SeasonalAn Apple Picking Day in Northwest Illinois
Pick your way into fall at two Northwest Illinois orchards, where fresh apples, cider donuts and easygoing country days are ripe for the taking.
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SeasonalMeet the Pawpaw: Illinois’ Native Fruit Festival
Get a taste of fall at Paw Paw’s 3rd PawPaw Festival, celebrating Illinois’ native fruit with food, music, and small-town fun.
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SeasonalSmall-Town Christmas: Holiday Traditions Across Northwest Illinois
A tree lighting in Sterling, a house tour in Mount Carroll, a lantern-lit village in Fulton and fifty decorated trees in Savanna: four small-town holiday traditions across four counties in a single December stretch.
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Food & DrinkWhere the Locals Eat: A Sauk Valley Food Crawl
Sixty-year pizza landmarks, a 1963 waterfront marina, a Rock Falls bakery going since 1942: seven real Dixon, Sterling and Rock Falls kitchens that add up to a full day of eating your way across the Sauk Valley.
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History & HeritageWalking in Reagan's Footsteps
From the Dixon boyhood home where he lived from 1920 to 1923 to the Tampico apartment where he was born, a day tracing Ronald Reagan's Lee and Whiteside county roots, plus the depot, courthouse and prairie that filled in the rest of his boyhood landscape.
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Food & DrinkA Two-Day Chocolate Trail Through Northwest Illinois
Chocolate, coffee, small-town shops, dinner theater, and a forest lodge turn Oregon, Dixon, Mount Morris, and Rochelle into a sweet two-day escape.
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SeasonalA Small-Town Christmas Weekend in Savanna
Cut a tree, browse a museum full of decorated trees, walk Savanna’s Main Street, and spend a cold clear morning above the Mississippi at the Palisades.
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FamilyAlpaca My Bags: A Visit to Deitrick’s Ranch
A backroad ranch near Prophetstown introduces visitors to curious Huacaya alpacas, the fiber they grow, and the personalities hidden beneath all that fleece.
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OutdoorsFive Favorite Outdoor Adventures in Northwest Illinois
Paddle, pedal, throw, climb, or jump: five ways to turn the rivers, parks, and skies of Northwest Illinois into an active weekend.
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Arts & CultureA Country Art Trail Through Northwest Illinois
From Lorado Taft and the Eagle’s Nest artists to contemporary foundries, galleries, murals, and community studios, public art runs straight through the Rock River valley.
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Presidential history, a blacksmith shop, Dutch windmills, roadside personality, pine cabins, classic cars, and a matinee: a group-ready route across three counties.
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