Generally, throughout the state, camping is available year-round weather permitting: Sites with beaches charge $1 a day per person for beach use only. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) does not charge an entrance fee to any state owned or operated land with the exception of Wildlife Prairie Park. It is up to you to choose what level of connection with the outdoors appeals to you - sleeping outdoors in a tent sharing a cabin with friends or family or getting a relaxing getaway with hotel amenities. Illinois State Parks offer a variety of options for a summer vacation stay. There must be better cave tours in Oklahoma.Illinois state parks offer campgrounds for tents throughout the state that appeal to single campers to families. There were several dips in the walkway which caught people in my group off guard. The sides of the cave is lit so you can see the rock formations, but you can't see where you are stepping. It's not, but it is treacherous because the actual walkway isn't lit. Also, they warn that the tour is strenuous. This would allow everyone to see the black alabaster and pulpit rock. Rather than trying to get everyone in and out in less than an hour, they really need to spread the tour times out so that everyone can go through the cave to the cave-in before having to turn back. Alabaster Caverns is one of three places where you can see black alabaster, but you actually can't see it because the tour doesn't go that far. We weren't told that until after we purchased tickets. Unfortunately, there was a cave-in near the entrance which meant we had to go in the exit, go about 55% of the way into the cave, and then turn around and go out to the exit. According to signage, you go in the entrance, tour the cave, and go out the exit. We were at Alabaster Caverns State Park to see the bats and thought it would be interesting to tour a cave. Maybe with someone else at the desk, perhaps someone that cares about their job and the people that come into the park, it would have been a much better experience. We had racoons and coyotes outside the tent a few times looking for food. That being said, when the sun goes down and the bats come out to eat, it is such a cool and surreal experience. I've been to dozens of state parks around the country and I've never had an encounter like that with anyone, nor have I ever seen such a disgusting bathroom in a state park. There was blood on the toilet of the first stall and feces on the toilet of the handicap stall. One sink didnt even work (use the one closest to the door). I put a roll of toilet paper on the roll. The bathrooms are disgusting and hardly function. We explored a bit and read the posters about the bats that they had up but no one ever showed up to give the tour and, by that time, the woman inside was long gone. We did find the sign and it said tours started at the tip of the hour. I told her to have a nice rest of her day after I paid for the sodas and she said, "I will in 17 minutes when I can leave." I didn't even ask about the tours. I went in and was met with, "what do you need?" I said I was just grabbing a few sodas to go with dinner and she looked at another woman in the shop and started laughing about how some people were too good for tap water. We went back to our site to set up and wanted to hike to the lookout with the kids and grab a soda from the shop and ask one more time about the tours. He asked about tours and she told him there was a sign outside and offered no other information so we went on our way thinking we could find the sign soon. When we arrived, my husband went in to check in and, since there is a water spigot by the tent sites, asked if it was potable or if it was just to rinse off dishes. My kids loved the idea of seeing the bats and its why we picked this place specifically while we made our way to Colorado for a funeral.
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