My Absence

Sorry for my absence this last week! Mike and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary by going to Galena without the kids. This required an inordinate amount of preparation that left less time for blogging. But hey, the trip is going to make a great post! ;)

We left our kids in the capable hands of a young couple we know. They don't have any children (yet). Mike and I did a similar thing before we had children and it was one of the best experiences for us as a couple. They stayed here at our house and from all reports, the kids and them had a great time.

So we left on Wednesday, the 8th. It was a great little drive of about 2 hours to get to the city. We stopped at the Visitor's Center and picked up all the brochures that we could carry. Then we made reservations for dinner at Vinny Vanuchi's. After that we took the six mile jaunt to our lodgings The Goldmoor Inn. We were pretty swanked out at the site of our room. They had romantic music playing and the lights were all dim. We went ahead and sprung for the anniversary package (which included dinner the next evening) so there was a fancy meat and cheese tray waiting for us. The bed was a four poster with a canopy, very swank as you can see from Mike relaxing.



So off we went to dinner a Vinny V's. Now, I am going to truly ruffle some feathers here. I ordered the chicken marsala and Mike got the veal parmesean and frankly we were both TOTALLY disappointed. We had heard it was one of the best restaurants there. I would not recommend it. Everything kind of lacked flavor. But the service was pretty good and the garlic bread was VERY good. Maybe it is just our taste buds?

After dinner we decided to go to the Mark Twain show. Jim West was the performer and he is quite the talented guy. There was some mess up with the person who was supposed to open the theater so he ended up opening it up for us. So we got to meet and chat with him before the show. Everyone's normal til you get to know them is all I have to say. ;) He started the show and we paid at the intermission.



The breakfast the next morning was awesome. I'm going to have to learn how to make eggs benedict is all I have to say. Here we are in front of the hotel before we left the hotel.







We went a couple miles south to the skiing area where there is a lookout point onto the Mississippi. There was the really cool looking swing set in a play ground that we decided to give a try. But we found out you don't really swing on it, instead you spin and bounce, a little. Mike said it was one of his favorite things of the whole trip.



Mike being goofy:


Us with the grand ole river behind us:


So off to town we went to go into all the little shops. Here is a picture of part of the street. It is amazing that all these old buildings are still standing!



We found lots of neat little things, went into a candy store (for the kids, you know) and had a great lunch at Durty Gurt's - a burger joint. I think I gained 5 pounds on the trip even with all the walking we did!

Then we left the tourist trap, I mean, shops and went to Grant's Home. Yep, President Grant. Several townspeople gave him the house when he returned home from the Civil War. Pays to be on the winning side.



View from Grant's home:




We were tired and went back to our room to change and rest before our seven course gourmet meal. Here's what the menu was and the view from our table:

Amuse Bouche
Duck Confit with maple syrup gastrique and red cabbage micros
Cheese Plate
Artisanal cheeses withapple-cinnamon chutney and crostinis
Soup
Roasted butternut squash with smoked paprika oil and smoked sea salt
Sorbet
French mimosa
Entree
(My choice) Grilled boar strip loin with roasted mushrooms bordelaise sauce and red Russian kale micros
(Mike's choice) Roasted quail with black truffle risotto and pepper cress micros
Salad
Rasted pumpkin, cranberries and pecans with micro mix and pumpkin seed vinaigrette
Sweetness
Baked bittersweet chocolate mousse with mocha meringue

It was all very good and different. About the third course, I laughed and called us "foodies" and made a "foodie" symbol (an F in front of the mouth). We're such dorks.



The next morning we headed back home on our actual anniversary, the 10th. We went to the Crystal Cave in Dubuque and that was pretty cool. Literally cool.







We had lunch at a total dive, I mean total dive. But the people were super nice. We took one last little jog over to the Spanish Mine's park and went home.



And that was about it! Mike had a cold the whole time but he pushed through. He's such a good husband. I feel so blessed to have him and to be able to take a little vacation away with him. It was well worth all the preparation. :)