Last Sunday I took the Rock Island Metra to Joliet to explore the Illinois and Michigan Canal. My long term goal is to walk most if not all of the canal path, but this weekend I set the modest goal of walking from the Joliet Metra to Lockport's Dellwood Park. Along the way I detoured through the Joliet Iron Works ruins, which are no more than a 20 minute walk through downtown Joliet from the Metra Station. The Joliet Iron Works ruins are a developed historical site, with explanatory signs that give the history of the various parts of the site. I found the explanations and history to be interesting and I came away from the site wanting to know more about it. The industrial ruins have a post-apocalyptic quality to them, like they are what remains from some kind of futuristic robot war that destroyed humanity. I spent a couple of hours walking around the site, reading the signs and taking pictures.