Perch, Morton Arboretum, #OptOutside: WWW Chicago outdoors

Perch are drawing hundreds, maybe thousands, to the lakefront this Thanksgiving weekend, but there is other stuff going on for this Wild Weekend Wandering around Chicago outdoors.

Not the least of which is the #OptOutside, a push back against Black Friday with a push to instead do something outside. Do it. Find your own outside stuff, even if it is just walking around a park or forest preserve this weekend.

I will admit that every time I read #OptOutside I hear the line from Patti Smith, “Outside of society, that’s where I want to be,” pounding repetitively through my head. And no I am not going to put the YouTube of the song up.

I digress.

But I do have a couple strong suggestions other than perch fishing: watching the sandhill cranes at Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area in Indiana or taking in “Illumination–The Experience” at Morton Arboretum.

But among my faithful readers, the big item is perch fishing, especially at the Southeast Side slips.

As Tom Palmisano at Henry’s Sports and Bait put it, “Elbow to Elbow,” on Thanksgiving morning when he made a pass by North Slip at 87th and the lakefront and found 122 cars parked with some spots vacant where fishermen had already left.

Just before Palmisano texted me Thanksgiving morning, Jim Giglio messaged the photo below and this note:

Figure I might have to put in another round of perch fishing on the Southeast Side.

I already did the sandhill cranes at Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area, southeast of Valparaiso, Ind., on Monday. Boy was our timing perfect. I would highly recommend that over the next week or two. Click here for details on how to do the sandhills at Jasper-Pulaski.

What I am doing big outside this weekend is going with my wife on Saturday to “Illumination–The Experience” at Morton Arboretum.

It’s been a while since we’ve been to the Arboretum, so that alone will be nice, but “Illumination” just looks spectacular. I think I will stock up some brownie points with my wife before getting away several days next week for deer hunting.

Click here for more on “Illumination–The Experience” at Morton Arboretum.

But all in all, find something to do outside over the next few days to work off some of that feasting leftover from Thanksgiving. See what I did there?