With two midterms coming up this week, Francisco, John, Julie and I decided it was high time to get out of Hyde Park and spend a day away from the city, statistics and political economy. Luckily enough, one of the student clubs on campus was sponsoring a free trip to Starved Rock State Park near Utica. The weather was perfect, and despite the crowds we had a fantastic time.



Here are Francisco, John, Julie and me on one of the trails. Large parts of the forest were still surprisingly green, but we're not terribly upset that it's yet to get cold and gloomy here.



And here are Julie, Francisco and me near the falls in LaSalle Canyon. A bit later, Francisco and I helped "rescue" a kid who fell in just below were we were standing. Luckily the water was only waist deep and the drop small enough that he was unhurt. Cold, though, I bet.






Also luckily, not everything was still green. Francisco was impressed with his first fall (he's from Chile) and John and Julie were happy to be back in a place with seasons (he spent the last few years in Florida, she in LA).

Now it's time for me to get back to studying. The statistics exam on Wednesday promises to be particularly tough, and there are problem sets for economics due later in the week, too. Too bad we couldn't have just stayed in Utica...


Lw