THE PLEASANT LITTLE TOWN OF GALENA ILLINOIS

This week we took a couple day trip to Galena Illinois ,,,We had a special guest with us this time,, Mr Ted Connoly agreed to come with us and be our tour guide and our GPS ,,,Ted is a great guy and we enjoyed him coming with us,,,we picked up Ted in Havana and to my surprise his camera gear consisted of just the canon SX40is which makes sense,,, since its a great little camera and easy to tote around (that Ted's a smart feller)
we arrived in Galena After about 16 bathroom breaks for Dozer,,,,wow it was a amazing little town,,, The weather could of been better,, but we work with what ever mother nature throws at us
we decided we wanted to stay somewhere historic so we opted for the Desota house ,,a hotel that some say is the oldest hotel in the USA,,It is know for Abraham Lincoln giving a speech on the balcony and also being Ulysses S Grants campaign headquarters

 our first plan was to visit a long time friend of Ted,, chef Ivo the proprietor of a hot sauce store  which now has expanded into a huge place for sauces,,seasoning,,oils,, jams,, meats and anything pickled you could ever imagine

then we decided to hit the streets and get some window shopping photos and street shots,,,this is where Ted fell in love with the woman of his dreams

with all this driving and walking around taking photos we had worked up a appetite,,,Ted had been telling me about this old world style ,dark, Greek Steakhouse ,,,once again Ted was right this place kicked ass it's called The Log Cabin,,, I got the 1lb fillet topped with a butt load of blue cheese ,,Butch got the prime rib which he said was the best he had ever had and Ted Had the Ribeye,,,,Dozer well he opted to eat down the street at another place he said was great

 After dinner we shot some more street photos from downtown Galena then decided to head to Dubuque Iowa right across the river about 15 miles away ,,,the rain was unbearable so I said hey guys lets go to the casino ,,,I'm going to take in $40 and leave with $400,,,the second $1 machine I played I popped for $580 after sharing a little of my wealth and loosing a bit back I walked out $300 up ,,,,not too shabby!!!! after we got out of there me and Butch decided to hit the streets of Galena we had the tripods set up and was shooting nightshots of the buildings when officer Obby pulls up and tells us to keep our clothes on ,,,didn't know what that was supposed to mean but we got a chuckle out of it

by this time it was getting late and I decided to head back up to our room

The second day weather didn't get much better we had the best hotel breakfast I prolly ever had then we went around town got some more photos of the town
Then we got on the road and took a scenic route Ted had suggested down Route 2 along the Rock River to Dixon ,,Oregon and Sterling where we shot a couple man made river dam waterfalls and a huge statue of a Blackhawk Indian

I hadn't even noticed till Ted pointed out in his photos look at the staircase going down to the river from the statue thats one hell of a climb

last and final stop was the windmills on our way home It was super windy them things were whipping surprised my shot of the blades wasn't blurry