Kane County Forest Preserves offer antidote to digital world

Medical reports cite all sorts of trouble for those of us, especially kids, who stare at a computer or mobile device screen all day. These problems with eyes, necks and brains are likely to get worse before they get better.

But there are things that don't call for sitting and staring at a screen. Many of those fall under the category of nature.

Scouts and other youth organizations still stress activities in nature, but some events through the Kane County Forest Preserve are set up for the whole family to enjoy.

The forest preserve celebrates the start of spring with its annual Maple Sugaring Days on March 11 and 12 at the Creek Bend Nature Center in LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve.

Naturalists from the district teach kids how to tap a maple tree and create their own maple syrup.

Also at Creek Bend Nature Center, groups of kids can camp overnight inside of the center in the "Bunk with the Bison" program.

An evening hike through LeRoy Oakes is topped off with time around a campfire and then visiting the interactive exhibits, including one about bison, inside the center.

Breakfast is served to the group the following morning before participants pack up and head home.

It's surely something different for your kids to try if they currently spend far too much time in front of screens paying video games or bantering on social media.

Those interested in these programs can get more information from the forest preserve district at (630) 444-3190.

Just embarrassed:

Those who know central Illinois quite well probably are already aware of this. But we have a town called Embarrass in our state, located along Route 16 in Coles County.

So it raises the question. Did they name this town after the Embarrass River that runs by it, or for the state's overall feelings about what goes on in Springfield?

Could be worse:

At least we don't have a town called Mosquitoville in Illinois, though we easily could.

The real Mosquitoville is located in Vermont.

And this is the sort of stuff that catches your eye when glancing through a Reader's Digest.

Just their hangout:

For decades, area residents enjoyed telling the tale of Al Capone stashing bootleg liquor and having weekend parties at his "hideaway" north of St. Charles near the Fox River.

That spot became The Hideaway, a fairly popular steakhouse throughout much of the 1970s and 1980s, but ultimately fell on hard times and closed. New owners Jeremy and Nicholas Casiello have hit a few bumps in the road in trying to secure a liquor license and possibly introduce video gambling at the site. It hasn't been an easy task.

Ironically, Capone and his cronies used the site for that very thing, but skipping the video part, of course.

While Capone gets much of the notoriety regarding the Hideaway location, it was also said for years that his Chicago nemesis Bugs Moran also frequented the spot and even had a cottage home not far from the site.

It's interesting to bring this up during the week of Valentine's Day, since those two crime bosses will forever have their names firmly attached to the massacre in a city garage on Clark Street in Chicago.

But it also means we have some interesting tales to tell around here.

Lived up to hype:

A few readers sent notes thanking me for the information about the sandwiches at Smitty's on the Corner in downtown St. Charles, so I had to stop in to get my own dose of the hoopla over a specific sandwich.

Most readers mentioned the Turkey Berry sandwich at Smitty's, so that's what I ordered.

It was really tasty and is actually probably better on a regular basis than the one I ordered. I always hold the red onion, or just ask that the sandwich be light on onions.

I like onions, they just tend to not care for me very much.

But I could see where the onions play a key role in this particular sandwich.

dheun@sbcglobal.net