Galena, Illinois

Nothing better than a day trip with the family!
This trip included my older sister, Ann, younger brother, Levi, our mom, Jill, and myself.
So what is so special about this day trip?
Well, it is only the first time that we have ever been on a full day trip (3 hours in the car each way and the time spent in Galena) with all of us kids and our mom. Yes, seriously.
My family is kind of dysfunctional. I mean, what family isn't, right? But ours is a wee more than most. So yes, for my 27th birthday celebration we decided to head out of town for a bit together.

Me, Mom, Ann at The Atomic Toy Co.

Levi at Poopsies

So why Galena, IL?

It was just a 3 hour car ride each way for us.

The town is FULL of history.

It is haunted.

The shopping is awesome!

The food is wonderful.

It is a beautiful, little town.

Fall in Galena is definitely a popular time. I mean, the town is haunted, so going to do a ghost hunt is a must for any ghost hunter!

The shopping is fun. There are great antique shops that carry so much awesome stuff! I found cigar boxes for $5 (great for projects) old books (can we say "vintage cookbooks"), a brown tutu for my daughter (yes, brown - it's her favorite color and she into wearing a tutu everyday). We ate great Italian food at Vinny Vanucchi's.

Vinny's is a little hard to get into, it was like a maze over 3 stories, but we finally got in and had thee best garlic bread ever...and it is unlimited!

The day was fun. We had some awesome laughs, to the point our stomachs hurt and our cheeks ached from the smiles. We drove around the town and creeped through the old neighborhoods to take photos of all the houses.

My brother decided he should be mayor of Galena and enforce every house go back to the olden days. So "Vote Levi" for mayor. He's wanting to take Galena back to it's roots!

You can tour the Belvedere House and the Dowling House (the oldest house in Galena - 1826)