10 stories
SeasonalA 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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SeasonalThirty-five miles of bluffs, backwater and a working Dutch windmill between Savanna and Fulton — the stretch of the Great River Road that is worth building a whole fall weekend around.
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Food & DrinkSixty-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 & HeritageFrom 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 & DrinkChocolate, 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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SeasonalCut 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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FamilyA 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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OutdoorsPaddle, 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 & CultureFrom 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.
Read more →History & HeritagePresidential 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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