Some top 'plop down' spots in Tri-Cities

We apparently like our rest spots. As a matter of fact, one might say we like being lazy.

Readers shared some of their favorite places to "plop down" for a rest from their hectic lives, or maybe just as part of a normal routine for those who are retired.

Benches were invented for a reason, and those outside of the Hotel Baker and along the Main Street Bridge in St. Charles have some fans, while others enjoy sitting near the Freedom Shrine and Ekwabet statue along the Fox River, just north of the St. Charles Municipal Building.

One less well-known spot was mentioned. It's a bench that's part of a nice garden area donated by the Master Gardeners and St. Charles Kiwanis near the pedestrian bridge between Pottawatomie Park and Salerno's. It's on the west side of Route 31, just south of the Three Fires Council Boy Scout office, about halfway down a set of stairs in the garden setting at the end of the pedestrian bridge. It does offer a nice view of the Fox River and Pottawatomie Park to the east.

In Geneva, some readers enjoy sitting at the Peck Farm property, especially down by the pond on the site. This is especially nice when fall colors are at their peak.

Others simply like watching cars drive through town. That would be the case for those who like resting on the bench outside of the Strawflower Shop on State Street in Geneva, or the chairs outside of Starbucks at State and Third streets.

Another gets a kick out of sitting on the benches near the Rain Main sculpture at the Metra station. Having commuted into the city for a long period of time in the past, I would do that just to sit there and thank my lucky stars that I'm not on the train daily these days.

No one mentioned this one, but it still has its lure: Sitting in a chair or bench along the river in Fabyan Forest Preserve or Island Park in Geneva.

By any measure, no matter where we decide to do it, we apparently enjoy our rest spots.

Those are parties

I thoroughly enjoyed this setup - back-to-back weekends of food fests in our towns.

First on tap was Batavia. It's only a few years old, but the Batavia MainStreet organization has put together one fun event in the annual Block Party it recently staged.

How can you go wrong with a booth serving fish tacos and pulled pork sliders from Gammon Coach House, or another with pizza slices from Pal Joey's? And those were just two of quite a few popular food and beverage booths.

And how can you go wrong with Dick Diamond and The Dusters blasting out Kool and the Gang or K.C. and the Sunshine Band dance songs from the late 1970s?

However, why Dick Diamond was wearing a tuxedo in some pretty significant heat is something we can't answer.

Then last weekend, it was Festival of the Vine in Geneva. This is simply an excellent food orgy.

The food at the Bien Trucha and Gen Hoe booths didn't have a chance with me around. But Gen Hoe really piled on the lemon chicken and fried rice, so I barely had room in my stomach for anything else.

But for the duty of this column, I forced it upon myself to have apple cobbler and maple ice cream from Inglenook Pantry. And there were no complaints about that.

Corfu lights it up

It's almost as if the Las Vegas Strip has hit East Main Street in St. Charles.

OK, that's a bit dramatic. But did anyone ever expect the Corfu restaurant to ditch its long-used menu sign along Main Street and replace it with a digital version?

The eye-catching restaurant message boards are quite common, for sure. But this is Corfu.

Here's to hoping one of my favorite places to eat in the area can attract a few more folks with the flashy sign.

For founding principal

Rosary High School says goodbye to its founding principal, Sister Mary Joseph Weigand, during a memorial Mass at 9:30 a.m. Sunday at the school.

In a fitting gesture, the city of Aurora is dedicating a street sign called "Dominican Way" in honor of the Dominican Sisters of Springfield, which founded Rosary more than 50 years ago.

In new spot

Were you hunting around on Page 3 or 4 of the front section today looking for my smiling mug?

If you are seeing this note, it means you found me in my new home on the front the Neighbor section. I've gone to new schools and new churches, and moved into new homes and new offices during my lifetime, so moving to another part of a newspaper is much easier.

Plus, my Daily Herald editors must have bonked their heads or something, as they suddenly wanted to see double. So my column will now appear Wednesday and Sunday in Neighbor.

Things won't change much on this end in terms of what is in the column. It gives us a chance to use more photos, so that's always good.

But I mostly need to keep hearing from people about things going on, and of course we'll keep our eyes open as well as we make our way around the Tri-Cities region.

• dheun@sbcglobal.net