Bourbonnais, IL Outdoor Activities

The gravity-savvy professionals and instructors at Air Indiana Skydiving Center oversee safe and controlled adrenaline rushes every year between late March and early November. In addition to a comprehensive ground school, they also teach practical skills with training jumps that leave from Delphi Municipal Airport. Over time, they help familiarize students with skydiving by leading controlled tandem jumps, instructor-assisted deployments, and accelerated free falls that exit planes from as high as 9,500 feet.

In addition to its staff of instructors, Air Indiana Skydiving Center also hosts a professional skydiving team. The team of pro jumpers can perform demonstration jumps for company picnics or groundbreaking ceremonies for the neighborhood's new wind tunnel.

From May until winter, the USHPA-certified instructors of Hang Glide Chicago spend their weekends accompanying passengers on tandem hang-gliding flights. Flight school sessions acclimate beginners to the sport before they board gliders, which are then towed into the air by a small plane. As flyers are released for their 2,500-foot free flight, they can steer their glider or let instructors guide the way as they take in the surrounding vistas. Students are welcome to bring their own cameras (wrist straps are recommended) or arrange to have their flight recorded by Hang Glide’s HD-panoramic video equipment or their instructor’s photographic memory. Flights take place from sunrise to sunset, and patrons can extend their experience by taking advantage of facilities that include camping grounds, bathrooms with showers, and a lake for kayaking or catch-and-release fishing.

Founders Damien and Rita Gabis, as well as countless volunteers, have built Taltree Arboretum & Gardens into more than 360 acres of forested pathways, themed gardens, and natural amphitheaters. The vast gardens span many different climates, from the Savanna wetlands to a monarch butterfly way station filled with pollen-producing flowers. A miniature train set snakes through a one-acre formal garden, mimicking real-world locations from Michigan City or Santa Fe.

The staff at Taltree leads guests through these luscious surroundings in hosted hikes and tours that explore the grounds and illuminate scientific and botanical principles. From the rose garden to the animal habitats, the tour guides opine on the biology behind their specimens. Guests can even learn to make their own garden with educational classes on how to plant seeds, prune plants, and teach flowers to sing.