Hey guys (and gals),

We've decided to take our honeymoon to Galena, Ill. for a few days. We're staying at a B&B and was wondering if anyone could recommend a good restaurant and/or things to do (other than what I hope are long days spent in bed). She's a HUGE history nerd, which is mostly why we chose this place, and I'm trying to get a schedule planned out. I'm guessing we'll do our share of just wanderoing around, but if there's something cool to do and I need to set it up, I'd like to get that taken care of soon.

Crap. I just KNEW she was going to make me LEARN stuff on this vacation. Stupid learning.

Oh yeah, the wedding is a week from Saturday!

good luck BI...Galena is a really cool place. i'm an old Illinois boy.

you won't have to go far to find a lot to do there, so i wouldn't plan anything in advance. horse back, golf, gambling, fishing....and a lot of good old fashioned fucking going on there.

good skiing in the winter. chestnut mountain lodge is cool

Oh, I guess I should've said. We're going right after the wedding (end of July).

lots of cool architecture and some really good restaurants/steakhouses and BEER!

Thanks, ajay. I'm looking forward to it. Can you reccommend a particular restaurant?

if you want to go to an expensive but great place: Back Street

What kind of food do they serve? And how expensive are we talking? I want nice, but I want some $$ left over to buy some new toys

it's gonna cost you $100.00 at least for dinner. they have great seafood, but have a variety and great steaks..(i was there 6-7 years ago so it may have changed some).

there's a LOT of places to eat, and a good variety. there's a really good steakhouse (so i hear) there, and a good mexican joint plus many more. the restaurant at the golf course (really nice course) is good.

here:

click on dining

there's a bunch listed here....

bad ida this is for you. been thru galena several times! vinnies right on main st has great italian food. you'll know where it is just by the smell.clark's cafe on main st also has good home cooked breakfast and lunch.if you want to go to a good bar try the iron horse social club in savanna or a place called poopy's just south of savanna.both are biker hangouts! bands on saturday night and sunday afternoons. poopy's has great short order food and a tatoo and piercing parlor that adjoins the bar.also on business hwy 20 just outside of east dubuque is a supperclub called timmerman's that over looks the mississippi river. they're sunday brunch is know all around. you will never see a spread of food like they have anywhere else.probably need reservations for brunch though! if that doesn't interest you ask for the name of the local bar that the town people go to and ask them all your questions. that's what i do if i don't know the place.word of caution though! galena is very touristy in the summer and can be crowded and booked up well in advance.hope this helps. enjoy!! ketch!!

Thanks ketch! We're going to be staying at a bed and breakfast for two days and two nights. One of our dinners is apparently taken care of at a nice restaurant with a 7-course meal. They are also serving us breakfast twice. But I'd like to find two nice, quaint places for lunch with a good, reasonably-priced menu. The last night for supper I'd like to go to some place rather nice, but really don't want to spend more than $100 or so. I want it to be nice, but not break the bank, you know?

I doubt we head into any biker bars, but thanks! It WOULD be nice to find someplace with a live band though. But it'll be a weekday, so I don't know if that would present a problem.

Bad_Ida must have gotten handcuffed to the bed and is having a hard time getting out of Galena.

I WISH that was the case. Though if I pulled out the handcuffs, she'd probably pull out the taser.

Just an update on the food: we were treated to what can only be called a "dining experience" at the Goldmoor restuarant as part of our package deal. Totally a once-in-a-lifetime dinner but well worth it. It's only been open I think less than a year, but the chefs give each person a full seven-course meal. It was only us and another couple celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary and another celebrating their 50th. Each month (or week) the menu changes. We were treated to some amazing (and some interesting) cuisine. For instance:

-Pre-appetizer of some cole slaw dish with an egg thing served on a spoon. (Interesting...not bad)

-Then it was on to a cucumber shooter (cucumber juice) to clean the palate. (blecch)

-Followed by an appetizer of fua gras torchon (goose liver topped with cherry sorbet)...(blecch)

-Next up was the best soup I have ever tasted. Some kind of sweet corn thing the chefs took about 5-7 hours preparing. (AMAZING)

-Then it was on to a lemon drop sorbet (homemade), with optional lemon drop vodka poured over it. Had two of those. (Delicious)

-Entre' was a choice of some fish dish, amazing ribs that my wife had and I tried the squab (domesticated pigeon). (Okay, not very filling).

-Then it was some kind of salad (pretty good, apparently Europeans eat their salads after the entre')

-Finally was the most amazing desert I've ever tasted. Normally I'm not a fan of desert, but this light/crisp amaretto cake drizzled with cherry and bittersweet chocolate sauce was to DIE for. After telling the chef (who was 22) so, he gave me four of them to go. Not expecting to drink much alcohol, I had two glasses of wine, two of the vodka lemon drop sorbet things and a glass of champagne our waiter bought for all of the couples celebrating.

Overall, one hell of a dinner. It took almost 3 hours from beginning to end. Cost was $65 per person, but for $20 more you can sit at the chef's table and watch them prepare everything right in front of you. I'd definately do that next time.

We also went to the Log Cabin steak house, which was good (and a shit-load of meat), but nothing could compare to the Goldmoor. Thanks to everyone for their suggestions.

Crap. Now I'm all hungry.

Wow, you can tell you're in Iowa when that meal was only $65/person. Most places that meal would be in the $125+ range per person.

We were just across the border in Illinois, actually. But you're right. I thought it was a pretty good deal, considering. Even if I did have goose liver topped with ice cream.