Many of our friends in the Madison area have recommended that we visit Galena, Illinois. “Oh you’ll love it.” they said. So we thought we’d give it a try. We can certainly recognize the appeal of a trip to Galena. It does have a lot going for it, with numerous small shops and antique stores. But for our frugal, adventurous and exploring family, this town fell short of ideal.
Just about 1 1/2 hours from Madison, Galena is a great day trip distance at the end of a pleasant route. We rolled into town and promptly missed the road we needed. Perhaps we just weren’t being observant, but our take-away was that there seemed to be an annoying lack of informative signs.
Thankfully, Galena has a nice Chamber of Comnerce with clean bathrooms. The friendly staff got us headed in the right direction for our first destination, the West Street Sculpture Park (WSSP). Based on the reaction of the employees at the Chamber (one didn’t know where it was), we quickly deduced that this wasn’t a popular site. But it should be!
WSSP is about a 1/2 mile up a steep incline just outside of the main shopping district and it is well worth a visit! The artist, John Martinson, has filled the wooded property with large scale sculptures. There are about 2 acres of land and art to explore for no charge, though donations are welcome.
Tip1: WSSP is not handicap accessible and doesn’t have defined walkways. There are no restrooms or parking lots. Street parking is plentiful.
Our family had a great time hiking through WSSP. It greatly helped revive and refocus our spirit after the car ride into Galena.
We then headed into the main part of town. Immediately, we assessed what was in store for this next part of our adventure. Main Street Galena is a tourist town with boutique shopping as its primary focus. Street parking is available but if you roll into town late, you are going to struggle to find a spot outside of the pay lots.
We headed for a toy store we’d heard about, thinking this would be a great place to take our Bluey. After heading the wrong way up Main Street (again- maybe some signs would help here?), we finally found the shop. But the inventory was mostly high-priced collectible toys, not the thing for our five year old.
We found an ice cream shop and refueled for a further explore of the downtown before lunch.
Planning to stretch our legs on a walking path that bisects the city, we wandered into the Old Blacksmith Shop. Here, our Bluey was fascinated by the free demonstration of metal work. The smith was very informative, talking about the process the whole time he worked and informing everyone of the science involved in shaping steel. We highly recommend stopping at the smithy!
Heading back to the walking path, we were thrilled to discover a fallen tree that we could examine and climb. After rolling down the grassy hills and walking along a raised wall, we headed away from the expensive main street restaurants for lunch.
Tip2: There are numerous parks and river walkways in Galena. We highly suggest that you pack a picnic lunch if your family is vegetarian/vegan. The local Culvers does not offer their typical veggie burger and most restaurants in town are focused on meat.
Overall, Galena seems best suited to an older, or more monied crowd. But the sculpture garden and smithy were definitely popular with our family. We managed to have a good time by finding the places that most people were passing over. But we really don’t think that the average family with younger kids will greatly enjoy Galena.