When I moved to Carbondale for grad school, most of my friends acted like I was disappearing into the void.
“You’re gonna be in the middle of nowhere.”
“What is there even to do down there?”
But last month, they all came down for Homecoming. People flew in from Texas. One drove 8 hours. It was the first time we’d all been together in a while, and I knew they were expecting… well, not much.
I didn’t argue. I just made a plan.
We started the day with a hike at Garden of the Gods. None of them had ever been, and honestly, even I wasn’t totally prepared for how incredible it would be that morning.
The sun was low, the light was perfect, and we had the whole place to ourselves for a while. One of my friends just kept saying, “How is this even real?” Another was already texting photos to her dad.
It was quiet, peaceful, and exactly the kind of grounding moment I didn’t realize we all needed.
Then, I told them we were going to a winery, and someone made a joke about boxed wine and red Solo cups. Fair. But then we pulled into Blue Sky, and they all went dead silent.
The first thing you see is this big, villa-style building, warm stone, ivy, balconies. You’d think you were in Italy if the road signs didn’t still say “Illinois.” The vineyard stretches out behind it like something off a postcard.
We grabbed a wine flight and sat on the balcony overlooking the vines. Nobody was rushing. Nobody was checking their phones. Just good wine, fall breeze, and that feeling you get when everything slows down for a second.
As the sun started setting behind the vines and everything turned soft and golden, Carlos Alberto was playing live music just below us, Latin, pop, a little rock. It was perfect. Someone leaned back and said, “I get it now. This place is kind of perfect.”
People took photos. Posted them. Tagged me in stories like “Who knew?!” and “Southern Illinois, you win.”
It felt like I’d shown them a secret. Like for once, I got to be the one hosting the weekend that everyone would talk about later.
I guess the reason I’m writing this is because I didn’t expect that day to be what it was. I just wanted to show them something real, something beautiful that actually felt like this place.
So if you’ve got friends coming in from out of town, and you want to show them what Southern Illinois really looks like (not the version in their heads) take them hiking. Take them to Blue Sky.
Let them sit in the sun with a glass of Chambourcin and figure it out for themselves.
You won’t have to say a word.
