As you may have noticed from all my posts this past weekend, I was in good ol’ Chicago for a wedding that was actually in Peoria, a smaller city about two and a half hours outside of the Windy City.
I would love to tell you all about the beautiful sites we saw on our drive: the mountains, the lake views…
But I can’t.
Why?
Because there is literally nothing to look at except freakin’ cornfields.
There are, however, plenty of signs for local attractions! Some of these include the Tall Grass Prairie, prairie conservation areas, a prairie state park, and downtown Dwight, IL.
But all kidding aside, what I didn’t know was that the Old Route 66 will also get you part of the way to Peoria!!! I had an aunt that lived in Arizona that was obsessed with all things Route 66. The song, movies about it, pictures…everything. Because of her, I had always dreamed of driving down that highway, listening to the Stones’ “Route 66” on repeat, and seeing all sorts of bright and shiny roadside attractions.
As I learned in Litchfield, IL….Route 66 is literally just a highway (at least it is in Illinois). There was nothing really too see other than more corn…until I saw the signs for “Historic Downtown Pontiac”.
I’ve always wanted to go to Pontiac; it has been the setting for movies and just seems to have maintained that wonderful small town charm. I was a little confused though because I had always thought it was in Indiana…whoops.
While we had to get the rental car back to Chicago by 11 the next morning, I somehow convinced Mark to leave an extra half hour earlier than originally planned so that we could make a quick stop. While sadly nothing would be open, a quick google search told me that there were a ton of beautiful murals in the area and I love murals.
Before mural hunting, we stopped into The Cup and the Scone for a quick cup of coffee. I had a White Knight (a white chocolate caramel latte) and Mark ordered a french press. Both were amazing! My latte was delicately sweetened instead of being overwhelmingly so, and Mark’s french press was big enough to give us an extra two cups of coffee. If you ever stumble into town, you should definitely check this place out! My only regret is not trying their scones…
The main mural I wanted to see was the one behind the Route 66 museum of the classic Route 66 sign. The museum wasn’t open, but I was wonderfully surprised by all the other fun things behind it, such as this “land yacht” that was made out of an old school bus.
Honestly, shoutout to Mark for being the ultimate insta-fiancé. All I wanted was a quick picture, but after taking one he said, “no wait, one more” and proceeded to get on the ground for the perfect shot.
(I later forced him to take a picture in front of his favorite mural…which only came out meh because he refused to even slightly pose…)
This area is just the absolute cutest! There are so many murals all over and these cute mini ‘57 Chevys and pickup trucks that are decorated by local artists (the Pontiac website states that the mini cars are put in storage for the winter, so if you have your heart set on seeing them then make sure to go spring-fall).
After we had our fill of picture taking (aka ran out of time) we drove off past the Old Route 66 sign blasting the Rolling Stones’ “Route 66” and I happily crossed that off my bucket list.
I’m sad that I wasn’t able to visit any of the museums, but hopefully I’ll be able to visit again with more than 30 early morning minutes to spare!
Have you ever been pleasantly surprised by unexpected road trip stops? I want to hear about it!