GALENA...

Andrew and I had a great time last weekend. Our friend Sue gave us a certificate toward a hotel room at the Main Street Inn and a dinner at a great Italian restaurant in Galena, Illinois. Last weekend was the perfect time to use them.
Galena is an old, historic town in western Illinois just across the river from Dubuque, Iowa. It has become a very touristy little village with locally owned shops and restaurants where we love to go during the holiday season when the entire downtown is decorated for Christmas. A perfect place to do some Christmas shopping for really cool, handmade crafts and one-of-a-kind things.
We set out on Saturday morning just as a major winter storm hit. We had ice, snow and freezing cold temperatures. We had to stop every 10 miles or so to clear the windshield of ice so we could see where we were going. Crazy, maybe, but darn it, we had plans and there was no way we were going to let a little weather spoil our planned weekend. The usual 1-1/2 hour drive took us almost 2-1/2 hours but we made it just fine and without incident.
The hotel was in a very old building and was sort of a bed and breakfast. The owners were very nice and went out of their way to make us feel welcome and comfortable.Here is a picture of our room and a couple of views out the windows looking down Main street and up the hill at some of the old, Victorian homes and buildings that fill the town.The winter storm kept a lot of people away for the weekend, so it was actually nice to not have to push through the usual crowds of shoppers this time of year in Galena. Sure, we had to trudge through some snow and make our way down slippery sidewalks most of the weekend, but it was worth it to not have the crowds to battle. We felt like we had the entire town to ourselves.
Dinner at Vinny Vanucchi's was amazing. Here's a picture looking up at the restaurant from the street below.
By the time we were ready to leave on Sunday, the roads had all been cleared and we got back home safely. We'd spent way too much money, ate way too much food and goodies but we had a wonderful time.
Thanks Sue!