of the fireflies. (Kim has fond memories of catching fireflies on her family's annual summer trips to the Midwest.) Ian used a bug net to try to catch the fireflies while Kim and Matt just used our hands.

Ian was fascinated with the three or four bugs that we caught but didn't mind releasing them before we came back into the caboose for the night.

Early the next morning, while Daddy and Ian slept, Momma and Ryan did some exploring. Ryan loved finding birds, making the bird sign, and then chasing after them. :)

Here Ian shows off where he got to sleep ... the TOP bunk! Ian had never slept up so high before (and probably wouldn't have gotten to this time either if there hadn't been the trusty bedrail. Ha!)

We hid a note for our friends who were going to stay in Caboose #4 the next week. Apparently, the cleaning crew is pretty thorough. The note wasn't there anymore by the time the Gottschalks arrived.

Then, we got to explore some parts of the park that had been closed the night before. One of Ian's favorite places was the visitor center that had a kid exploration area. He loved pretending to be the vet, typing in the computer, looking at the x-ray films,

and checking out the large assortment of native Illinois stuffed animals.

Ryan took his morning nap while we looked at some outside exhibits.

Ian enjoyed crossing some bridges and looking for the animals in their natural habitats,

like this sleepy cougar.

Ryan woke up when we got to the "farm" part of the park.

Both boys had fun trying to pet the pigs ...

... as well as watching them take mud baths!

Then, we looked at the raptor exhibit.

We got there just in time for feeding. Here, the docent shows Ian the dead, gutted rats she planned to feed the eagles. (Feeding time was a non-event as the eagles wait until after everyone's got to actually eat.)

We ended our trip by heading to the train area. We took turns posing as conductors,




and then we played in the train "museum" (basically just lots of fun trains and vehicles)

before we got on the train.

We ended up being the only passengers on the train! The boys seemed to enjoy the 30-minute ride. We saw a deer but mainly just enjoyed the ride. The tunnel was a highlight of the train ride for Ian.

At the end of the ride, Ian got to climb on the engine.


If any of you are ever in the Peoria area, we'd highly recommend the Wildlife Prairie State Park. It wasn't busy at all and was very kid-friendly and educational! Perfect for preschool and early grade school kids!