I wanted to have a unique experience, relax, and have some quality time with the hubby. Those were my 3 main goals. When determining where to stay, we were pretty limited with out options because we had waited so long to decide where we wanted to go; all hotal rooms were booked! We then came across this Alpaca Log Cabin Adventure resort. I thought: "This is perfect!!!" It was totally something we would never do and looked copy and romantic. The cabins were very small, but had a whirlpool tub and fireplace; how much more romantic could you get, right? Chuck was alittle iffy about the whole thing because he didn't know how "clean" they would be, or what kind of "smell" might be lingering in these cabins. If you know Chuck, you know how he is about cleanliness... Chuck didn't know if he would have felt comfotable staying there for 2 nights, so he looked at other options. He found a room aailable at this hotel called The Irish Cottage. It was beautiful and definitely clean. You pretty much know what you are going to get at a hotel. OUr final decision was that we would stay the first night at the hotel and then the second night at the Alpaca Farm. Yay!
The drive to Galena was not bad at all! From my parent's house it took us about 2.5 hours. We got to the hotel and just crashed for a while. It was so quiet and relaxing. We then decided to get up and do a little sight-seeing in downtown Galena. They are known for their little shops and restaurants. It is just an old-looking town. Many of the shops were closed because it was a bit later, but we did a little window shopping and picked out places we wanted to go to the following day.
The Irish Cottage Hotel we stayed at
After walking around the town for about 2 hours, we decided to go to dinner. We had decided to go to the Irish pub that was located inside our hotel. We were seated in pretty much the darkest area of the whole restaurant, but it was a very beautiful restaurant. They had Irish dancers for entertainment that night. For dinner we ordered onion rings for an appetizer, and I had Shepard's pie for my main entree, and Chuck had the Galeic steak. We were both a little unimpressed with the food from the Irish Cottage, but it was a nice atmosphere. Chuck and I had great discussions over dinner and then decided to go upstairs for the night. Day 1 in Galena had been nice and relaxing so far!
The next morning we got up a little late and then made our way down to the Irish pub where they had continential breakfast. You got to choose a hot item they would make for you fresh and then it was just your typical continentail breakfast items on the other side of the restaurnat. Chuck and I both decided to go with the Italin sausage and cheese omlet. Chuck is not one for eggs, but has been in the mood lately to try new things (food). He took a bite of the omlet and couldn't even swallow it. lol. Still not an egg person I guess. At least he tried!
After breakfast we went back to downtown Galena and visted the home of former president Ulysis S. Grant. I am not going to lie, it really smelled, but it was neat to see some original historic pieces.
The Home of Ulysis S. Grant
After the house tour, we decided to continue our shopping downtown.
View atop a hill of Downtown Galena
Flood gates you had to drive though to enter downtown
Downton
We first went for a wine tasting at the little winery they had there. Of couse I didn't participate in the taste testing. Chuck ended up finding a wine he LOVED. We also bought some wine for my mom and then a bottle of blueberry wine for me after the little one arrives. It was a fun experience and a really cute shop. We also ended up buying some salsa, bread dipping oil, bread, cookies, popcorn, and some gifts for family back home. As we bought something from each shop we asked where the best pizza in town was. 3 out of the 5 people we asked had said this one restaurant becuase they had very "unique" pizzas. We weren't sure if that was really up our alley. We just wanted good, chicago-like pizza. 2 of the shops had told us of this other place, and said they had liked it because of their fresh toppings and crust. Bingo! That's where we went for lunch. The pizza was OKAY. The chesse on the pizza was good, but other than that, it was a bit tasteless. No one can beat Mamichonnis I guess.
After lunch we walked around a bit more and then decided to head to the Alpaca farm! I was so excited! It was going to be so romantic and just a new experience.
The Alpaca Farm
I was in love with the Alpacas!!! Just looking at them made me almost want to pee my pants. Chuck got out to take pictures and every time he held up the camera, they looked away. As soon as he put the camera down, they would look back at us. We then drove down the road to find our cabin. We were suprosed to see that our cabin was attached to another one, but it really wasn't a big deal. We walked inside to check the place out and it was, well, you can see for yourself....
Our Cabin
CHuck wouldn't even sit on the bed for the longest time. He just sat in this little glider they had there in front of the t.v. It's not that the place was "dirty" it just wasn't clean and didn't smell clean. It was a bit out of our comfort zone. We knew we could deal with it though for the day and one night. Finally, at about 10:00 I had gotten so tired, I fell asleep in the bed. Chuck came in too and also fell asleep somehow. In the middle of the night I awoke very frantically because I had heard a noise. I waited up and heard it again a few seconds later. It sounded like something was under our bad chewing in paper. Like a little critter/rodent. I could not fall back asleep! I woke up Chuck and asked him to listen to the noise. He heard it too and thought the same thing I did. We were afraid to look under the bed, let alone put our feet on the floor! I asked him what time it was because I had thought, "If it's likr 4:30 in the morning I can fall back asleep, and we will just leave as soon as possible." Chuck looked at his phone and told me it was midnight. Ugh. I didn't know if I could fall asleep for that much longer. Chuck and I were laughing so hard we were crying. It was just the icing on top of the cake at the Alpaca farm. He asked if I just wanted to leave. We debated this for 45 minutes and decided we could not stay here any longer! In one quick sweep, we gather all of our belongings and packed up the car. We were outta there!!! For some reason both of us were wide awake, so we knew the ride home wouldn't be terrible.
On the way home we had one of the best times of the whole trip. We laughed about the alpaca farm and just had great conversations about everything. It was the perfect way to end our babymoon. We arrived home a little after 4:00 in the morning, hopped in the shower, and hit the bed...our bed. These really is no place like home!
All in all, it was a great vacation had we had accomplished exactly what we wanted to. We made memories, tried something new, relaxed, and spent true quality time together.
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