Dreamland Lake

I finally found time on a warm, sunny day late in October to visit the duck pond in Fairview Park - officially known as Dreamland Lake, which by the way is the title of a children's book by Decatur native Richard Peck. Many of his books are set in central Illinois. I always enjoy reading books set in places I've lived or visited...there's an added sense of familiarity about the story.

The duck pond is what we used to call it back in "the day". Not too much to say about Dreamland Lake, even today, it's still a little pond. It's a fishing pond for kids in the summer. When I was a kid, they let the pond freeze over in winter and you could ice skate on it. The fountains prevent the lake from freezing now, and the ducks and geese stay year-round now, too.

Don't know when they added the Transfer House replica. It's still a fun place to go, especially with kids, and feed the ducks & geese. Or take your lunch & just relax for a change of pace. There is a nice walking path all the way around the pond, and it is a very relaxing place.

I have a few old postcards from the early 1900's of Fairview Park that I scanned and added below. Unfortunately, I can't find any photos from when I was a kid in the 50's. I can see it all in my mind, but a lot of good that does you! It seems, from looking at the postcards, that Dreamland Lake might have been a bit larger back when it was new...

Till next time~

SIDE TRIPS!

I haven’t been a stay-at-home stick-in-the-mud all this time. I have been to MOONSHINE! for a famous “Moonburger”! If you don’t know where it is, Google it, ‘cause the directions are too convoluted to ever begin to tell you! A few friends & I took off about 9:00AM one day in the general direction of Moonshine in order to get there for lunch.

It takes a couple of hours – if you know where you are going!

Three or more, if you don’t! I think I’m being generous when I say that this place is a “hole in the wall” in the middle of nowhere. I wasn't driving, but it was a good thing I had my Blackberry along - that's all I'll say about that!

But the burgers were good, I will say that. And, after lunch, we hit a few wineries on the way home, so all was not lost!

Oh yeah, there is a neat covered bridge not too far from there.

I think it was somewhere past Greenup.