Hi, I'm Meliasa, and I empower Deaf and ASL travelers. Come with me and my partner as we take a much-needed outdoor trip with lots of green scenery, hikes, and good food in Southern Illinois! These are the best things to do, including the Shawnee National Forest, the wine trail, and great food! 🌿✨️
melmira
Illinois
Started our day here and it's such a cute place! The food and coffee...yum! Highly recommend their strawberry pop tart and the Faye iced coffee!!!
Next up: Hiking at Giant City State Park. Gorgeous! So lush and green; I knew I wasn’t in NYC anymore being out here with the fresh air and greenery. Very clean and the trails were very easy to follow.
This is the perfect place to stop after a beautiful hike for a good drink and some delicious Southern food! I had the fried green tomatoes and the Southern corn fritters. My partner had the fried chicken, which we learned won many awards. Very good!
Headed to Makanda Boardwalk next. Such a cuteeeeee small town vibe! We got some yummy ice cream! 🍦
Such a beautiful place for dinner! They were super accommodating with us being deaf and writing down on paper with what they were serving. The wine tasting sample was perfect! Go during sunset for great photo ops!
After dinner, we hopped over to this fun place nearby! Didn’t win money (haha) but enjoyed the atmosphere and everyone was so friendly and in good spirits!
Such a fun place!!!!! The hibachi was on point! Very authentic Japanese food.
After breakfast, we headed here to visit the 7-foot-tall Shawnee Bigfoot Statue. The big guy was so cute. 🥹 I couldn’t resist doing a selfie!
After seeing Bigfoot, we wanted to drive around. The weather was rainy, but we still saw so many hikers and the scenery was gorgeous! So lush and green!
Stopped in here for lunch. Such a good place that has won so many awards! The mac 'n' cheese was homemade and sooooooo heavenly. We finally tried the pimento spread, and it was good! My partner loved the ribs, too.
Next up: The Shawnee Hills Wine Trail! So many winery choices! Everything was beautiful. I can’t believe there are 11 wineries on this trail. Next time it will be an all-day trip!
One of the wineries we visited on the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail. I especially loved the white wine selections here! 🥂✨
As a Mexican, I knew the food was authentic the minute I tasted the salsa here! I was sooooo happy! The margaritas...OMG! And the food did not disappoint as a vegetarian, too - they had a whole section of vegetarian options. Yum!
This was the perfect place to grab coffee before heading out for the day! Lots of drink choices, including smoothies. I had my iced latte and was happy!
Our waitress greeted us with a little bit of sign language! The staff was very warm and welcoming, and there were plenty of yummy breakfast options! Food was great!
It was such a beautiful day, we couldn’t resist stopping by the public beach at Crab Orchard Lakes and got to walk on the rocks and take some great pictures. Definitely worth going on a beautiful sunny day!
So beautiful! Be sure to walk on one of the rock walkways to get a 360-degree view of the lake! Perfect for lounging and photo ops.
WOW what a huge huge huge national forest! So many trails to choose from with different scenic outlooks. We enjoyed the Garden of Gods as well as the Fountain Bluff Overlook, very hidden but so beautiful and SO GREEN!
Such a welcoming place! Even though we arrived super late, they were so accommodating and willing to write back and forth with us and even give us extra pillows!