Never underestimate the healing effects of water or mountains. Being a lifelong Chicagoan, I’ve always been drawn to Lake Michigan. When I travel, I look for destinations with water, or mountains, since we don’t see anything vaguely resembling that in most Illinois topography.

Rocky Mountain National Park is the third most visited national park, with 4.7 million visitors in 2019, according to the National Park Service. I’ve visited Colorado many times, but never explored Rocky Mountain.