If you make a trip to La Salle, Ill., you might want to add two more stops to your list:

* The Illinois & Michigan Canal Lock 16 Visitor Center, 754 1st St., La Salle, where you can buy tickets for an hour-long, narrated ride on a canal boat pulled by a mule.

The canal was hand-dug under trying conditions by immigrants, providing a way for people to get from New York to New Orleans by boat via the Great Lakes and the Illinois River. The 96-mile waterway opened in 1848, connecting Lake Michigan to the Illinois River.

In its short life span, the canal revolutionized freight and passenger traffic, and it established Chicago as one of the most important cities in the world.

Boat rides are available from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily, April 17-Nov. 9.

The cost is $12 adults, $10 for senior citizens 65 years and older, $6 for those 16 years and younger

Information: Call (866) 610-7678 or visit www.lasallecanalboat.org on the Web

* Starved Rock Lodge & State Park, Illinois 178 and 71, Utica. The 1930s stone and log lodge here is a great place for lunch. Breakfast, dinner and Sunday brunch also are served there.

The 2,630-acre park is a wonderful place to explore, with woods, waterfalls and 18 canyons carved by years of glacial meltwater. It is home to the state's largest collection of chain saw art, with 30 sculptures carved from trees.

A visitors center offers an in-depth look at the park's history and tells how the area has been home to humans for 8,000 years.

Themed trolley tours also are available.

Information: the lodge: www.starvedrocklodge.com on the Web or call (800) 868-7625; the park: www.starvedrockstatepark.org on the Web or call (815) 667-4726.