Galena Library

On the second day of vacation we drove from Rockford to Galena. On the way we had breakfast at a McDonald's outside of Rockford. We had some of the muffins we brought along with egg McMuffins and the boys and Joanna had coffees. It started to rain right after we finished eating and rained most of the way to Galena. On the way we passed the observation deck which was closed. We got into Galena after lunchtime. The forecast was for rain that night so we cancelled our plans to camp at the Palace Campground and stayed at the Ramada Inn in Galena. They were hosting a Buick Rivera Owner's Convention so there were Buick Rivera's parked everywhere. Our Honda Odyssey was one of the few non-Buick's in the parking lot. Once we got checked in the boys swam for a while in the hotel pool. They had the pool to themselves. Afterwards we drove through town and ended up at the Galena Library. One of our souvenirs was a Christmas ornament celebrating the 100th anniversary of the library. The boys checked their e-mail and read. I looked through the local papers and spotted a CD launch party in the Galena Gazette at the Chestnut Mountain Resort just outside Galena along the Mississippi River. We drove from the library to Chestnut Mountain Resort and we were able to get pretty good seats to the side of the stage. The band was a local band called "The Scavengers." They played for a couple of hours and we bought their CD and listened to it on the way back to the hotel. At Chestnut Mountain Resort we had a view of the sunset over the Mississippi and we saw some deer down the hill. It turned out to be a great night.