Galena, IL

This time we traveled about 2.5 hours from Chicago to Galena, Illinois. As we were driving up to Eagle Ridge Resort we realized just how stunning and diverse the Illinois landscape can be. We experienced plains, waterfalls, and lots of rolling hills. We remember saying “this does not look or feel like we are still in Illinois”. One thing Galena taught us is "Smalltown does not equal small adventures!"

We stayed at eagle ridge resort where they offered: 

• Free non motorized water sports: We chose to rent the paddle boat but they also had kayaks and canoes! Not your style, what about pontoon boats for a slight extra charge! Let me stop before I sound like a commercial. In the end the water sports were super fun because we got to explore the surface of the lake. No submarines available tho. 

• Free trails on the property: Believe it or not but these Illinois trails actually have elevation!! We hiked up a beautiful paved trail to the stony point lookout. This hike offered sweeping views of the river and hills below. This trail is about 1 mile out and back. Very easy for beginners! 

• Thunder Bay Falls: An easily accessible waterfall and creek no hiking required. 

• Hoof-it Galena: Offers a unique hiking experience where you hike with goats!! It was such a fire experience. It was our favorite part because we got to interact with all the goats AND hike, what more can you ask for? They welcomed 4 baby goats a day after we left. Then Thee Jane lynch came by 3 days later with enjoy Illinois, we are so sad to have missed it!

• On site restaurants: Eagle Ridge has two restaurants open for all meals. Our favorite was the breakfast buffet for only $20. They offer everything from fresh fruit to fresh omelettes to French toast, you name it. Dinner was also amazing. You gotta get them beef bites, they were the serious star of the show. 

• Stone Drift Spa: We got relaxing body scrubs and enjoyed the brand new facilities. They had it all, snacks, drinks, hot tub, free toiletries, relaxation room, sauna! Err thang! This is surely one of the nicest spas we have EVER visited!!! 

• Free shuttles into downtown Galena: Explore downtown and its historic buildings. We enjoyed dinner at Embre and dessert at La Michoacana! Then we walked around to explore until the shuttle picked us back up. 

Y’all already know the Apple canyon waterfall deserves a page for itself. It was such an adventure to find it so I will just go ahead and tell the story. We telling you this so you won’t have to find out yourself, so here's the story: 

While checking in at the Eagle Ridge Resort we asked the receptionist about the waterfall photo on the wall. She said it’s in Apple canyon! So we look up Apple canyon on our phones and the GPS leads us 30 mins away to Apple canyon state park. We get there and realize there is no documentation about this waterfall anywhere on all trails or the trail maps. We didn’t have any signal so we couldn’t look it up anymore. We began to hike uphill anyway and we finally found a signal. We searched “waterfall in Apple Canyon”. An address came up and we found out it’s in Apple Canyon Lake (which is different from the park, apparently). I put the new address in the gps. It says it’s about 17 mins away back towards the resort. So we get back in the car salty as hell and go to the address we found online. We get there and it’s NOTHING. We drove around for another 20 mins, So now we are arguing: “Kam, why you can’t drive” and “Chevy, why can’t you google right, don’t you work there”. We pause, I pick my face up off the floor and Kam gets on his phone for 5 seconds and magically finds it. So we drove 3 mins up the road and we found the waterfall. It’s right on the side of a random ass road. So when you wanna find the Apple canyon lake waterfall type these coordinates into your GPS because ain’t no address to nature’s crib: (42.4159288, -90.1670832). Mission Accomplished!!

Do you prefer to see the details in a video format? Check it out here!