Parents of SIUC students traveled from as far as Algonquin and Des Plaines, located in Northern Illinois, to venture into Carbondale bars, tour the SIUC campus and stock up on supplies for their children, all in the spirit of Family Weekend.

Tres Hombres was packed Saturday night with parents and students taking time out to relax and catch up on times the students had spent away from home.

We enjoy the experience of being around the kids, Berta Henning said, who was at Tres Hombres with her husband Roger and son Jason. It makes you feel young again. But of course, we can’t stay out as late as the kids do.

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The Hennings traveled from Algonquin on Friday to visit their son Jason, an SIUC senior, for Family Weekend. They went to the Saluki football tailgate, the Greek Sing and spent time grocery shopping at Wal-Mart .

Scott and Judy Vingren made the trip from Bowling Brooke to visit their son David, an SIUC sophomore, for the weekend. They said it was not the first time they had visited the campus.

David’s sister had gone to school here before he did, said Scott Vingren. We’ve been through this before.

Dean Billups and Noreen Spraggon came from Streator to visit their beautiful, young daughter,’ Tonya Spraggon, Billups said. Spraggon is an SIUC senior.

We arrived today (Saturday) around noon and went to the tailgate, football game and a bike trip around campus lake, which was really beautiful, Billups said.

As Family Weekend wound to a close Sunday, parents milled around the strip, making last minute purchases and catching a bite to eat before the journey home.

Glenn Augustine and Dianna Hammons sported Greek-letter T-shirts printed with their daughter, Heather Hammons’ sorority letters.

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This weekend was great, Hammons said. We got to meet a lot of Heather’s girlfriends that we had only heard about before. Now we have faces to put with the names.

The weather definitely made the weekend for us.

Heather Hammons said they did not have to make the trip to Wal-Mart to stock up on goodies like most of the other parents visiting because her parents had brought a care package with them.

Now we are just going to go back to the house for a while. Then they are heading home, Heather Hammons said Sunday. It’s been a very busy weekend.

Mary Anne Hamann and Wayne Adams were searching for a bite to eat Sunday with their daughter Stacy Adams, an SIUC sophomore, before going back to Des Plaines.

Hamann and Adams toured the SIUC Beef Center, where Stacy works, shopped at Wal-Mart and went to Fred’s Dance Barn.

We didn’t stay at Fred’s too long, Hamann said. We were going to ride the mechanical bull, but there were too many people there.

Adams said he would like to be able to find out in advance when the SIUC Family Weekend will take place next year so he can get lodging closer to Carbondale.

Last year, we had to stay in Mt. Vernon because everything here was booked up, he said. This year, we stayed in West Frankfort. At least we’re getting closer.