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| - This place is beautiful, serene, and just plain mind-blowing. It was the country estate of one Robert Allerton some years ago, and in the 1940s he donated it to the University of Illinois. Now it is used for conferences, retreats, weddings, and sometimes all of them at once. If you have your wedding here, there's a decent chance you'll have it barefoot, even if you didn't walk in a hippie.
Go there. From Chicago, drive South, and it's west of Champaign-Urbana. Just keep going for about three hours, it's worth it.
It's open to the public for a day of nature walking. Many fascinating outdoor statues. Gorgeous ornamental gardens are like rooms in a mansion that lead into one another. My favorite is the Fu Dog garden, where you get the eerie feeling that twelve pairs of lapis-colored oriental style dogs are watching your every move...
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