Category Archives: Illinois

November 5, 2015 · 2:21 am

Wedding at Allerton: Monticello, Illinois

Spectacular weather for a wedding on November 1, no less. Almost hot, near 70 degrees and lovely autumn light as Dirck walked Emma out of the mansion at the rural retreat Allerton, past a pond and to the man she would soon marry.

Allerton proved a lovely setting for a wedding, outside and in. The wedding was in a garden overlooking a small pond and a wooded hillside beyond as the sun started to drop. Inside, the festivities spread out across several elegant rooms including a two story library packed with old books, a main hall where Emma had spared no detail in decorating the tables with vintage travel items, orange and teal colors, and a handwritten letter in an old airmail envelope to each and every guest. She also had vintage postcards on a front desk for people to fill out if they wanted and toss into an old suitcase. We even watched the KC Royals win the World Series in the bar room! It was really nice to stay in the surprisingly spacious Gate House at Allerton after leaving the wedding at 1 am. And in the morning, we stumbled into another area of the manse for a goodbye breakfast.

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November 2, 2015 · 11:17 pm

Big Grove tavern/blind Pig Pub/kopi in champaign

Two days later: Let the wedding festivities begin! We drove in misty rain to champaign, Illinois from Des Moines, stopping in Iowa city to pick up our niece. And in Galesburg at Baked for some okay pizza and watery tomato soup.

The weather cleared briefly when we arrived (and is spectacular today for my stepdaughters wedding). My brother and I snuck away to catch up over coffee and chai at cafe kopi (which was cute place although the server erred in asking us to bus our cups when we left. Really? After we each bought $4 drinks?) tacky. (Although we didn’t mind bussing.)
The rehearsal dinner at the big grove tavern was good. Good steak, pork loin, veggies, faro (must add faro to my repertoire). Our room at the new Hyatt place here is really sleek and light and clean (and quiet!) Very pleasant.

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September 19, 2015 · 10:17 pm

The lows and highs of travel today: en route to Portugal

We had a goof cubano tort a too!

We had a goof cubano tort a too!

in the Des Moines airport, our snazzy Swiss Army knife is confiscated by TSA (after we decide not to check our bags, as planned). At ohare, we win a $100 Visa card after I nudge Dirck to try on some pants at a dockers promotion kiosk. Woohoo! On to Toronto!

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July 30, 2015 · 2:16 pm

Boutique hostels in Chicago and beyond

We’re staying at what I gather is called a boutique hostel  in Lisbon. Come to find out they’re all over, including in Chicago. When I was a youngster roaming around Europe, I became a big fan of youth hostels – because they provided not only a cheap place to stay (often in surprisingly great locations) but lots of new friends to travel with. Never understood why they didn’t take off as much in the U.S. (I did stay at a few in Colorado – and have heard good things about the one in downtown chicago.) Now that I’m a bit older, a “boutique hostel” sounds just about right! More here:

The new world of upscale hostels, bridging the gap between backpacker basic and four-star chic, are in prime spots, offering affordable rooms with amenities.

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June 16, 2015 · 1:42 am

Maggie Daley park, Hubbard street dance, Acanto, Neocon, Riverwalk — Chicago

imageMy stay in Chicago has unexpectedly been prolonged, thanks to intense rain that led my 10:15 p.m southwest flight home from midway to be delayed two hours. At which point I was able to reschedule my flight at no cost to tomorrow at noon. Thank you Southwest. (Apparently this is possible after your flight is delayed more than an hour.)

Meanwhile, we had a good day in Chicago yesterday starting with a great performance by Hubbard street dance at the Harris Theatre. After the matinee, my sister and I walked around the new parts of Millenium Park/grant Park including

At Maggie Daley park

At Maggie Daley park

the lovely prairie gardens of Lurie Park and the cool kids playgrounds and  snaking ice rink at Maggie Daley park, although I gather locals were not pleased that old live trees were cut down to  make way for the playgrounds, which oddly feature bizarre dead trees.  We had an excellent dinner outside overlooking Michigan avenue at Acanto, a new restaurant owned by the same person in charge of The Gage, next door, (try the chicken piccata and the Bellini desert- a scoop of peach sorbet in a pool of prosecco.)

Today I went with my sister–in -law, a designer, to NeoCon, the enormous commercial  interior design show at the Merchandise Mart; then I walked along the new Riverwalk east to Michigan avenue. Chicago, looking good. Now if only it would stop raining.image

 

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June 14, 2015 · 2:49 pm

Juliet’s in Joliet

The downside (or among the downsides) of having a famous prison in your town is that this is what the town becomes synonymous with. When we heard our nephew and his star baseball team would be playing in the Illinois state high school championship in Joliet, the first thing that came to mind was “prison.” (The second thing was “Blues Brothers” — the movie that features The prison.)
turns out Joliet has a few other things including a casino (which we didn’t visit) and the silver cross ballpark, a pleasant minor league size stadium with real seats and cup holders, and Juliet’s, a warm and cozy bar that serves decent food in an old building with red brick walls, burnished wood and high stamped tin ceilings. The town (once you get in the old part, east of the nondescript sprawl near I 55) has some charming old buildings and looks like the typical struggling town that has hidden gems here and there, if you are willing to explore. Which we were.
For the record: the comfort inn in east moline was much better than the comfort inn in moline. Room didn’t smell. Mattress and pillows comfortable. Odd decor (wall art here and there, each time featuring two of the same image, hanging side by side or one atop the other. Huh?)

At Juliet's

At Juliet’s

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April 13, 2015 · 6:59 pm

American Harvest eatery/Lincoln home (natch)/FLWright house (surprise!)–Springfield

Honest Abe’s house was worth a visit in Illinois’s state capital but a nearby house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright knocked our socks off. The hour long tour took us all though the rambling Dana-Thomas  house with barrel vaulted ceilings, original FLWright furnishings and even a duck pin bowling alley in the basement. The house was a sight to see! Also had a good brunch at the american harvest Eatery. Now barreling home on Interstate 80 after a brief stop at the always good Oasis cafe for some middle eastern food in Iowa City. Best part about Springfield was seeing emma and rocket (and noah and Rachel!)

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April 12, 2015 · 5:36 am

Aroma curry house/allerton/blind pig/golden harbor in champaign, Illinois

Beautiful spring day in the college town of champaign where emma and rocket were our enthusiastic guides. We met downtown…….

Thumbs up for roger ebert's home town (champaign)

Thumbs up for roger ebert’s home town (champaign)

Blind pig brewery

Blind pig brewery

At the aroma cafe, not to be confused with aroma curry house, in a strip mall outside campus. Where we had excellent South Indian food. Good lunch specials. $7.99 for

Emma at allerton

Emma at allerton

a huge selection of food served not buffet style but instead in individual round trays, each with about eight little round bowls filled with goodies. We also liked the deep frid red spicy cauliflower and onion dosa.

allerton is a huge estate about 25 miles outside champaign near rural Monticello. Built by a civil war profiteer, it’s now owned by u of Illinois. There’s a mansion, other brick buildings here and there, sunken gardens, statues, hiking paths through the woods. We are looking forward to a family wedding there in November.

imageBack in champaign, we enjoyed the blind pig brewery which has a spacious beer garden and warm and woody pub interior.. For dinner we had classic Chinese at the bustling Golden Harbour, where many Chinese nationals attending u of Illinois seemed to hang out. Huge menu, fresh ingredients, big round tables with giant lazy Susans, perfect for sharing lots of dishes. The green beans, tofu and Black mushrooms were a highlight.image

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April 11, 2015 · 2:52 pm

Innkeepers coffee/Galesburg Illinois

Galesburg, Main streetPretty morning here in the central (we think) lllinois city of Galesburg where we stopped for what turned out to be excellent coffee and apricot Danish at Innkeeper’s coffee. Art Deco exterior, stamped tin roof and sunny nouveau Mediterranean vibe inside. we walked a little down Main Street, deserted at 9:30 am and clearly trying to hold on with lots of old storefronts with great tile work, masonry, stained glass, copper…some empty, some with antique stores, remnants of an industrial past. Drove briefly past the Knox college campus, circa 1837,  site of one of the Lincoln Douglas debates (or elsewhere in Galesburg…also home poet Carl Sandburg.)

last night we we had a disappointing tapas dinner at devotay in Iowa city. Mediocre food, small overpriced portions, lacadaisal service. Oh well.stayed at drab comfort Inn (we get a discount) at the edge of the quad cities airport in Moline.  Our view was of an identical hotel (apparently a best western). On to champaign to visit emma and rocket.

Swing leisure apts, Galesburg

Swing leisure apts, Galesburg

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March 20, 2015 · 5:56 pm

When next in Chicago: Hotel Godfrey

Check out Hotel Godfrey in River North – rooms starting at $109, reallly?

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