June 8th - 11th, 2007

Galena, Illinois

HIGH 5!

When we married in Galena five years ago, we were so busy getting married that we didn't have much time to actually enjoy the quaint town of Galena itself.  After the wedding, when we were back home, we knew one thing for certain;  That we  would return to Galena for another Hot Air Balloon ride, and we would make sure we experienced Galena and every thing we missed about it when we were there  the first time. 

Friday, June 8th -
It was a six hour drive to Galena from our home in Lafayette, Indiana but before we could check into the motel we had to first stop at the Moon Valley Pet Lodge in nearby Scales Mound to drop the dogs off for the weekend.  The 100 acre farm with its own swimming pond and off leash social time made us feel certain that the dogs were going to have just as great a weekend as we were expecting to have ourselves (and they did  :-)

We stayed at the Grant Hills Motel... the same motel our wedding guests stayed at 5 years earlier.  This little motel is stuck in the past with its old wooden furniture and pink tiled bathroom.  But it has it's own charm which Brian just loves.  It's also affordable and has free morning coffee which Vicki loves just as much.  Add a heated swimming pool and horse- shoe pits and its a perfect little spot to hang out for a weekend.  Vicki thought it was cute that we were checked into room #8, the date of our anniversary  :-)

After checking in, showering and getting changed we drove downtown to the Paradise Bar & Grill for dinner.  We specifically picked this place because it advertised a dart board (which it did have but was not working).  So we just ate dinner and had a couple of drinks then went back to the motel to watch a movie on the laptop.  This was our actual anniversary.  It had been a long day.  We didn't do anything special. And yet we went to sleep as happy and content as we had 5 years earlier. 

Saturday, June 9th -
Morning came bright and early (especially since our bodies were on different time zones) and we headed straight to downtown.  We ate breakfast at the Galena Cafe, tightened our shoe laces and "hit the pavement".  We stopped in almost every single store and looked at almost every single thing in them.  These aren't the typical gift stores that you find in most tourist towns.  These had unique items, furniture, and gift ideas.  Heck, just walking along the street and checking out the architecture of the buildings was a treat in itself.  We walked and shopped for a couple of hours, then stopped at the Paradise for lunch and a few drinks before continuing on to the rest of the shops.  We bought us each a shirt and a few gifts for the kids and wound back at the motel by late afternoon.  

After resting a bit we showered and changed then headed across the river to Dubuque, Iowa.  It was just 20 minutes down the road and home to the Greyhound Track and Casino.  We have been to the horse races in Indy before but we've never seen Greyhounds race so we thought that would be cool.  And it was!  Those dogs run FAST!  It was pretty much the same as being at a horse track so we settled into a table, watched the first couple races and ate dinner while watching our bets on the next eight.  Vicki lost seven of her eight bets but luckily Brian did much better. 

After the races we went into the casino and found a couple of penny slots to play.  Now if you put a 20 dollar bill into the penny slots you get two thousand pulls which means you can play for quite a while.  But you just have to keep in mind that when you win, you only win a dollar or two at a time.  Unless you are Brian and still on your winning streak!  He won three different  jackpots! $60+, $100+, and $70+ dollars.    Thanks to Brian's luck, we were able to brave $50 in a dollar slot machine (which was very quickly lost), buy the $69 hot air balloon lamp (that was initially thought to be too expensive) and make up for Vicki's loses too, as when all was said and done we still had as much money in our pockets as we when we first went in :-D

We were back in town before most folks were even awake so we stopped at the Galena Cafe again for breakfast and then went back to the motel and went to bed! Some time around noon we headed out to the Chestnut Mountain Resort.  Known for it's skiing in the winter, they open an Alpine Slide on the slopes during the summer.  We had gone on one of those slides in Gatlinburg a couple years ago and loved it so we wanted to go again.  We took two trips down the slide which was pretty good size considering it took over a minute and a half to get to the bottom, and then took the ski lift up.  $24 and two trips later we tried to get lunch at the hotel restaurant but they were horribly understaffed and we left after not being waited on for ten minutes.

Somehow we  found ourselves back at the Paradise Bar & Grill for an early dinner. (Hey, they make a GREAT Morgan & Coke  :-) Now Brian makes it a habit of always wearing either a Purdue shirt or hat whenever we vacation and he promises me that SOMEone will recognize the University.  True to his belief, as we sat at our table, a family of four walked in and as the older boy walked past and noticed the back of Brian's shirt he let out a loud yell -  "YEAH!  Boiler Up!"  Brian gave a holler back and we both smiled.  "Told ya so!"

After lunch we walked around and visited the other side of Galena... away from downtown, along the river, through the parks.  We read the history, enjoyed the views, checked out Ulysses Grant's home........

When we were all sight-seed out, we ran over to the casino for another try at the penny slots.  But luck was not on our sides that night and we left about an hour later thankful we were only playing for pennies ;-)

Monday, June 11th -
Morning came bright and early again.  We ate breakfast at Clarks Cafe and took one last look down Main street before leaving. 
   

We had had such a wonderful weekend and while there was probably so much more we could have done we were content in knowing we had accomplished what we had came for.  We had our Balloon Ride and saw Galena in a whole new way.  It was time to pack our bags, pick up the dogs, and head home.
 
 

As we headed out of town we wondered if we would  return to Galena someday.
Pilot Andy expects to see us again in 5 years...