Our big camping trip of 2007 took us west of the Windy City where we stayed at Jellystone Park Chicago. The first thing to make clear is that this campground is most definitely not in Chicago or even in its suburbs. To drive in to the Loop from this campground took on a minimum of about 45 minutes during non-peak travel hours. It wasn't all that bad of a drive, but much of the trip is spent on rural two lane highways until you reach the western suburbs and catch I-55 inbound.
The campground itself was pleasant and well taken care off. There were two pools in addition to a kiddie pool and hot tub along with a mini-golf course, bike rentals, and a nice playground too. Probably the strangest thing we experienced here was the lack of a crowd on the actual July 4th holiday, probably because it fell midweek. I can honestly say that I've never been in a more empty campground on Independence Day.
The campsites were all level and good sized, many of them had full hookups or at least partial hookups. We were quite pleased to see that this Jellystone offered free wireless Internet hookups. The movie theater, wagon rides, and planned activities kept us busy during the rare times we were present to take them in.
The two weekends were very busy with many people from the Chicago area making the short trip west. Because we were focused on visiting as many area kid-friendly destinations as possible, we didn't spend a whole lot of awake time in the campground as compared to some of our other trips.
While the employees at Jellystone Chicago weren't the friendliest we've experienced overall, they were very responsive when we had a minor medical situation that required a late night trip to the hospital for our oldest son. I'll be forever grateful to them for giving good directions on a dark, stormy night and then following up with us the next day with a special visit from Boo Boo.
We would definitely return to this campground again - but be more prepared for the amount of driving required to get in and out of Chicagoland. This park is recommended for anyone on a budget that wants to experience Chicago but can't afford to stay in a hotel or motel.
| Share this post: |
