Ranking: Value - 4; Dad Fun Factor - 4 out of 5; Kid Fun Factor - 4 out of 5
We decided to take advantage of one of the few sunny days we've had this Spring 2008, where the temperatures have not been below freezing, and headed to Naperville IL, to spend the day at the Morton Arboretum. This was my first trip to the 1700 acre garden but not the boys'. They knew exactly what they wanted to do first. "Climb on the rocks", was Jack's demand. Having never been I as pretty clueless as to what that meant. OK, we can climb on the rocks. The park is basically open from dawn to dusk. We made it there in 40 minutes from cosmopolitan Elgin. The park charges a fee to drive through the gate, $9 for adults and $6 for 3 and over. Jesse, being two, was free. Once through the gate we simply parked and made tracks to the welcome center. It's a large open building with a very neat gift shop (garden and nature oriented), several multi-media presentations on nature and the arboretum, and a very, very good cafe.
We grabbed a map of the park and headed out. Most of the family oriented activities are within 200 yards of the welcome center so you don't have to go 4-wheeling to get to the fun. First of the gate is the Maze Garden. The boys loved running through the maze, finding dead-ends, and going in opposite directions only to meet again. I loved it because there is only one way in and out and they couldn't break anything. The center of the maze is a large elevated observation deck that has a complete view of the maze. It's pretty cool. Next we headed to the Children's Garden. The CG, as I'll refer to it going forward, is simply awesome. We entered with clean clothes and existed with dirty knees and elbows. You can crawl, climb, run, swing, hop, explore, and learn all at once. There are guided activities if you want the purely educational path. I hate to admit it but we took a pass on this this trip. Instead we went to burn energy. We did that in spades. Few of the water displays were on which saved us immense suffering. We did enjoy hopping across the rocks like frogs on Lilly pads. The best part about the arboretum is that every activity has a learn attached. What are pine cones? What lives in the pond? What does a owl's view look like? And many more. In all we spent four hours in this one area and the boys thoroughly exhausted themselves.
Next was lunch. I have to make a special note about the cafe. Normally, if you have read my blog before, you will know I'm a cheap bastard and like to take my pic-nic meal. Tracy instructed me that we were, against my normal practice, going to eat at the cafe. I'm glad we did. They have some of the best sandwiches, gourmet salads, marginal pizzas, and soups going. I was really impressed. The bill was right in line with eating a good meal out at one of our normal restaurant choices as well. I highly recommend the cafe. The view from the eating area is spectacular. You can sit along wall of glass that goes from floor to 15 ft (guess) ceiling. It looks out over the large pond next to the welcome center.
Following lunch, and a pit stop in the very clean and usable family restrooms, we headed out to the Conifer Trail. We took the time to get off of the beaten path and commune with nature. Instead we found a steep hill and spent 20 minutes rolling down it. Jesse ended up staggering around like a drunk sailor.
I really recommend the Morton Arboretum. We're contemplating adding it to our wad of memberships. In the mean time, go check it out at their website: http://www.mortonarb.org/
