St. Charles

Dad grew up in Glen Ellyn and his family was always talking about places like Geneva and Batavia and Elgin. I suppose they were the end of the commuter and trolley lines. And the Fox River sort of marked (sort of still does) the western edge of Chicago and the beginning of the prairies.

We left Madison in the morning, but our flight didn't leave O'Hare until late afternoon, so we had some time to explore. I had always wanted to see this string of towns along the river, so we left the Tollway in Elgin and worked our way south.

We stopped and walked a little along the river in downtown St. Charles. The river was running pretty full (not that I have much idea of what normal looks like). The bridge is nicely framed by the Hotel Baker on the west and the Art Deco (1940 Moderne?) Municipal Building on the east bank.

It wasn't part of the plan, but we stopped again south of town at Mt. St. Mary Park and wandered through the outdoor sculptures. I would have liked more time to explore Geneva and Batavia, but we needed to get back to the airport and weren't sure how bad traffic might be.