Why Rockford:
I took a last-minute trip to visit my wife’s family in Chicago. Because I only booked flights a week in advance, prices were high. As a result, I looked beyond Chicago and found an amazing $48 fare for a direct flight from Rockford, Illinois to LAX. So random!
Despite being the second largest city and metro area in Illinois, Rockford is best known for being halfway between Chicago and Madison, Wisconsin. As a result, when I attempted to find someone to take me to Rockford for the day and sightsee, I was met with laughter. So instead, I booked a seat on a Coach USA bus. While I would not have a car, I was determined to prove the haters wrong and see at least some of what Rockford has to offer.
August 25, 2024: The Second City’s Second City
My bus left Chicago’s Union Station at 11:45 enroute to Madison, Wisconsin by way of Rockford and Beloit. Shockingly, the bus was mostly full.
After a stop at O’Hare Airport to pick up even more passengers, we arrived in Rockford around 14:00. The bus station was a 15 minutes’ drive from downtown, so I had to get an Uber which was almost as expensive as the bus itself.
My driver was an older man who lived in Burbank right near me for 20 years! He then moved back to Illinois (his original home state) for a job. While he had never been to Rockford, he ended up liking it and has lived there for 40 years. When I asked him for advice on things to do, he recommended the Anderson Japanese Gardens. So, we went there.
The Anderson Japanese Gardens opened in 1978 by local businessman John R. Anderson on the site of his home. He was so inspired by a trip to Portland, Oregon’s Portland Japanese Garden that he decided to build one of his own. He teamed up with notable Japanese garden designer Hoichi Kurisu. In the end they created a garden that is now generally recognized as the top Japanese Garden in the country – even edging out Portland.
The garden is 12 acres, and it took me about an hour to wander, although I am sure many people spend much longer there in contemplation.
The highlight for me was the waterfall.
Afterwards, I decided to walk into downtown along the Rock River. The path was a nicely maintained bike path. It was hot out, but not unbearable. Unlike many other American cities, the river seemed to be a popular spot for recreation. I saw numerous pontoons and jet skis out.
Along the way, I stumbled across Sinnissippi Gardens which sounds like a Mississippi strip club but is in fact an indoor botanical garden. The garden had just closed for the day but I was able to look inside to see the tropical foliage! This must be so fun in the winter.
After an hour of walking, I eventually made it to the outskirts of downtown which stretches across both sides of the river (which is honestly very rare). By this point I was very hungry. Rockford has a number of very highly rated classic restaurants (especially Scandinavian) but most had either just closed for the day, were a few hours from opening or were closed altogether on Sundays.
The most interesting place open was the Prairie Street Brewing Company. The brewery is housed in a historic 1871 brewhouse that is the oldest in the state. After being abandoned for more than 60 years post Prohibition,
Inside, the modern brewery is much smaller than the historic operations and only takes up part of the first floor. But the rest of the building is filled with offices, meeting rooms and private event spaces. The building has been beautifully redone. As for the beer and food, I was wowed! The only annoying thing was the optional 4% fee to cover “fluctuating food costs and benefits to our valued team”. These extra fees really annoy me- just add it into the price of the food.
Next to the brewery is the famed Mary’s Place bar. It is the longstanding community dive bar and popular venue for Rockford’s most famous band: Cheap Trick.
I then walked over a closed pedestrian bridge into the other half of the downtown. It was a seemingly a ghost town. Nearly every business and museum was closed. Then, I kept running into very friendly and smiley Hispanic people. Midwesterners are nice, but something seemed off. Eventually, I noticed that people were streaming out of the arena. I eventually asked a guard: it was the regional Spanish-language Jehovah’s Witness convention.
It was now 16:00 and everything in town had closed. My flight was in 3 hours 45 minutes. To pass the time, I decided to walk to the airport which according to Google Maps was a 2 hour walk away – 90% of the walk was straight along a single road.
The walk started along the sidewalk. Just outside of downtown, I ran into some abandoned commercial areas but also a huge renovation of a gigantic school-sized complex.
Further from downtown, the area became more residential and I passed by the Klehm Arboretum which I would have visited had I arrived earlier in the day.
Past the arboretum the sidewalk disappeared and I was walking in the grass along the busy road.
After passing under US-20 which is essentially a freeway, I waved a car by who was exiting. He then stopped to ask if I was okay (as people only walk here if their car breaks down). After I said I was walking to the airport, the man offered to give me a ride – which at this point was only 1.5 miles away. He was a local farmer named Bob. We chatted about Rockford and the airport for a few minutes before he let me out. I love the Midwest niceness!
Finally, I arrived at the Chicago Rockford International Airport. During the World Wars, this was the site of Camp Grant, the largest military training facility in the country. Today the airport is mainly a cargo hub- it is the 13th busiest cargo hub in the US. In terms of commercial flights, only Allegiant flies out of here. They typically have three flights per day which is less than the number of gates (five).
As luck would have it, my friend Mariah was also on my flight! She was coming from a bachelorette party in Madison, Wisconsin just an hour north. We very much enjoyed catching up in the airport and on the flight. At 21:00, I arrived back in LA.
Final Thoughts:
Rockford actually has a lot to see – my trip did not do the city justice because you really need a car, and a lot of places are closed Sunday afternoons. There are many historic house museums and gardens. There are also a surprising number of classic Scandinavian breakfast restaurants.
While Rockford is far from a global tourist hotspot, it is certainly worth of a day trip for Chicagoans and Wisconsinites.
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