Guest Post: Galena by almostfarmgirl...AKA...my friend Cherity

Well folks, you may or may not have noticed that I have, yet again, failed to post every week.  My excuse this time is that I've been busy.  Well, really that's my excuse every time, but I'm serious.  The last couple of weekends (which seem to be my only time to write) have been jam-packed with activities, chores, etc.  On one of those busy weekends, I had the pleasure of taking a trip to Galena with some friends from college.  Cherity, the talented and amusing writer of the blog www.almostfarmgirl.com, is one of those friends.  I've always enjoyed her writing...and her sense of humor.  It was as I was reading some of her blog posts that I became inspired to start my own blog.  She's very good.  She even has followers...like...people she's never actually met that consistently read what she writes.  I'm sort of in awe of that.  So, when she approached me with the idea of doing guest posts on each other's blogs about our weekend trip, I was honored and excited.  Below is Cherity's take on our trip.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and hope you do, too.  And lest you think that I've been lazy and haven't written anything lately, check out my take on the weekend by visiting Cherity's blog.  And while you're there read some more of Cherity's stuff...it's fantastic!

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I think we all have that one group of friends, or I hope we all do: the group with strong ties to your past that somehow manages to be relevant in your present.  These are the people who you can go without seeing for a year and still chat with like you saw each other yesterday. 

The girls in this photo?  They are those people for me.

Left to Right:  Kristen, Katie, Myself, Amy (Apologies to Kristen as she doesn't like this photo.  It's the only one I can find of ALL of us at the same time...)

Once upon a time, we travelled Europe together with two other girls (Joni and Karen), mutually bonding over our collective roles as outcasts in the larger group.  Turns out, being an outcast isn’t so bad if you get to be outcast together. 

During the Fall/Winter of 2005, the four (actually six) of us were together almost constantly.  And, at the end of three months, we still liked each other!  Flash forward to today, and these three girls are still among my closest friends.  We live farther apart than we would like (not as far as Joni and Karen who are probably 1000 miles away…) and only manage to see each other on occasion.  I see each of these ladies individually several times a year…and Katie pretty much literally lives in my backyard, so sometimes I see her several times a day…but, once college ended and real life commenced, we almost never all got together at the same time. 

So we decided to do something about it. 

Last year, we got together in July for our first annual “girls’ weekend” (I use quotes because it’s such a novel idea…and trademarked…we were the first ones to think of this…).  Meeting up in Galena, IL, a town just far enough away to be equally inconvenient for all of us, we began what I hope will be a tradition for a very long time. 

Last year, Amy was pregnant.  Katie and I had food poisoning.  Kristen was transitioning to a vegan diet…I’m just saying we had our challenges.  Yet, somehow, we all had a blast. 

This year, fewer challenges for everyone except Amy…but you can read about that on www.almostfarmgirl.com …  Regardless of challenges, in whatever form they might take, I always have a ton of fun when I’m with these ladies.

So, this trip…

Have you ever been to Switzerland?  If so, well, that’s actually a lot more exciting than Galena, but Galena puts me a bit in the mind of Switzerland…without the Alps…or the chocolate…there is some really good cheese though.   I know that when most of you think of Illinois, you probably think of flat farmland and Chicago (or as one merchant in Greece once said to me,  “Ah, Chicago.  Bang. Bang.  Dead”), but there’s a lot more to it than that.  Galena sits in one of the unglaciated regions of the state.  (Unglaciated is a word.  I checked. )  The landscape, rolling hills dotted with dairy farms and small towns with church steeples, looks more fitted for Europe than upstate Illinois.   

  

The town is known for its rich history.  (No joke, 85% of its buildings are registered historic buildings.)  Once upon a time, it was one of the most important cities in our state.  It was home to a lead mine that produced about 80% of the lead in the country.  (I’m not sure why lead was that important, but apparently it was a pretty big deal…)  It was also a steamboat hub between the cities of St. Paul and St. Louis.  The DeSoto House Hotel, first opened in 1855, is the oldest operating hotel in Illinois and is a prominent feature of Galena’s main thoroughfare.  (Also, just FYI, it’s also one of the only places on the main street that has a public restroom.  The lack of places to pee also remind me of Europe…)

For such a small town, Galena has a disproportionate number of things to do.  Day spas, and shopping, and wineries, some of the best restaurants you’ll find about anywhere.  There are historic homes…and I’m not just talking about “hey, look, this house is old” kind of historic.  Rather, Galena boasts the home of General (then President) Ulysses S. Grant.  During the Civil War, Galena sent not only Grant, but eight other Generals, as well as a whole host of soldiers.  The town is positively steeped in Civil War history, probably more than any other Midwestern city that I can think of.  There is also horseback riding, canoeing…  The list goes on and on and on…

With all that there is to do in Galena, I must say that we probably overdid it last year.  Activities were a bit packed in, and the trip was a lot of fun, but not terribly relaxing.  This year, we were all far more chill about it.  (I have my suspicions that it is mostly because we were all a lot poorer than last year.)

So, we all got in on Friday night.  Much to her surprise, Amy was the first to arrive.  Kristen showed up a bit later.  Katie and I drove together….and we were like two hours later than we had planned.  Absolutely no one was on time because that’s how we roll. 

(Side note, Amy said that all of us showing up later than her is why we are all friends.  I told her that I’m pretty sure Katie and I are friends because our fathers once shared a uterus.  I mean, brothers, not twins, but that still seems to bond people.)

We stay at the Farmer’s Guest House, which is probably the most perfect B&B on the planet…or at least in town. 

The innkeepers are some of the nicest people you will ever meet.  They are unbelievably helpful (and accommodating…two of us, ahem *Kristen and I* show up with the most bizarre food restrictions and they go way out of their way to make sure our breakfast is lovely and tasty regardless). 

The rooms are welcoming.  There is a wall of clocks, which appeals to Kristen’s sense of order.../OCD. 

Also, bottomless cookie jar.  And wine time every evening.  (Even without everything else, they pretty much have my heart at wine time.) 

So, with all of Galena at our feet, we stayed inside on the first night, painted our toenails, and watched “Mickey Blue Eyes” on DVD…

And we had a particularly deep and meaningful conversation about the “this little piggy” nursery rhyme after I thought way too hard about Amy’s Piggly Wiggly shopping bag:

Me: “So…guys…this little piggy went to market…Anyone else ever consider how messed up that is?  Because, if you’re a pig, going to market is a really bad thing…”
Kristen: “And what about  this little piggy went wee wee wee all the way home?  What is that even about?
Amy: “Urinary incontinence.”

(Contrary to Amy’s earlier statement, I’m pretty sure conversations like these are why all of us are friends.)

The next day, after a breakfast that was basically apple pie (which is totally ok, because vacation!), we ran to the store to purchase a picnic lunch, then headed towards one of Galena’s beautiful bike trails.  Kristen and Amy brought their own bikes.  Katie and I rented mountain bikes….

…Guys, they really weren’t mountain bikes.

…I’m not even sure they were bikes, because, I’ll have you know, it was basically like riding a thong.  I rented a wheeled thong. 

The ride was stunning.  I could have biked all day, but after an hour or so, my butt started protesting.

Also, for the record, our lunch was probably the healthiest thing I’ve ever witnessed.  I was thoroughly impressed with us. 

(Ignore the tootsie pops…they are merely an illusion.  Look!  Celery!)

And our picnic spot was idyllic.

There is nothing quite like a bike ride on an Autumn afternoon…

After returning the bikes, we spent our day exploring the downtown.  We shopped, meandered about a wine cellar, and ate.  (By the way, there wasn’t a bad meal during the entire trip.  I pretty much felt like a cow by the time I got home.)

Mostly though?  I got to spend time in amazing company.  I love every trip I take with these ladies, and I truly cannot wait for next year. 

***Check out  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galena,_Illinois for more information on Galena’s history.  I checked multiple sources, but this has the most information available on one page.***