If you are going to visit Galena from the Chicago area this summer or fall, the most important thing to remember is not to go to Wisconsin.
This might sound strange to you; however, it is a common mistake made by those heading up here for the first time.
The way to avoid this is when you come to the McDonald’s on I-94 North, about 70 miles outside of Chicago, become alert. One mile past that hamburger haven is a toll booth (make that another toll booth), and 5 miles past that last donation to the state is the first turn off to Rockford. It is U.S. Highway 20 West to Freeport and Galena.
May I also warn you of the speed traps on the Rockford and Freeport Highway 20 bypass? It may still be a four-lane highway, but the speed limit is now 55 mph. We who travel this road regularly fear for our health from all the radar beams with which we have been bombarded.
Imagine missing the turn to Galena, and then getting a speeding ticket. No way to start your visit to our famous little burg.
When you come to the hills, you will notice your body start to relax. This is good-go with it. After all, you are heading for a town where a regular feature in the local newspaper shows a front-page photo of an area farm, and asks the question: “Do you recognize this farm?”
So relax and enjoy the two-lane highway from Freeport into the rolling hills of Jo Daviess County, the northwesternmost piece of Illinois real estate.
If you get to Elizabeth before closing time, be sure to stop at Bishop’s Busy Big Store. It is on the north (right-hand heading westbound) side of the street in the middle of the one-block business district. Bishop’s is an 89-year-old mom-and-pop operation, a pleasant time warp. You can buy food, cowboy boots, shirts, farm clothes-I mean coveralls-children’s clothes, and the price is right. If you are lucky enough to meet with Irwin and Aimee Bishop, slow down and talk with them a spell. You will thank me.
Climbing out of the Elizabeth valley, you will cross the Apple River and then roll up a steep ridge. At the top there is a state-built tower on the right, and the view from the top allows you to views three states. It is worth the stop and climb, and after all it was built with your money.
For the next 10 miles into Galena you should be very careful of wild turkey and deer. An encounter with a 30-pound turkey can do interesting design modifications to your car, so imagine what a 300-pound deer can do. These creatures have a propensity for commiting suicide with automobiles, and you should not have to pay for their depression.
My aim here has been to get you to Galena and the surrounding area safely, and in a happy mood. So you can relax. You are on vacation.
Once you’re there, I can only recommend all of the restaurants because I have eaten at all of them and they all have nice qualities. So I won’t single out places for lunch or dinner. But breakfast is too good a story not to.
Upscale breakfast can be found at The Farmer’s Home Hotel, on U.S. Highway 20, just west of the Galena River. The Baker’s Oven on Main Street has a nice menu, and for an early sugar rush you might try Jakel’s on Main Street. Or for the best of coffee and espresso, The Lost Art Cafe, last store on the right (on Main Street).
For local color, try Clark’s on Main and sit at the counter where you can hear all the local gossip. The most fun breakfast is at the Gold Room, Main and Franklin, where they open at 4:45 a.m. and you can play shuffleboard or electronic games while you wait for your food.
Once fed, the first activity I would recommend is to go down to the Galena Trolley Depot on Main Street, one block south of the historic Desoto Hotel where Gen. U.S. Grant used to hang out. From there, take a trolley ride tour of town. This will give you the lay of the town and its attractions, and familiarize you with the rich history and architectural legacy that draw more than 1 million visitors each year.
This trip, too, can help you plan a late-night walk around the town, which is so very peaceful. We have never had a mugging, except by our public officials, but that is another story.
The Galena Historical Museum on Bench Street with its exhibits on mining, steamboating and the Civil War will bring into focus where the money and power of the beautiful riverboat town came from.
Also be sure and visit the Market House and U.S. Grant Home. Grant did.
Bring your bathing suit. Just 1 mile out Stagecoach Road we have a city water park far beyond our means because Alice B. Virtue died and left the city money for a swimming pool. But by the time the arguments on where it should be located were over, we had enough money for an amusement park-type pool, complete with 156-foot water slide. Once at the pool, you will be struck by the serenity of the surrounding hills. If you did not know better, you would think you were in California.
On the east side of Galena in Grant Park (named for guess who) there are public basketball courts and playgrounds. You can drop your children off there without fear, and just let them hang out. Our main concern with crime in the area has to do with our taxes, but that, too, is another story.
Chestnut Mountain Resort is 8 miles south of Galena down Blackjack Road. It overlooks a beautiful section of the Mississippi River Valley. In the winter, of course, you can go skiing. But in the summer, it has a 2,500-foot Alpine Slide for carts with a 475-foot vertical drop down the hill to the river.
You can see for 30 miles up or down river as you take the ski lift back up the hill after your slide cart ride. Kids love it. Steve Morris, one of our local musician/comedian talents who tours nationally, entertains weekends at Chestnut.
Eagle Ridge Inn & Resort is 7 miles east of Galena and offers some of the best and most challenging golf in the Midwest. It also has rental homes, horseback riding, boating, tennis, swimming, nature walks, et al.
If you want to go for a boat ride on the Mighty Mississippi, the Silver Eagle, a gaming boat, is a short 13 miles west of Galena in East Dubuque. With a little luck, you might leave with more money than you arrived with.
There is lots of entertainment during peak season around the area. Benjamin`s, at Main and Hill in Galena, offers rock and blues bands on Saturday nights.
I like to stay at home during the mild months, so I do live concerts every Friday and “Galena Rose,” a one-man musical docudrama, on Saturdays at a small downtown theater that used to be a garage.
The Main Street Players do “Remembering Old Galena” on selected weekends at historic Turner Hall and offer highly refined theater entertainment at the Sinsinawa Mound Theater, just north of Galena, through October.
Of course, you all know we have lots of shopping, antiques, bed-and-breakfasts everywhere. But you know why people come here.
Because it’s real.
Disney spends billions trying to create atmosphere that we have in spades. We have the hills, the architecture, the ambience and the feel.
And while Galena does have a gate (a floodgate), there is no charge to get in.
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Be sure to call the Galena/Jo Daviess Convention and Visitors Bureau at 800-747-9377 for information before you visit. You will want to make your reservations for accommodations and dinner before setting off.
