Family vacation 2026

I'm finally getting around to posting about our family vacation from a few weeks ago. It was basically a long weekend from July 2-6. The two of us along with the Feipel five drove to Galena, IL from Fort Wayne (right about 6 hours), and the Minnesota clan drove down in just under 5 hours. We all arrived Thursday afternoon, and left Monday around noon.

This was our third family vacation where we rented a vrbo in The Galena Territory. The other times were in 2017 and 2019. It seems to work out nice for us. It's hard to beat the beautiful views in the rolling hills of Northwest Illinois; Galena is a cool little town with a lot of quaint shops, parks, and paths; and we always put the Owner's Club to good use with their indoor and outdoor pools, game room, fitness center, and courts.

This year a number of our group went on a trail ride at the Shenandoah Riding Center. Jane, Isaac, Drew, Anna, Bennett and Caleb braved an hour ride - and discovered horseback riding uses muscles that don't often get much work! I can't remember the name of their guide, but she did an awesome job - especially considering most of the group had never been on a horse before, and even the ones who had were well out of practice.

Another outing we all did together was a tour of Ulysses S. Grant's home. It was interesting, though a few of us had seen enough before the full tour was over. There were a bit too many people in our party, and it got a little crowded. 

Most of the time we made our own meals - with different people taking turns cooking. One night we did order pizza... I think it was Cannova's Pizzaria (?). Oh my... it was sooooooo good!!!

Other than that, we hired a photographer (JennaDarcy.com) to take some family pictures. She was absolutely fantastic to work with - especially since we had to work around a nasty weather system - and we got a lot of nice pics from Grant Park in downtown Galena.

So, that's the basics. As always, it was much too short, but we do appreciate our kids/grandkids taking time out of very busy lives for the biennial (every other year) gathering.We know it may not be possible much longer, but we'll take what we can get.