Just the other day I was driving down the highway near Chicago, enjoying the scenery and keeping a keen eye on the road. I realized then just how beautiful this place is and why has it taken me so long to as they say: to smell the roses.

There is some really nice places around here and I thought well why not write a article on my blog about this area as there seems to be so much to see and if you want to there is also plenty to do. As for this article we will keep it too places we saw and appreciated the rare beauty that is all around us.

For those people that have travelled around the Chicago area this will be pretty much oh yeah we know how beautiful it is and probably don’t really appreciate it as much as we could.
On the other hand for those that regularly drive thru here with eyes peeled on the road and just needing to get to their destination, I encourage you as much as it may be difficult to stop now and then and just have a break. Then you will notice what is around you, and you will be pleasantly surprised.

Let me refresh some of you with a few great places that I thought were worth a visit and at this stage we will keep ouy of the actual city, we can do a lot of sightseeing there all on its own. For now we will concentrate on this lovely area on the outskirts of Chicago.

Some of the places in this area that really had a impact were The little town of Galena at the extreme north western tip of Illinois

A visit to Galena is truly like stepping back in time. Fully eighty-five percent of Galena’s buildings are in a National Register Historic District. Even the scenic beauty of the surrounding hills and valleys is a testament to being untouched by time.

The Glaciers that flattened most of North America during the ice age did not encroach on Northwestern Illinois and the immediate areas to the north and west. Consequently the hills, valleys and bluffs in this Mississippi River Valley area remain intact making it one of the most scenic areas in the Midwest.

Also intact were the rich lead deposits that were first mined by the Sac and Fox Indians. In the late 1600’s the French established trading posts in the area. By the early 1800’s the Upper Mississippi Lead Mine District was established by the U.S. Congress, which paved the way for what would become the industry that gave birth to the City of Galena.

Of equal importance to the city’s growth was access to shipping along the Mississippi River from the Galena River. By the 1850’s Galena was the busiest port between St. Paul and St. Louis often boasting as many as fifteen steamboats at a time docked along Water Street. In 1845 Galena shipped a record 54,494,850 pounds of lead. The population was now 14,000 and the Galena Branch of the Illinois Central Railroad was completed connecting Galena to Freeport, Illinois.

With the decline of the lead mining industry and the start of the California Gold Rush, the population of Galena began to decline and stands at approximately 3,600 today. Although many of the people left, the legacy that remains is a city rich in architectural beauty and history. A history so intact still today, that we are often referred to as the town that time forgot.