Festival of Sights, Part Three

Saturday, December 19th

North Bound: Illinois Route 137

My interest was beginning to rise as we approached Fort Sheridan and Naval Station Great Lakes, and indeed, my ulterior motive in following Sheridan Road was to drive by these two military sites.  But driving by is all that we did!  Evening was approaching fast, and the drive up Sheridan Road was taking a lot longer than we’d thought.  Our purpose was to get the children to the Festival of Lights in Zion, but we were getting distracted by the historical locales along the way.  “I want to check out Fort Sheridan on the way back,” I said.

Once north of the Navy base, I followed Illinois Route 137, which sometimes was Sheridan Road and sometimes wasn’t, but it was certainly a lot faster than following that winding trail along the lakefront.

An Evening in Zion

We drove slowly through Zion.  “Where’s this festival at?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Ashli replied.  Neither one of us had bothered to note how to find the festival once we arrived at Zion.

We crossed Shiloh Boulevard, which had an impressive display of lighted trees in its center.  We wondered if it was down that way, and indeed it was.  We quickly stopped at Walgreens to procure some canned goods to donate (two cans of diced tomatoes, one can of sliced peaches), then took the walking tour of Kringle’s Kingdom.

In a small shack near the end of the tour sat Santa Claus (or a reasonable facsimile thereof).  As we waited in line to see Santa, I quizzed Aislynn on how to answer Santa’s questions.

“What’s your name?”

“Aisyfeygraham”

“Just say ‘Aisy’.  How old are you?”

“Seven!” with fingers held up.

“Are you naughty or nice?”

“Nice!” with an excited hop.

“And what do you want for Christmas?”

“A Barbie musketeer!”

She had the answers down pat, so when it came time for Aisy and Daegan to talk to Santa, they naturally fell silent and tried to hide.  With some coaching, Aisy answered most of Santa’s questions as we’d practiced.  Daegan said only “vroom vroom,” indicating his desire for a toy car.  They both walked away with Christmas cheer and bags of chocolate.

Afterwards we took the driving light tour through Shiloh Park, then retreated from the cold at Applebee’s for hot chocolate and soup before finally retiring for the evening at the local Country Inn & Suites.

Below is a promotional video of Kringle’s Kingdom by the Zion Park District.

This post had gotten to be quite long, so I’ll end here.  Part Four will begin our southbound journey with the Evil Waves of an Icy Lake!  Dun dun dunnn!