Alene Boyer lives in Evanston, Illinois. She is a freelance writer and licensed architect. Her daughter, Zoe, is a freelance photographer. View more of her work at www.flickr.com/photos/zoe_b.
Alene Boyer's Perfect Days
Starved Rock State Park
Just how flat is Chicago? Well, with a local sledding hill called "Mt. Trashmore," it's not hard to get an idea of just how far people will go to get a little topography in this town. But it turns out you don't have to make mountains out of landfills after all. Instead, you can drive an hour and a half southwest of the city, to Starved Rock State Park.