Toni and Peter Go Here and There and Everywhere!

Name: Toni Montgomery
Date: April 12-14, 2013
Destination: New Madrid, MO
Latitude: 36.5864° N
Longitude: 89.5278° W
Total Miles:415.3

Peter and I left Southern Illinois University on Friday, April 12 to travel home to Marion, IL. When we got home, Peter and I went to eat at Triple "E" with my family. I ordered the usual grilled cheese, french fries and coke to drink. Peter wasn't hungry so he just watched everyone else eat. After a lively night of hanging out with my family, Peter and I decided it was time to rest up before our journey the following day. On Saturday morning, Peter and I woke up early and went to Zumba, before we headed out on our adventure. Finally, after our morning exercise Peter, Dad, and I loaded up the car and set the roadways a blaze. First stop, Noranda Aluminum in New Madrid, Missouri. Noranda Aluminum is the leading producer of value-added primary aluminum products and rolled aluminum coils.Noranda Aluminum is the leading source of jobs for the Bootheel.

  

After leaving Noranda Aluminum, Peter, Dad, and I headed South towards Wardell, MO. Wardell is the definition of small town  USA, with a population of only 427. In the late 1950's and early 1960's my family owned the local cotton gin, which is known today as Peach Orchard Gin. Dad took Peter and I to the gin to reflect upon the memories made and lessons learned during his cotton picking days.

 Peter, Dad, and I drove over the river and through the woods, literally, to stay at grandmas house that night. On Sunday morning, we got up early to head to Murray State University from the Bootheel of Missouri. This scenic drive took us through the back woods of Tennessee and the blue grasses of Kentucky. That day the Murray State Breds Baseball team was scheduled to play the Jacksonville Gamecocks. Peter, Dad, and I cheered on our favorite MSU Bred, #14! Peter was an excellent cheerleader, but all that cheering made him thirsty so Dad had to buy Peter and I a Mountain Dew to share. Peter must have been the good luck charm the Breds needed, cause they took the win for the series beating the Gamecocks 10 to 7, that Sunday. 

After an exciting weekend, Peter and I returned home to return to Southern Illinois University bright and early Monday morning. Peter, Dad, and I had a great time traveling throughout the region. Peter hardly ever had to stop for restroom breaks, and was a good companion during the long hours spent on the road. However, Peter almost got left at a gas station after finding out he enjoyed dads radio choices. Dad and Peter listened to old country music and sang off beat, as I secretly changed the stations. This back and forth struggle went on for the entire 415.3 mile road trip.

Jonathon Went To The Cook House!

Name: Nicole Schwartz

Date: April 19^th-April 23^rd

Destination: Wauconda, IL

Latitude: 41.789792 °N

Longitude: -87.596007 °W

Round Trip Miles:  786 miles

Total Miles: 1,165 miles

On April 19^th, I picked up Jonathon Edwards from Wham.  I met my friend, Brad, at Arnold’s Market to get sodas for the road.  From Arnold’s we made a straight shot to Arlington Heights.  The next day (April 20^th), we drove to Wauconda so I can meet Brad’s mother.  After meeting and talking to his mother for a while, we drove to his dad’s (Steve) house.  We saw how the flooding affected this area while we were on our way to Steve’s to have dinner. We drove back to Arlington Heights for the night.  The next morning, we went shopping at Woodfield Mall.  We went from the mall to Brad’s mother’s home.  We all went to Bulldog’s Grill for Brad’s birthday lunch.  After enjoying some amazing cheeseburgers, we dropped off his mother and went a friend’s house to listen to some new music.  After listening to some new songs, we went back to Arlington Heights.  After relaxing a bit, I took Jonathon and my friend out for dinner at TGI Fridays.  After dinner, we went back for the night.  On Sunday morning, we drove back to Brad’s dad’s house for breakfast.  After devouring a delicious omelet, French toast, and bacon, we said good-bye to the family and went back to Brad’s mother’s home.  We said bye to his mother and drove to the Cook house.  We learned that before this brick home, there was a log cabin.  This home was the first non-log cabin in the area.  It was built in 1850.  The first town meeting was held in this house.  The home is open to tours for no admission fee!  After visiting the Cook house, we drove back to Centralia to see my mother and grandmother.  After visiting my family, Jonathon, Brad, and I drove back to our apartment complex on East Grand.  I returned Jonathon to Wham on April 23^rd at 11am.  We all had a wonderful time!

Name: Michelle Ginsberg

Date: April 23rd 2013

Destination: Giant City State Park

Latitude: 37.59785

Longitude: 89.19635

Round Trip: 24 miles

Total Miles: 4,325.1 miles

William and I took a trip with friends to Giant City State Park in Makanda, Illinois! This was my very first trip to explore the Giant City State Park. I have never been hiking before, so this was my first hiking trip ever. Friends and William made it a lot of fun! The coordinates for this area are Latitude – 37.59785 and Longitude – 89.19635 and it is 11.94 miles away from the Wham building. In total it took about 24 miles to get there and back.
The park itself is over 4,000 acres and is perfect for recreational activities such as hiking, camping, fishing, rock climbing, and much more. Being in the nature was extremely relaxing and beautiful!- And I am not an outdoors person!
It was interesting to find out that Giant City Lodge, located in the heart of the park, was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930's. It is made out of multihued sandstone and white oak timber. Inside the lodge they serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. They also have private rooms for any partys or events you want to throw! 

Jillian, Gabby, and Ben Visit Garden of the Gods

Name: Jillian Lambert
Date: March 30, 2013
Destination: Garden of the Gods (Herod, IL)
Latitude: 37.6069 N
Longitude: 88.3947 W
Total Miles: 123.4 miles


Ben and I left Carbondale on Friday, March 29 to travel home to Harrisburg, IL.  When we got home, we had lunch at my Mama's.  She fixed chicken and dumplins because she knows that's my favorite.  After a lengthy nap, we went home to visit with my mom and little brother.  On Saturday morning, we took off on a road trip to the Garden of the Gods in the Shawnee National Forest.  It was a cloudy day, but the weather was perfect for hiking.  Below is a picture of Ben and I, with our favorite puppy, Gabby, at the entrance of the trails.

The Garden of the Gods is a 3,300 acre forest that covers areas of Saline, Hardin, and Pope counties.  Garden of the Gods was formed over 320 million years ago when wind and rain eroded large areas of sedimentary rock.  As this was a natural occurrence, the rocky, mountainous area of the Shawnee National Forest was named Garden of the Gods.  Campers and hikers from all over the world come to Garden of the Gods to visit its natural beauty.  As a frequent visitor, I would recommend visiting this area in the fall, to access all it has to offer.   Not only a historical and camping site, this area is home to many unique plants and wildlife.  During the fall season, the autumn leaves will begin to fall and create the most amazing colors and scenery.

Below, Ben and I had to take a break from hiking to catch our breaths.

After a great day of hiking, Ben and I spent the rest of the weekend hunting Easter eggs, attending mass, and visiting with relatives.  We drove back to my apartment on Sunday night, with a total of 123.4 miles on our odometer.

William Visits Turks & Caicos

Name: Lauren Foley
Date: March 22nd-29th, 2013
Destination: Providenciales, Turks and Caicos
Latitude: 21.7833° N
Longitude: 72.2833° W
Round Trip: 3,385.1 miles
Total Miles: 4,301.1 miles

William and I left Wham on Thursday and he came with me to work at the Child Development Lab on campus until 5:00. When I got off work we headed straight to the highway to drive back to my home to Chicago. We didn't get home until 11:00 pm, and our limo came to pick us up at 4:00 am for the airport!! We were both very tired. Our plane took off at 7:00 am Friday morning and we landed in Miami a few hours later. Luckily, we did not have much time to spare until we had to board our next plane to Providenciales, Turks and Caicos.

Once we arrived at Beaches All Inclusive Resorts, we headed right to the beach. The first documented sighting on the islands was in 1512 and the control over them bounced back and forth between the French, Spanish, and British. Starting in 1620, pirates hid in the cays of the islands in order to attack Spanish treasure. Meanwhile, Bermuda spent most of the 18th century fighting Bahamas for control of Turks and Caicos, with Bahamas winning. The islands were part of the Bahamas until 1848 before they became a part of Jamaica until 1959. British government finally granted freedom to the Turks and Caicos islands in 1980. In 1984, Club Med opened the first resort and Turks and Caicos began to boom.

Beaches All Inclusive Resorts is owned by Sandals Resort International. They cater to Caribbean Islands, such as Jamaica, St. Lucia, and Bahamas. 

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Name: Shannon Weisbruch

Date: April 2, 2013- April 6, 2013

Destination: Panama City Beach, FL

Latitude: 30.176 N.

Longitude: -85.805 W.

Round Trip: 1326 miles

Total Miles: 4967.9 miles

After class on Monday, April 1, 2013, Peter and I went straight to my house to pack all of our luggage for our trip! On Monday, around 4:00 pm, Peter and I left for our wonderful trip to Panama City Beach, Florida.  

 

 

Panama City Beach is in Bay County, Florida on the Gulf of Mexico. Panama City Beach's slogan is "The World's Most Beautiful Beaches" due to the unique sugar-white sandy beaches of northwest Florida. For quite some time Panama City Beach has been a popular vacation destination.  The city is also a very popular spring break destination, sometimes having been referred to as "The Spring Break Capital of the World," due to about 100,000+ college and high school students who would arrive during the months of March and April.

 

 

After a long 10 hour drive Peter and I reached our destination. Peter and I stayed with my family at Tidewater Beach Resort located right no the white sand beaches of Panama City Beach.  Peter loved going to the beach! Peter loved playing in the sand, jumping in the ocean, and laying out and relaxing on the balcony.

 

 

 

Peter was pretty risque when he wanted to get a picture on the balcony railing, especially because we were on the tenth floor!

 

Our condo was located only a half mile from pier park mall. Peter and I took many trips to the mall to check out the shopping and various restaurants there. Pier Park is 900,000+ square foot  open air shopping and entertainment mall. The whole mall is full of tropical colors and dozens of stores, restaurants, attractions, events, and more. Pier Park opened in 2007. It is the largest Florida shopping complex of its kind, within the region. The mall contains popular restaurants such as Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville, Tootsie's Orchid Lounge, Dick's Last Resort, and Reggae J's Island Grill.

 

 

 

Peter and I had a great trip to Panama City Beach! Peter and I spent over 20 hours travel back and forth to Panama City Beach and gained 1326 miles for our class!

Here are some more facts we learned about the city:

 

 *Over six million visitors enjoy Panama City Beach travel each and every year.
* The legendary pure white sand of Panama City Beach is attributed to quartz crystals washing down from the Appalachian Mountains centuries ago. Along their journey, the crystals were bleached, ground, smoothed, and polished. The surf and tides of the Gulf of Mexico are responsible for depositing these millions of grains of sugar-white sand onto the pristine shoreline….the result of this rigorous process is the beautiful, renowned beaches of Panama City Beach.
* Panama City Beach Florida has an average of 320 days of sunshine per year.
* Panama City Beach weather is sub-tropical, with a year-round temperature averaging 74 degrees, which means heavenly conditions for those enjoying Panama City Beach travel.
* Panama City Beach is bordered on either side by State Parks: St. Andrews and Camp Helen .
* Panama City Beach is home to one of the country’s largest sport fishing fleets.
* The area boasts one of the highest concentrations of bottle nose dolphins in the world, one of the many reasons Panama City Beach travel is so popular.
* Panama City Beach fishing is world famous, and fisherman can troll for multiple varieties of fish in our waters, including Blue Marlin, Red Snapper, Mackerel, Trout, Pompano and Cobia.
* The Intercoastal Waterway runs through St. Andrews Bay.

 

 

 







Name: Lindsay DuBois

Date: April 5, 2013

Destination: Devil's Kitchen Lake, Makanda, IL

Latitude: 37.6259^o N

Longitude: 89.0926^o W

Round Trip: 25 Miles

Total Miles: 3641.9 miles

Ben Franklin and I meet up with my good friend to go hiking! It was such a beautiful day, we could not just stay indoors. Southern Illinois has so many amazing hiking places. We could not decide where to go! Finally, we set out towards Devil's Kitchen Lake.

Devil's Kitchen Lake is in Union county. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built Crab Orchard, Devil's Kitchen, and Little Grassy Lake during the Great Depression to stabilize water supply and provide recreation. It has a maximum depth of 90 feet and 24 miles of shoreline. It is one of the deepest lakes in Illinois! The lake covers 810 square acres. Fish in the lake include bluegill, carp, channel catfish, largemouth bass, rainbow trout, white crappie, yellow bullhead, and yellow perch. We saw a fisherman looking for a tasty treat on the river!

We tried finding a path, but the one we wanted was closed. Instead, we just decided to explore! Little did I know, but Ben is an expert tree climber!

We hiked to the edge of the lake and sat on the rocky shoreline. It was very peaceful. Ben was sad when it was time to go home, but we were all hungry. We spent about 40 minutes driving round trip and hiked for two hours. Ben told me he would love to do more hiking around Southern Illinois!

William Penn visits the Saint Louis Gateway Arch

Name: Christine Piha

Date Feb. 28th - March 3rd 

Destination: Saint Louis, Missouri

Latitude: 38.63° N

Longitude: 90.18 ° W

Round Trip Miles: 304 miles

Total Miles:  916 miles

On February 28^th,I picked up William Penn after CI 424 in Wham.  After that, we headed back to my house for the night to catch up on some homework. We got up early Friday morning and drove down to St. Louis, Missouri to visit my boyfriend who attends Saint Louis University for the weekend. Jake had two lacrosse games, one Saturday and one Sunday in O’Fallen, IL and William attended both. I learned that he is quite a fan of lacrosse and he cheered more than I did! After Jake’s game on Sunday, William, Jake and I took a trip to the Gateway Arch in Saint Louis, Missouri. The Arch is the center of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in Saint Louis, Missouri. While we were there we learned that the Gateway Arch was built as a monument to honor westward expansion in the United States. Some other information we learned was that construction of the arch began on February 12^th, 1963 and concluded on October 28^th, 1965. It is 630 feet tall and 630 feet wide and is built out of stainless steel.  The arch cost about 13 million dollars to build. There is a visitor’s center underground where visitors can travel to an observation deck at the top of the arch in a 40-passenger tram that runs inside the arch. Later that day, William and I said bye to Jake and traveled back to Carbondale. William Penn wanted to stay in Saint Louis with Jake, but I explained to him that I had to return him back to Wham on Tuesday.