An Evansville, Indiana, local recommended we try the Turoni’s pizza, voted best in Indiana. Another local argued that Roca Bar, where the very first Evansville pizza was served, is the best. As a lifelong Chicagoan, I rarely eat pizza out of town. When I do, I’m usually disappointed. It’s rare to find one as good the Chicago pizza I grew up on. However, with such rave reviews of these pizzas, we put them to the test. So we tried both. Read more
When I was a kid, the town Easter egg hunt was a really big deal. Everybody looked forward to it. There was one hunt for the young kids and another for everyone else. The Everyone Else hunt was in a huge field scattered with candy and plastic eggs in the distance We all stood in anticipation behind a line painted in the grass, posed one foot in front of the other, ready to take off the moment we heard—bang!—the starter pistol. Off we ran toward the candy bars and eggs. Being small, I lagged behind the crowd and was lucky if I got a couple of pieces of candy. The bigger kids raked in the mother lode.
Today Easter egg hunts are almost always divided into several age groups, eggs are plentiful, and everyone comes away a winner. Besides regular egg hunts for children with prize-filled plastic eggs in plain sight, some towns have nighttime flashlight hunts for teens or egg hunts in a pool. Some even have egg hunts for dogs. Here is a list of many of the Chicago area Easter egg hunts and other Easter activities planned for 2014:
Chicago
April 12, 9 a.m. at Soldier Field
Spring Egg-Stravaganza
Kid and family friendly activities include face painting, inflatables, and balloon artists. The first group starts in the candy grab on the field at 10 a.m. Go early for breakfast with the Easter Bunny. A fee applies for breakfast, but everything else is free.
April 19 at Lincoln Park Zoo
Easter Egg-Stravaganza
Festivities, including meeting the Easter Bunny, creating crafts and visiting zoo animals run from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. and the Easter egg hunt from 9 a.m. to 9:20 a.m. Carousel and train rides will be available, weather permitting. Fee applies, and tickets must be purchased in advance.
West Suburbs
April 5, 8:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
Easter Egg-Xpress: Aurora
Train departs from Aurora Metra station and goes to Naperville. See the Easter Bunny and hunt for Easter eggs. Fee applies.
April 5, 8:30-11:30
Breakfast with the Bunny: Warrenville
Warrenville Community Building, 3S260 Warren Avenue. Menu includes pancakes, sausage, fruit and beverage. Register in advance. Fee applies.
April 12, 10:00 a.m.
Easter Egg Hunt: St. Charles
Pottawatomie Park, 8 North Avenue. Please limit your child to 10 eggs.
April 12, 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 am.
Breakfast with the Easter Bunny: Elmhurst
Wilder Mansion, 211 Prospect Avenue. Decorate bunny face pancakes, color bunny pictures, entertainment. Fee applies.
April 12, 9:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
Doggie Easter Egg Hunt: Oakbrook Terrace
Terrace View Park, Hodges Road near Rte. 83. Dogs must wear a collar with tags. Pre-registration required.
April 12, 10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
Easter Egg Hunt at Terrace View Park: Oakbrook Terrace
Terrace View Park, Hodges Road near Rte. 83. Pre-registration required. Fee applies. Bunny Breakfast at the Oakbrook Terrace Park District Fitness Center afterwards.
April 12, 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Itasca spring Fling: Itasca
Springbrook Nature Center,130 Forest Avenue. Includes candy hunts, crafts, Easter Bunny to pose for photos.
April 12, 10 a.m.
Annual Egg Hunt: Lisle
Community Park, Short Street off of Route 53. Ages group: 2 & under; 3-5; 6-10. Advance registration required. Fee applies.
April 13, 3:30 p.m.
Underwater Egg Hunt: Elmhurst
Courts Plus swimming pool. Some eggs float, some will sink. Fee applies for non-Courts Plus members. Check the web site for rules.
April 13, 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Easter Brunch, Addision
Dave & Busters, 1155 N Swift Road. Brunch, Easter Bunny, egg hunt, game cards. Fee applies.
April 17, 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Teen Flashlight Egg Hunt: Elmhurst
Wilder Park, 175 S Prospect Avenue. Prizes and candy. Bring your own flashlight.
April 17, 9:00 p.m.
Flashlight Egg Hunt: Lisle
Community Park Bandshell, Short Street off of Route 53. Bring your own flashlight. Registration required; fee applies.
April 18-19, 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Breakfast with the Easter Bunny: Lisle
Morton Arboretum, 4100 Illinois Route 53. Check the web site for buffet menu. Fee applies. Preregister.
April 19, 9:30 a.m.
Spring Egg Hunt: Sandwich
James Knights Park, 1001 N Latham Street. Children up to 9 years of age may participate.
April 19, 1:15 p.m.
Easter Egg Hunt: Hinkley
Pioneer Park, 600 W Lincoln Avenue. Pose for a photo with the Easter Bunny.
April 19, 10 a.m.
Easter Eggstravaganza: Bensenville
Varble Park, 1000 W Wood Street (behind Deer Grove Leisure Center). Ages 2-4 10 a.m.; ages 5-7 10:30 a.m.
April 19, 10 a.m.
Egg Hunt: Elmhurst
Wilder Park, 175 S Prospect Avenue. You are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items, drug store gift cards or cash donations for the Elmhurst/Yorkfield Food Pantry.
South Suburbs
April 5, 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Central Park Egg Hunt: Oak Forest
Central Park, 15601 Central Avenue, Age 2 & under, 12:30; Age 3, 1:00; Age 4-5 (Pre-K and K), 1:30; Grades 1-3, 2:00
April 11, 7:30 pm. to 8:30 p.m.
Flashlight Egg Hunt: Olympia Fields
Iron Oaks Environmental Learning Center, 20000 Western Avenue. Pre-register by April 10.
April 12, 7:00 p.m.
Flashlight Egg Hunt: Olympia Fields
Sgt. Means Park, 3633 Breakers Drive. Ages 2-12. Children must be accompanied by an adult.
April 12, 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 am. And 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Oak Lawn’s Annual Egg Hunt
Stony Creek Golf, Restaurant Banquets. 5850 West 103rd Street. Call for further details: 708/857-2433
April 12, 10:00 a.m.
Easter Egg Hunt: Orland Park
Centennial Park, 15600 West Avenue. Ages 1-9
April 12, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Easter Egg Hunt: Oak Lawn
Village Green, 9446 Raymond Avenue.
April 12, 10:00 a.m.
Lucky Egg Hunt: Homewood
Richard D. Irwin Park & Marie Irwin Community Center, 18120 Highland Avenue. Rain location, H-F Sports Complex. Find a lucky egg and win an extra prize.
April 12, 12:00 noon
Mokena Lions Club Easter Egg Hunt, Mokena.
Mokena Main Park, LaPorte and Mokena Streets
April 12: 10:30 a.m.
Great Dog Egg Hunt
Richard D. Irwin Park & Marie Irwin Community Center, 18120 Highland Avenue. Dogs must be on a leash. Dog owners under age 12 must be accompanied by an adult.
April 12, 13, 19. 9:00 am. And Brookfield Zoo
Breakfast with the Bunny
Brookfield Zoo Discovery Center, 3300 Golf Road. Reservations required.
April 13, 12:00 noon to 3:00 p.m.
Bunny Hop: Tinley Park
South Street and 67th Court, adjacent to the Oak Park Avenue train station. Egg hunt, kid crafts, games, food, craft show, more.
Northwest
April 12, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Bunny Bash: Schaumburg
Community Recreation Center, 505 N Springinsguth Road. Egg hunts, games, inflatables, train ride, more. Registration required. Fee applies
April 13, 8:00 a.m. to 12 noon
Breakfast with the Easter Bunny at GameWorks: Schaumburg
601 N Martingale Road. Breakfast, photo with Easter Bunny, egg hunt, game play. Bring in non-perishable food item and received $5 credit play card. Register by April 12.
April 17, 6:15 p.m. to 7:45 p.m.
Underwater EGGstravaganza: Schaumburg
505 N Springinsguth Road. 6:15, age 2 and younger; 6:30 p.m. age 3-4; 6:45 age 5-6; 7:00 7-8, 7:15 9 and older. 7:30: zero-depth pool open for all ages to swim. Egg hunts, entertainment, games, prizes. Registration required by April 15.
April 19, 10:00 a.m.
Boomers Annual Easter Egg Hunt: Schaumburg
Boomers Stadium, 1999 S Springinsguth Road. Gates open at 9:30, egg hunt begins at 10 a.m. Four age groups: 3 and under, age 4 to 6, age 7 to 8, age 9 and older. $2 per person, cash only, incudes ticket for any May Boomers game.
Thank you for reading Midwest Wanderer. If you enjoyed this post and would like an e-mail notification when other posts are published, enter your e-mail address below and click Subscribe. Be sure to click the link when you get the e-mail asking you to confirm.
Other posts and articles you may enjoy:
Blackberry Farm in Aurora IL: History Made Fun
Silver Beach Carousel for Kids and Kids-at-Heart
Peoria Riverfront Museum: Interactive Exhibits, Planetarium and Giant Screen Theater
Visit Jelly Belly, Pleasant Prairie WI: Take the Tour, Taste the Candy
Walk into the Reitz Home, and you step back into the lifestyle of the wealthiest family in early Evansville. Extensive use of stained glass, chandeliers, intricate inlaid wood floor patterns, Moorish doorway screens, and fireplaces of the finest materials like white onyx tell you that no ordinary family lived in this Victorian mansion. Religious icons throughout the house tell more about the family, that they were devout Catholics. This was the home of John Augustus Reitz, Prussian-born lumber baron and town philanthropist. Mr. Reitz, his wife Gertrude, and eight of their ten children (two were married by the time the home was built in 1871) lived in the home.
After John August and Gertrude passed on, the unmarried children continued to live together. They redecorated the home and updated it with electricity and plumbing, including Evansville’s first toilet, still in the home.
The last Reitz family member to die, Christine, had given many of the home’s contents to neighbors and staff members. Two heirs donated the home itself to the Daughters of Isabella, and it eventually was sold to the Evansville Diocese and became home to Evansville’s first bishop.
In 1974 the home was donated to the Reitz Home Preservation Society, and restoration work began. Some of the furnishings in the home are original to the Reitz family, having been donated back by the those they were given to, and some are representative of the furnishings that would have been in the home when the Reitz family was living there.
The major part of the restoration is completed, but as Matt Rowe, Executive Director of the Reitz Home Museum and Chairman of Evansville’s Historic Preservation Commission, pointed out, work on an old home is never finished.
Watch the video below to see more photos of the restored mansion.
After your tour of the Reitz Home, take a self-guided tour through the neighborhood where you’ll see more homes originally owned by Evansville’s elites and now restored or undergoing restoration. Numerous Queen Anne homes are interspersed with prairie,craftsman, and many other architectural styles.
Carriage houses have been restored, too.
Just as the Reitz home, owned by a lumber baron, made extensive use of wood, the home built by the local brick baron used brick just as artfully, even in the sidewalk outside the home.
As we strolled on our tour, we were fortunate to be invited by Elaine, the current owner of the Fendrich home, to step inside to see the restoration progress. John Fendrich, heir to the Fendrich Cigar Company and the original owner of the home, was married to one of the Reitz daughters. The completely restored dining room, including the silver wall sconces, the parlor with its lovely fireplace and the kitchen with the original icebox are evidence of the meticulous detail that has gone into the restoration.
Preservation continues throughout the historic neighborhood, once run down with many of the homes turned multifamily, but now returning to its grand glory.
The Reitz Home Museum, located at 224 S.E. First Street in Evansville, Indiana, is open for tours Tuesday through Sunday. Check the web site for hours and admission.
Disclosure: My visit to the Reitz Home Museum and a tour of the surrounding neighborhood was hosted by the Evansville Convention & Visitors Bureau and Reitz Home Museum, but any opinions expressed in this post are my own.
Thank you for reading Midwest Wanderer. If you enjoyed this post and would like an e-mail notification when other posts are published, enter your e-mail address below and click Subscribe. Be sure to click the link when you get the e-mail asking you to confirm.
Other posts and articles you may enjoy:
Tropicana Evansville: Stay, Dine, Play
Summer’s Riverview Mansion Bed & Breakfast, Metropolis IL: Elegant Comfort
Shawnee National Forest and Cave-in-Rock State Park: Southern Illinois Natural Beauty
Chateau Thomas Winery, Plainfield IN, Marks 30 Years in Business in 2014
Stay at the very nice Tropicana Evansville Hotel or go upscale at the LeMerigot? Enjoy casual dining at Max & Erma’s or a steak at Cavanaugh’s? Try your luck at the slots or table games in the casino or listen to live entertainment? You’ll have lots of choices to make at the Tropicana Evansville in southern Indiana, but whatever you choose, you can’t go wrong.
Our comfortable room at the Tropicana Evansville Hotel overlooked the Ohio River, a picturesque view of the sparkling river with a walkway alongside it that beckons you to go out for a stroll. Later. Right now it’s time to grab a bite to eat.
With ten venues for cocktails and food, from casual to gourmet, not even counting the bars on the casino floor, it’s easy to find something that whets your appetite. The hard part is deciding between them. When we wanted a dessert, we opted for Max & Erma’s decadent triple chocolate cake.
Our splurge meal at Cavanaugh’s started with our choices of ten signature martinis. I went with chocolate, which seems more like a dessert martini, but it’s the one that most intrigued me. Our waiter assured me that people order it before dinner all the time.
Sipping the martini, watching a barge pass by on the river outside the window, and listening to live piano music set the tone for an elegant meal.
I ordered basic but my favorites: a salad, prime rib and double baked potato. After the salad and bread served with garlic oil, lemon sorbet was a nice palate cleanser.
I purposely didn’t finish my succulent, medium-rare prime rib, because I had seen the dessert cart and knew I couldn’t pass it up. We ordered the crème brulee, the brittle, sweet caramelized topping a crunchy contrast to the creamy custard.
If food quantity is your style, try the all-you-can-eat weekend brunch at the Temptations Buffet. You’ll find everything from breakfast meats, biscuits and gravy, eggs, and potatoes, to lunch foods like a salad bar, turkey, fried chicken, mac ‘n cheese, and too much more to list here.
If you want to eat while you’re in the casino, you can do that, too, at the Diamond Deli on Level 1. Level 1 is completely non-smoking, which is where I stayed while I was playing the penny slots.
Just outside the casino entrance in the riverfront Pavilion Hoosiers Lounge, enjoy free live music.
When you’re in need of a breath of fresh air, step outside the casino and take a stroll down the paved riverfront walkway. After you’ve burned off some calories, return to the Evansville Tropicana for more casino action before trying another dining venue.
The Tropicana Evansville is located at 421 NW Riverside Drive in Evansville, Indiana. Visit the web site for further details or to make hotel reservations.
Disclosure: I won my stay at the Tropicana Evansville, including dinner at Cavnaugh’s and brunch at the Temptations Buffet, in a drawing, but any opinions expressed in this post are my own.
Thank you for reading Midwest Wanderer. If you enjoyed this post and would like an e-mail notification when other posts are published, enter your e-mail address below and click Subscribe. Be sure to click the link when you get the e-mail asking you to confirm.
Other posts and articles you may enjoy:
Summer’s Riverview Mansion Bed & Breakfast, Metropolis IL: Elegant Comfort
Metropolis Illinois: Home of Superman
Shawnee National Forest and Cave-in-Rock State Park: Southern Illinois Natural Beauty
Chateau Thomas Winery, Plainfield IN, Marks 30 Years in Business in 2014
I love good barbecue, the kind with deep smoky flavor, the kind that’s everywhere in the south but rare in Illinois. I tend to gravitate to barbecue restaurants even in Illinois regardless, on the off-chance I’ll find a winner. So when I was in Champaign looking for a quick lunch, I was drawn to Q Smokehouse. Walking through the door, I drew in the aroma of an authentic smokehouse.
At the walk-up counter, order your choice of sandwich: pulled pork, pulled chicken, sliced brisket, smoked sausage, or burnt end. Burnt end—it jumped out at me. I’d only had a burnt end sandwich once before and I had instantly decided that was my favorite of all barbecue sandwiches. What are burnt ends? According to Wikipedia, “Burnt ends are flavorful pieces of meat cut from the point half of a smoked brisket…considered a delicacy in barbecue cooking.” Burnt ends have some char, but they’re also quite tender.
Sandwiches come with two toppings from a choice of ten, including items like bourbon apples and Carolina slaw. I chose caramelized onions and bacon. Several different sauces were available in pump dispensers. I like to do taste tests with different sauces, but unfortunately only two of the dispensers were working properly.
As it turned out, the sandwich didn’t even need sauce, it was that flavorful, and the house cut fries, with enough in the order to feed two, were a tasty addition. A muffin shaped cookie was a nice finish to the meal.
In addition to sandwiches, Q Smokehouse offers appetizers like barbecue eggrolls and entrees like pulled pork burritos and baby back ribs.
Q Smokehouse, located at 617 E. Green Street in Champaign, is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day. Check the web site for the full menu.
What’s your favorite barbecue restaurant? Answer in the Comments below.
Thank you for reading Midwest Wanderer. If you enjoyed this post and would like an e-mail notification when other posts are published, enter your e-mail address below and click Subscribe. Be sure to click the link when you get the e-mail asking you to confirm.
Other blog posts you may enjoy:
University of Illinois Museums: Complementary Themes
The Art Party Studio, Champaign IL: Discover Your Inner Artist
Hardy’s Reindeer Ranch, Rantoul, Ill.
Museum of the Grand Prairie: Lincoln and Life in Central Illinois
Abraham Lincoln is most often associated with Springfield, but he spent time in nine counties throughout Central Illinois as he traveled the 8th Judicial Circuit practicing law. The Museum of the Grand Prairie in Mahomet captures Lincoln’s travels through the area, as well as life on the prairie in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Sit in a wagon much the same as Lincoln did. The video in front of you gives the illusion that you are riding through the prairie.
Learn humorous stories about Lincoln, like the time he hid the meal gong from the American House proprietor because it would wake up Lincoln and the other lawyers who stayed there.
When Lincoln was having his photograph taken, he was wearing his travel clothes, which were inappropriate for a formal photograph. The photographer, Samuel Alschuler, gave Lincoln his jacket to wear. The sleeves came almost up to the elbows of tall Lincoln.
See a replica of the Goose Pond Church where Lincoln spoke to a packed house, campaigning for John C. Fremont, the first Republican Party presidential nominee.
Other exhibits in the museum include artifacts like the Mitchell Wagon, used to cart corn to the local elevator.
The Chesebro Blacksmith shop that stood untouched from the 1930s until 1993 in Saunemin, Illinois, has been partially reconstructed with the contents in the exact place as they were originally.
Learn about typical families who lived in the area. This intricate gate was at the home of the local blacksmith.
A temporary exhibit titled, “Home Grown: Gardening Yesterday and Today,” opened in March, begins with the cultivation ways of Native Americans, moves to 19th century orchards and pollinators, into the mid-20th century Victory Gardens and canning, and onto sustainable gardening techniques of today.
The next time you’re traveling to or through Champaign County, make a little jog to visit the delightful Museum of the Grand Prairie. The museum is located at 950 N Lombard, Mahomet, Illinois, in the Lake of the Woods Forest Preserve. Check the web site for hours and directions. Admission is free, but donations are appreciated.
Thank you for reading Midwest Wanderer. If you enjoyed this post and would like an e-mail notification when other posts are published, enter your e-mail address below and click Subscribe. Be sure to click the link when you get the e-mail asking you to confirm.
Other blog posts you may enjoy:
University of Illinois Museums: Complementary Themes
The Art Party Studio, Champaign IL: Discover Your Inner Artist
