Learning Trips is an imaginative travel program for mature learners. It is designed to provide accessible and convenient travel focused on learning.

The opportunities range from behind-the scenes-tours of Peoria-area businesses to cultural and historical trips throughout the region. We also host educational trips to international destinations.

Bradley staff members accompany all trips and serve as your hosts. Additionally we often arrange for guides who provide participants with interesting educational background information about our destinations.

Our trips also make time for socializing. Invite a friend, or meet a new one as we travel together, dine together, and enjoy both the educational and social aspects of this unique program.

Brochure
View a PDF of the Learning Trips section of the Spring ILR brochure. [More]

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Local Trips

Our Commerce Unseen trips are designed to take you into unseen and sometimes overlooked businesses within our own community. Most trips cost $20, which includes the tour, lunch, and van transportation. We typically meet for lunch at 11:30 a.m., tour, and then return at approximately 3:30 p.m. Sue Manley and Wanda Lane will be your escorts. We’ll mail you detailed handouts for each trip with your registration receipt. Please keep the handouts so you can refer to them prior to each outing, and remember to wear comfortable walking shoes for all trips.

Behr Peoria, Inc. This trip is full. Add me to the waitlist.
Wednesday, May 14
Some people recycle aluminum cans and scrap metals because they feel good about protecting the environment. Other people recycle because they earn money from their efforts.  If you'd really like to learn about the business and process of recycling, join us on our tour of Behr Peoria, Inc. located on Clark Street, to learn more about how various metals are reclaimed, sorted, processed, and sold.

Learn why some items are recycled and others end up in the landfills. During our tour, our guides will explain the logistics of collecting and transporting these materials as well as the sophisticated processes that Behr uses to supply the highest quality scrap metals to its buyers. This tour is a perfect complement to the ILR class on recycling.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Lock and Dam
This trip is full. Add me to the waitlist.
Monday, May 19
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Illinois Waterway Project Office located on Grant Street is responsible for all operation and maintenance of 8 locks, plus 7 dams on the Illinois River, and the 9-foot Navigational Channel. They ensure that Inland Navigation traffic transits the Illinois Waterway 365 days a year and 24 hours a day. Over 15 million tons of commodities such as coal, grain, steel and petroleum pass through these locks. Come along with us for a tour that will provide an education as to how the river operates and what maintenance is required to keep water traffic moving on the Illinois River. We will also tour the lock and dam on Wesley Road in North Pekin.

ILR Summer Social and Study
Wednesday, July 9
Please join us for our ILR summer picnic. We will gather at the Grand View Drive Shelter (overlooking Galena Road) for a gourmet boxed lunch complemented by a presentation from Dr. Michael Wiant, Director of Dickson Mounds Museum. This is a great opportunity to stay in touch with the ILR community over the summer—and it's a great excuse to eat some ice cream! Please join us as we continue this new ILR tradition!

Cost $15 includes gourmet boxed lunch, lecture, and conversation. Please register by June 25.

Regional Trips

Small Town Gems: Jacksonville, Illinois This trip is full. Add me to the waitlist.
Woodlawn Farms, Duncan Mansion, Illinois College, Strawn Art Gallery
Thursday, May 15
Join us for another trip in our series of Small Town Gems. Historic Jacksonville is a town with significant ties to the Underground Railroad and Abraham Lincoln. Our visit will include guided tours of Woodlawn Farms, the Governor Duncan Mansion, Illinois College, and the Strawn Art Gallery. Having produced three Illinois governors and the first college in Illinois, Jacksonville is a destination you will appreciate.

In the mid 1800s, Jacksonville acted as a hub for Underground Railroad, sheltering hundreds who wished to escape the horrors of slavery. Several local historic homes served as havens on this journey to freedom, making Jacksonville one of the first such stations in the area and, by far, the busiest. We'll make our first stop at Woodlawn Farms, which is located about five miles outside the city. The site was established in 1824 and was very important to the Underground Railroad.

The Governor Duncan Mansion was built in 1834 for Illinois Governor Joseph Duncan, his wife, Elizabeth, and their growing family. It served as the official Governor's Mansion during his term of office, 1834-38, and is the only structure left in the state that served in that capacity outside of Springfield.

Illinois College, the first college in the State of Illinois, was considered to be an engine of abolitionism. Edward Beecher, brother to Harriet Beecher-Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, was the first president of Illinois College.

Cost: $69 includes charter bus transportation, admission to all sites, private guided tours, and lunch. We will depart at 7:00 a.m. from CampusTown and return at approximately 7:00 p.m. Sue Manley and Wanda Lane will be your escorts. Please register by April 15.

Vaughan Manufacturing, Pella Corporation, and The Brick Yard
Bushnell & Macomb, Illinois
Thursday, May 29
Don't miss this second chance to visit Bushnell, Illinois, the home of the oldest hammer manufacturer in the country. More importantly, the hammers made at Vaughan Manufacturing are sold under a very recognizable name by a major retailer. Join us on this tour to learn about the history and products made by Vaughan Manufacturing. You will tour the facility to learn more about their manufacturing processes.

After a delicious lunch at Chandler 's Restaurant in Macomb, we'll then travel to one of the newest manufacturing factories in the area. The Pella Corporation, which opened its window factory in Macomb in spring of 2006, will be our next stop. We'll spend some time learning about how the company makes its quality windows.

We'll end our day in Colchester at The Moses King Brick and Tile Works, one of the hidden treasures of Illinois. Creatively conceived and constructed by reusing and repurposing historic buildings and kilns, “The Brickyard,” as it is commonly called, presents art-related workshops and events. The Brickyard is McDonough County 's only National Historic District.

Cost: $69 includes charter bus transportation, tours, and lunch. We will depart at 7:30 a.m. from CampusTown and return at approximately 6:30 p.m. Jon Neidy and Wanda Lane will be your escorts. Please register by April 29.

Exploring Emiquon and the Dickson Mounds Museum
Fulton County
Wednesday, June 18
Jason Beverlin spoke at the fall ILR Kickoff luncheon about The Nature Conservancy's Emiquon Project, and this trip is your chance to see the latest developments first hand.

Since the Dickson Mounds Museum is adjacent to Emiquon, we will also learn about how the restoration ties into the discoveries at Dickson Mounds.

The morning Emiquon tour will include some hiking and the opportunity to get the absolutely best view of the restoration project by canoe for those who would like to explore on the shallow water. We are also hoping for the chance to view the Field Station that the University of Illinois at Springfield operates. The goal of this trip is to experience the Emiquon Project and to see the significant ties between Dickson Mounds and Emiquon.

After lunch, we'll go to the Dickson Mounds Museum for a guided tour. The Museum tour follows up on the programs Mike Wiant offered this fall on Archeology/cultural resources of the Illinois River Valley and Dickson Mounds Museum .

For this adventure, please wear comfortable clothing and shoes that are appropriate for our activities.

Cost: $69 includes charter bus transportation, tours, and lunch. We will depart at 8:30 a.m. from CampusTown and return at approximately 5:00 p.m. Carla Montez and Wanda Lane will be your escorts. Please register by June 1.

Taming of the Shrew
Illinois Shakespeare Festival
Normal, Illinois
Sunday, July 20
If you missed all the fun at last summer's trip to the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, you'll have another chance to enjoy a great performance and an exquisite evening this summer.

Having been re-worked as "Kiss Me Kate" and "War of the Roses," Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare's early comedies. You'll enjoy this story of a man who tries to control his very headstrong wife. With plenty of love, trickery, and hilarity, this show is sure to please, and you'll have the best seats in the house.

Dr. Susan Hillabold, who earned her doctorate in British Literature from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, has taught Shakespeare at Illinois Central College since 2005. Dr. Hillabold taught the Shakespeare class for the Fall '07 ILR and will accompany our group to enrich our understanding of the play's subtleties. We'll enjoy a picnic dinner at the venue, a backstage tour, and the performance. Be prepared for a delightful evening of Shakespearean comedy at its best. Please bring a lawn chair for our picnic dinner.

Cost: $105 includes charter bus transportation, backstage tour, picnic dinner, theatre ticket, and soft drinks at intermission. We will depart at 4:30 p.m. from CampusTown and return at approximately 11:30 p.m. Sue Manley, Jon Neidy, and Wanda Lane will be your hosts. Please register by June 19.

National Trips

Presidents from the Prairie: A Tour of Four Midwest Presidential Museums
Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois
September 8 - 12, 2008
Join ILR's own Bernie Drake and Continuing Education Program Director Sue Manley on an educational tour of four Midwest Presidential Museums.  We'll travel to West Branch, Iowa; Kansas City and Abilene, Kansas; Independence, Missouri; and Springfield, Illinois to visit the museums that honor Presidents Hoover, Eisenhower, Truman, and Lincoln.  Visit the Presidents from the Prairie website for more details!