We visited Andrew's family in small-town Iowa this past weekend and made a short Mother's Day trip to nearby Galena, Illinois. What a charming little town! The busy shopping area, on a bright and warm day, was a fantastic getaway from the rain and dreariness we've had in Chicago and Dubuque lately.
With just a few hours to spend, we stuck to Main Street and the beautiful, simple riverfront. Main Street is packed with shops of all kinds: jewelry, antiques, coffee, specialty foods and toy stores. The
Galena Canning Company has more barbecue sauces than I've ever seen, and a lot of tourists agreed with me - it was slammed! We stopped for coffee and orange sherbet, while my mother-in-law relished an Italian soda - it was a treat to see her so relaxed!
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| Main Street |
My favorite shop was the
Galena Garlic Company - their selection of oils, vinegars and spices was really incredible, and the shop owners were so friendly. We've already used the sriracha salt we purchased - delicious! We also bought wasabi salt, and are taking suggestions for recipes.
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| Galena Garlic Company |
While the adults were charmed by the coffee, the cobblestone and the sun, our nieces couldn't wait to visit
Poopsie's. The girls had been so good on our trip that they were each allowed to pick out a collectible plush toy (they carefully selected Sandy, the stuffed ice cream sandwich, and Double Scoop Twin, the stuffed ice cream cone). We headed to the riverfront to relax in the sun before a delightful Mother's Day dinner at the "country Italian" restaurant
Fried Green Tomatoes.
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| nieces on the embankment |
We will definitely head to again Galena in the future - after all, it's far more interesting than Dubuque, Iowa. Hopefully next time we will have time to check out some of the historical sites and museums. Of course, the Galena Brewing Company and the local wineries are high on my list as well!
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