Our Illinois road trip to Springfield
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Jackson could climb Monks Mound at Cahokia Mounds near Collinsville, from which they “could see the St. Louis Arch,” Jackson told me excitedly, returning to our air-conditioned van where I waited for my pioneering boys.

On our way back to Chicago, we stopped at the restored pioneer village of New Salem. Having arrived after 5 p.m., we took our own tour by reading the informational plaques. Even without rangers to guide us, we found our way among blooming wildflowers, a grazing horse and log cabins, as Illinois history came to life for us.

So what was best about traveling just outside our own backyard? That our 9- year-old son explained the landmarks and their history to us grownups, instead of the other way around. And that without exception the folks we met along our journey through central Illinois were helpful, unhurried and welcoming.

Arlyn Miller is a writer and teaches poetry to young people and their teachers and leaders through Poetic License, Inc. She lives in Glencoe with her humorous husband and three inspiring children. She lived in central Illinois for three years while attending law school at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana.