Category: travel

Young people from Illinois are spending less and less time outdoors. As a parent, you have a profound impact on the lives of your children. Introducing your child to the outdoors early and often. You may enhance some environmental knowledge they already have. You might even instill a passion for the outdoors that will stay with them throughout their lifetime. A solid plan is the key first step. A little planning goes a long way towards a successful and safe trip. An outdoor field trip is a great adventure for all involved.

Illinois is loaded with parks, natural areas, conservation areas, recreation areas, and fish and wildlife areas. These areas have information on camping, hiking, biking, fishing, hunting, state park lodges and resorts, interpretive programs and many great ideas for places to visit and things to do in Illinois. I like www.dnr.state.il.us

For instance, did you know that Illinois has adopted may natural elements here a few:
Illinois State Flower – violet
Illinois State Soil – drummer silty clay loam
Illinois State Dance – square dancing
Illinois State Snack – popcorn
Illinois State Fruit – goldrush apple

Going outside in In Illinois is easy, here are some places to go someday:

1) Truitt Hoff Nature Preserve
DuPage County
To reach it from Roosevelt Road (Route 38), turn north on Kress Road, then east on Downs Drive, then north on Industruial Drive.
Truitt-Hoff Nature Preserve is located in the Morainal Section of the Northeastern Illinois Morainal Natural Division. 120.3 acres in size, the preserve encompasses high-quality mesic prairie, wet-mesic prairie, freshwater marsh, mesic silt loam savanna, and wet prairie natural communities.

Learning Spanish is a great idea. With Spanish being such a largely spoken language, any efforts to learn it will be paid off.

The origin of Spanish is the northern part of Spain. Later it expanded to the Kingdom of Castile. Spanish is also known as Castilian. The spreading out of the Spanish Empire led the language to spread to Africa, Americas and the Asia Pacific. This expansion took place from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century. One of the official languages of the United Nations, the European Union, the Organization of American States, the Organization of Ibero-American States, the African Union, the Union of South American Union, the Latin Union, the Caricom and the North American Free Trade Agreement is Spanish. Spanish is one of the official languages, if not the official language, in the countries of Chile, Bolivia, Argentina, Cuba, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela as also Puerto Rico, the U.S, Equatorial Guinea besides Spain.

There are many reasons why Spanish is becoming more popular. Economic activities that are linked to Spanish speaking countries are major reasons. This includes trade and tourism. Increase in the popularity of Spanish is visible in Portugal, Brazil, Italy, France and the United States.

Parents of teenagers can find a summer camp that suits the needs of their child. Wisconsin Camps like Swift Nature Camp Kids Summer Camp offer coed teen summer camp programs that are just for teenaged campers up to 15 years of age. A Counselor in Training Program offers a transition for teens aged 16 and 17. As a parallel to its summer camp programs for pre-teens, Swift Nature Camp offers a full range of camp activities of interest to teens. Hiking, climbing, ceramics, horseback riding, tennis, kayaking, and whitewater rafting are perennially popular programs among teen campers.

Teens Summer Camp provides teens a special opportunity to make friends in a relaxed and fun-filled environment, build self-esteem and independence, and meet the challenge of new physical and creative activities. Most teens want to do things for themselves and are bored by even the thought of a “normal” camp. Swift Nature Camp has created the Adventure Camp program, loaded with opportunities for cabin mates to leave camp and go out into the big open wild. There are opportunities to take trips to the Apostle Islands, go to the International Wolf Center, or find the way to the Mississippi River.

Swift Nature Camp offers a small, intimate, friendly and non-competetive environment for all of its teen summer camp programs out of the belief that all children, especially those in their teenage years, enjoy this break from the competition of the “real world”. A positive, encouraging environment that fosters acceptance brings a welcome balance to young lives. First time campers quickly and smoothly fit in and feel at home in such an atmosphere.