Trip to Galena (Sept 7)

For whatever reason, Bobby really wanted to go to Galena.  Oh right, he wanted to see the home of Ulysses S. Grant.  It normally takes about 2.5 hours according to the map.  But no, Bobby wanted to go via the "scenic" route. And so, after a lunch break and taking in the scenes, I think we finally got there within 3.5 hours.  Ha!

Lots of farmland around here.  Pretty "scenic" I suppose :-P

Road trip we-fie!

Here's the house!

Although, technically - he wasn't born here.  It was given to Ulysses Grant by the people here.  He lived mostly in New York if I'm not mistaken:

Anyhow, downtown Galena was small and quaint:

Ha! Charlie is such a fashionista!

No... he did not buy those.  I did end up buying a dress with chickens on it though.  Okay, perhaps I realize now where he gets his sense of style. LOL!!

And then, we have Graham.  "Nothing to see here. It's just another day, carrying a katana on my belt."  Ha!!

Graham was so excited to see actual Katanas (Japanese swords) in this one particular store.  We said he couldn't get a real one but he could get a wooden one instead.  My late dad actually has one.  I was trying to bring it back last year but couldn't figure out how to get it through in my luggage. I'll have to be sure to ship it next time instead from Malaysia!

Well, in any case, Charlie bought a practice "butterfly" knife and I bought a pair of shoes.  Win-win for everyone! :-)

Interesting mural while walking back to the car:

Well, thankfully it didn't take us 3.5 hours to get home. Although pretty close because now Bobby wanted to cross the border to get into Iowa!  We had dinner across the river, although it was just so-so.  The one restaurant we wanted to try would not take us in without a dinner reservation.  Booo!!

By the time we got home, Charlie was already quite handy with that butterfly knife!

What's weird it, I've always wanted a butterfly knife.  I'm not sure why or how I even put that idea in my head in the first place.  Must have been watching some movie once I got to college in the US.  Well, living vicariously through my boys now. LOL!!