#44 Pere Marquette Lodge

CCC Lodge Near Grafton, IL

Long before Don and I began searching for unusual hotels, we fell in love with this lodge. In October, we revisited.

This cute little cottage-looking entrance, hardly matched the rustic log and stone structure of my memory. 
​
Just As We Remembered

​This is what Don and I were both eager to see!  It had been a few decades since our last stay.

We were glad to see there weren't many changes. The grand open space was still filled with log beams and comfy lodge furniture and the giant chess board!  The only new addition, was a sort of odd collection of "patchwork leaf quilts" hanging from the beams.

Cozy 
​
​All we needed was cold weather so we could enjoy a fire in the massive 50- foot limestone fireplace.  

No fire, but we could still enjoy the big green chairs!

And More Chairs!

I had forgotten how many sitting areas there were! There were rattan chairs gathered around a tabletop game of shuffle board.

Wicker  

​And there were wicker chairs surrounding tables, with checkerboards and clunky puzzle games.  

In truth, when we arrived at 3pm, there was hardly a free chair for sitting.  The annual "Apple Festival" was just ending and the whole lodge was crawling with kids in face paint, clowns twisting balloons... booths of fall crafts, kettle corn and pumpkins... and a live band! It took a little while, before the lodge became peaceful again!

​The Historic Wing

We hiked up a flight to room 222, in the Historic Wing. There have been lots of renovations since the lodge was completed in 1940. We like old, so we didn't want a room in the new addition. Sadly the only thing that hinted at old, were the windows.  

It was nice having an updated flat screen TV and a decent bed, but I was kind of hoping for some log beams or some of that big chunky lodge furniture. Or how about a picture on the wall. I think they forgot?

Ahhh!
​
​But the windows were great, offering a view of the Illinois River along with a warm fall breeze!  

And we had the added treat of champagne and chocolates, as well as a $50. voucher for dinner.  I'll admit,  our package was more about numbers than romance.  We were on a 22-day road trip after all.  We just did the calculating and this was the best deal.

Little Extras

The room wasn't as rustic as I had expected. But the checkerboard table with checkers, felt very lodge-y. ​​

The bathroom was very Motel 6-ish, but it did have a Keurig coffee maker. That's a surprise, for a State Park owned lodge. We never expect frills.

 
​Then and Now
​
Don and I stayed at Pere Marquette, in the fall of 1985. I remember sitting in Adirondack chairs on the back terrace. It was a little cooler and we had the place to ourselves, staring out over the sloping lawn to the Illinois River.

Don didn't need a sweater, when he drank his Schafly Pale Ale, this time.

In 2014
​

The Adirondacks have been replaced by metal tables, with umbrellas. I missed sitting in those old wooden chairs, but the view was just the same.   

---

And this time we were able to catch the sun going down.

​Sunset
​

I did a little posing with the sunset, on the very log where we propped our feet, years ago.

Dining at The Lodge

​On a Sunday evening the dining room was packed with families feasting on fried chicken and other lodge favorites.  The place was thinning out when we arrived for dinner, after sunset. We could tell the staff was ready for "Apple Festival Day" to be over.  

I was eager to try the Goat Cliff Soup, I'd heard about. Our server nearly sneered as he told me there was no such thing. Maybe that just means Soup of the Day?  I was afraid to ask again. I ordered pot roast and Don ordered salmon. Both were tasty and the seats were so comfy. We wanted to linger forever. But we took the hints from the yawning staff and moved along.

Morning

​On Monday, Don and I woke rested and ready to go. We had hoped to head down this wonderful log-filled hallway to the indoor pool and exercise room.  We were needing to burn off a few calories, on our 22-day road trip.  

 

I stopped at the desk   to ask when the workout room opened.  "Really? 8:00?"  I sort of whined,  "I was hoping to be done exercising by 8."  It was clear there was no flexility with opening the little room that held all of 3 pieces of equipment!  So Don and I skipped our exercise and went for breakfast.

​Breakfast

​The dining room was pretty empty in the morning. I needed a strong cup of coffee to focus on the menu. It was cleverly written as a quiz, about historical explorers. (Remember, this is a State Park) I chuckled about this to the waitress, who didn't seem amused as she snatched our menus and hurried off with our order. 

 

Don and I made it a point to amuse ourselves by asking our server questions, every time she came to our table.  I don't believe she ever had 2 feet on the ground at once. She answered every question with one sentence, as she moved away from our table. I'm not sure why she was in such a hurry?  There was hardly anyone there.

​Exploring the Dining Room

After we finished breakfast we wandered a bit.

I'm sure our waitress felt like a mother who was ready to shoo her kids outside to play after breakfast. I messed with the well and surprised myself with a blast of water.

​Admiring the Fireplace

​We spent a little time studying the stone fireplace with all the harvest decor. I hope our waitress didn't hear me complaining.

I love real pumpkins and wheat, but I get really tired of cutesy scarecrows and fake leaves. You know you've been on the road for 9 days when you start getting picky about things like that. 

Morning Walk

​Let me end with some photos from our morning walk, before we checked out.

Pere Marquette is an absolutely beautiful State Park.   

What's Notable?

​This is a State Park Lodge, not a hotel. I griped a little about this and that, but in truth I loved the park feel.  

The prices were more park than hotel and the historic limestone & timber building was more park than hotel. We are lucky to still have places like this and I'm so grateful that we were able to return!
​