i am thinking about taking a long weekend with my wife and the car (no kids). looking for destination ideas that would be car friendly...something that would be a nice ride in any direction. somewhere near 300 miles one way from Chicagoland would be ideal. no camping...good restaurants..decent hotel..we don't like to rough it too much. any ideas?????

 

Galena, IL, lots of nice sceneary, and winding roads and hills. Theresa and I stayed at the eagle ridge resort in one of the cottages. Very nice peaceful place. The town is pretty interesting with alot of history.

One place I haven't been to yet that I want to check out is sliverlake sand dunes up in Hart, Michigan. I am going to try to get up there this spring/summer at some point. Looks like a nice place, with a beach and light houses ect..
-=Rick

 

Great idea from Rick

A bit further north but you may also want to check out the Lacrosse area up on the wisconsin/Minnesota border, beautiful area with lots of hills, small mountians.

 

Like your avatar name, what about kenosha wi, is right by the lake
good food and restaurants ,and on the way there you can do all the
stops and shops along 94.

 

http://www.brown-county-indiana.com/

This is about an hour south of Indy. Nice place to go in the spring. Lots of twisties in the area too.

 

I'm planning a drive up to Auburn, IN on April 19 to visit the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum. There is plenty of other museums in the area and some of us are staying over Saturday night to visit atleast one of them before heading home. We have a car coming over from Chicago for this event. You are more than welcome to join us as is anyone else who would like to attend.

Bruce

 

When are you planning your trip>?

 

some good ideas here......we are shooting for late in May.

 

Late May???? Well, there's a track in Indianapolis that is kinda busy around then.

 

Forum Cruise-In in Bowling Green.

Bruce

 

Another bump for Galena. I am actually going up there to stay at my parents house in Eagle Ridge this weekend. It's almost like youre not in Illinois anymore with all the hills.

 

wish I could go but will be out of town.

 

Another vote for Galena. Eagle Ridge is very nice or if you want to stay in a B&B type place, this place is great: http://www.victorianmansion.com/

If you go out there, be sure to take the Stagecoach Trail in at least one direction, like we did for our fall cruise last year. The road and the views are spectacular. http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1825810

From Galena, you can also head west a little ways to Dubuque, IA and go to the riverboat.

 

+1 for Galena, it's great, and in addition to all the other responses the downtown area is very neat with hundreds of shops and restaurants and as Frank said you can gamble only about 15 minutes away at a big Casino Riverboat in Dubuque.

Also, some of the backroads in the Country in Galena make for some of the best vette driving roads around here with tons of rolling hills and scenery within 2.5 hours from you in Schaumburg.

 

I have a place in Lake Geneva. It's two blocks from the lake and we rent it out from time to time. Lot's to do, jetski is included, but might still be a bit cold for that. Might be a bit too big for two people(four bedrooms). The Geneva Inn is a great place to stay and has a great restaurant. Lots to do and lots of nice country roads up around there to go cruising. Galena is nice, but I hate the drive there. Too slow going.

 

Sheboygan is nice. Good hotels, dining, shopping.
Also Door County Wi. is a beautiful area.
If you really want to have a good time, but it's a little farther drive is Nashville. The night life is awesome.
Sounds like a great trip wherever you go.
Have fun.
Tim

 

Ever cruise up the Lake Michigan shore on the Michigan side? The dunes/lake shore up around the Leelanau peninisula is very nice. Nice bed & breakfasts and resorts.

 

make a bee-line to brown county indiana. great roads. spend a day in nashville. lots of fine dining, shopping and artsy shops. take in a show at the lil grand ole oprey. nashville, indiana is one of the top 10 art towns in the country. just keep this a secret. 65s past indianapolis. exit route 33??? search for the quarry from the film breaking away. you'll be in a time warp, a long ways from the hustle and bustles of life in the big city. enjoy.

 

Yeah, that'd be a nice QUIET time!!

 

As others have said, western Michigan is one of the best kept secrets in the midwest. The whole Traverse City / Leelenau area is fantastic. And if you want to go to a really cool "old" place, Mackinac Island (although you can't have any motorized vehicles on the whole island - either bikes or horses) - it's a great getaway. Best thing to do is to get a hotel in Mackinac City (and leave the car there ) and then take the ferry over to the island. And if you want the ultimate in "old" - stay at the Grand Hotel in Mackinac - do a web search if you're interested. They filmed "Somewhere in Time" up there.

BTW - Rick - the Hart, Michigan sandunes are only about 20 minutes north of our cottage. We'll need to set up a "cruise" there sometime!