Morton Aboretum

It just occurred to me this morning that I haven't told you about the Morton Arboretum, another institution that takes up a lot of space on my resume!

The Morton Arboretum is a "tree museum" (my term haha) 26 miles outside of downtown Chicago in my old stomping grounds, Lisle, IL.  The Arboretum has so much going on you could probably make an entire weekend out of your visit.  

The main attraction is being able to hike, bike or drive the beautiful grounds.  There are 16 miles of walking trails, most of which are wood chip but there are paved trails for those with strollers, wheelchairs or other needs.  If you would prefer to move a little faster there are almost 7 miles of roads which one can run, bike or drive on.  

One of my favorite trails is right by the visitor center and extremely easy to navigate since it is a paved trail, the trail around Meadow Lake and the Conifer Trail.  Both of these trails are lovely any time of the year.  The Conifer Trail takes you around the Children's Garden.  Even if you do not have children go and just take a walk around the garden while you're there.  There are huge flowers, streams, forts and many other nature inspired things for children to play with an on.  This is a pic of me and my niece in-in law (my sister in law's niece lol) Zoe on their visit a couple of years ago.

Another of my favorite things is the Maze Garden.  Every now and then the staff will change the layout by opening and closing the gates so you don't get too cocky about being able to solve it right away!  When you find your way to the middle you can climb the stairs to the lookout and get this lovely view over part of the eastside.    I would definitely call the Maze Garden a must see!  

One thing the Arboretum has started the past few years is having large scale installations throughout the property.  My favorite was a few years ago called "Steel Roots" the artist made these large scale sculptures that looked like roots, three of them were actually cast from roots in bronze.

  

I could go on and on about the Arboretum but I'll wait and save it for another post!  The fees are definitely very reasonable $12 for adults and $9 for children 2-17 (Wednesdays are discounted days!)  This gives you access to everything for the entire days!  The closing hours to vary with each season, closing at about sunset.  Unfortunately there is no public transportation close by but being right off two different highways (with very cool views of the property from each) it is very simple to get to.  For sure worth the day trip into the burbs!