Chicago and the Illinois Valley region have a lot of places you can go to with your family. You can enjoy Chicago’s sleek, skyscraper-filled skyline, but this fertile land is also filled with fantastic nature scenes and high-quality dining experiences. Get ready and grab your phone’s camera and explore rolling hills, forests, and wetlands. Why not get into the fall spirit and enjoy the precious moments of what you have left with a wholesome trip to these places?

Here are the best places to go within Illinois Valley and Chicago!

Millennium Park

Its completion in 2004 made this park an instant hit, and it became the top attraction in the Midwest as well as being one of the most-visited tourist sites in the country. You’ll see attractions like Frank Gehry’s Pritzker Pavilion, Jaume Plensa’s Crown Fountain, and Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate. In the summer months, you should take a look at this fountain which has an array of the resident’s faces that blows water every five minutes. It’s Lurie Garden will wow you with monthly garden walks and a year-round flower displays.

Matthiessen State Park

Visitors come to a delight when they see canyons, prairie, forest, and streams here at Matthiessen State Park. Its location is in central LaSalle County, which is approximately four miles south of Utica and three miles east of Oglesby. This park is a paradise on earth for those people who are in love with geology and recreation.

You can expect to see abundant vegetation and wildlife as well as rock formations. There are also picnic facilities for a special outing with your family. Its geological features are unusual and beautiful. These rock formations make your trip to Matthiessen State Park a fun educational experience.

Garfield Park

As one of Chicago’s more prominent parks, Garfield Park offers one-of-a-kind facilities for boxing, baseball, tennis, swimming, and basketball. Your children will also enjoy the playground, and as for the adults, you can go to the fitness center and lagoon. You’ll also find the paths for walking, biking, and jogging wonderful. One of its well-known attraction is the Garfield Park Conservatory that has 120,000 plants which represent some 600 species as it occupies 1.6 indoor acres and 12 acres of outdoor gardens on the summer.

Adams Playground Park

If you want your kids to enjoy, you can take them to Adams Playground. It’s a hidden gem that is loved by the neighborhood and is located off Seminary Avenue in Chicago. Its name came from the former Congressman named George Adams that donated this land to the city in the early 1900s. Then the city turned it into this great community space for kids with playgrounds, sand court, and an ice rink for ice skating in winter.

You can spend your quiet afternoon with your family here as well as a perfect place for a picnic. This park provides massive opportunities for excellent family fun. Beat the heat at the waterpark in the summer, or you can sign up for activities that they offer in the field house.

Grant Park

It’s considered Chicago’s front yard and spans 319 acres on the shores of Lake Michigan. Grant Park can be considered a group of smaller parks, which include Maggie Daley Park, Millennium Park, the Museum Campus, and Buckingham Fountain. This is where Barack Obama and almost a million people celebrated his victory on election night 2008. And it’s also where thousands more attend the Lollapalooza and Taste of Chicago festivals.  

Oz Park

From the creative mind of a native Chicago reporter, Oz Park is a public park located in the North Side of Chicago. It contains several statues modeled after characters from The Wizard of Oz. In the 1950s, it was constructed following an effort to revive the area and fans come here to reminisce about the old park.

Now the park features a biking or walking trail a little over a half mile long, and also contains a playground for children and gardens. It features four statues created after the beloved book characters like The Cowardly Lion, The Tin Man, The Scarecrow and Dorothy & Toto. You can also stop by and watch some of the free outdoor movies offered in summer, as well as a fall festival and Art Therapy Connection Chalk Festival. You can bring your child, or enjoy reliving childhood memories yourself!

After a long day of walking and playing, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to reward yourself with a quality cocktail or delicious meal afterward. If you want, you can let the professionals take good care of your home while you’re away. So you can come home to a relaxing and clean house.