A rainy morning

 

I went out this morning hoping to beat the heat for my daily walk. It had been raining most of the night, with thunderstorms, but by morning the rain let up enough for me to go out. I crossed the Fox River on State Street, and then took a flight of stairs down to Island Park, on the East side of the river.

Looking across the river

There was a pretty garden with colorful zinnias in bloom.

A view of our hotel across the river from the park

The river was running quite fast, after last night's rain, and several days of thunderstorms.

A low concrete bridge led to another island, with geese and ducks happily enjoying the wet weather.Where the river branched around the island, the back channels were more calm that the main run, with lilypads floating on the surface.

The stones laid at the water's edge, and many of the park's fixtures are made of the locally quarried limestone, golden and crumbly.

To the south, a railroad bridge crossed the river. It had been fitted out with a footbridge, so I walked across.

From the middle of the span, you could see how high and fast the water was rushing.

It led to a short path through a deciduous woods, then to a pretty neighborhood street.  Many of the homes here have historic markers.

By the time I got back to the hotel parking lot, it was starting to sprinkle again. I hope we'll have some dry weather and more time to explore later this weekend.