A commercial for Galena, Illinois

Last week the ladyfriend suggested taking a road trip somewhere, and so this past weekend we, along with another couple, took a two-and-a-half-hour road trip west to Galena, Ulysses S. Grant's hometown.

It was a nice change of pace from the usual citylife. I had forgotten how quiet it can be not living in a city, although I was at my parents' house in St. Charles, MO just last weekend. But Galena is Small-Town-America-in-the-middle-of-nowhere quiet. We rented a two-bedroom townhouse at the Eagle Ridge Resort and Spa and relaxed, although we all didn't get as much sleep as we probably intended.

Supposedly the town makes most of its money through tourism (1.3 million visitors a year), and I wasn't suprised after visiting myself. Galena is a beautiful and charming town and suprisingly hilly - almost mountainous. People actually go to the resort to ski. And if you live in Chicago, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, or any large city in the northern part of the Midwest, and you want to temporarily go someplace peaceful and quiet and not just flat farmland, Galena seems kind of like a hidden treasure. However, unless you're an avid golfer or just plain old, I don't recommend spending more than 4-5 days there because it can get a little boring. Nevertheless, I'd go there again for a weekend sometime in the future.