The Steamboat House – 605 S Prospect St, Galena, IL 61036
I took a long weekend with one of my Besties for a Girls-Only-Weekend to celebrate our Friendiversary. After a bit of research we discovered a cute looking bed and breakfast, recommended highly on TripAdvisor. This was the BEST decision we could have made!
We arrived in Galena around 3pm and scoped out the location of the inn, we know we are early, but let’s try. It appears dark, I head up the front stairs and there is a note near the bell “Check in 4p-7p Only, unless prearranged”. So I figure let’s wait, they are not expecting us until 4pm. We head downtown to the Welcome Center. We find several helpful pamphlets for things to do, see and eat. We have about forty or so minutes to kill and a big rain storm is coming, so we decide to head over to Culver’s and wait the storm out. Since it was a short drive from the downtown welcome center we beat the rain. Whew. We dive into the pamphlets dog earing the interesting things we see. Before we know it it’s after four and the rain has pretty much stopped. Perfect! Back to the inn we go.
We are greeted warmly by Carol our host for the next three nights. Upon arrival you are handed a set a keys. (One for your room and one for the front door, so you can come and go as you please). A short tour of the house, explanation of where and when breakfast will be served. Shown where and when cheese and wine will be served and later in the evening just outside the guest bedrooms we are told you can find a plate of cookies and hot water with an assortment of teas and hot chocolates. Oh and more importantly where to find hot water for tea and freshly brewed coffee before the 9am sit down breakfast that is served in the formal dining room.
We found the entire stay AMAZING as we were lucky enough to be staying with several wonderfully friendly couples. We spent an evening on the porch chatting with two of the couples. We also spent some time on the porch in the morning before breakfast sipping our tea and coffee.
The first two mornings breakfast lasted a full two hours as all of us guests chatted amicably and devoured the tasty meals that Carol whipped up in the kitchen! On our third morning two of the couples had already checked out the day prior. A third couple remained and several new ladies checked in. We discovered that they were celebrating their 50th Friendiversary. The third couple and the two of us slipped out after breakfast was complete and let them “chat on”. Perhaps they stayed the two hours like we did the previous days. We might never know the four of us checked out immediately following breakfast.
The incredible meals includes: Fresh macerated berries; poached pears; rhubarb tarts; popovers with strawberries and cream; muffin tin egg bake with peppers; overnight baked French toast with blueberries and cream; sausage links, frittata with cheddar cheese, spinach and bacon; egg bake with bread bacon and swiss with a side of potatoes.
Each meal was served on a different set of antique china that was magically set out the night before. I say “magically” because we never caught her setting out the china.
The entire inn was immaculately clean. My guess is between 11am check out and 4pm check in there is some serious cleaning/prep happening. Each day we had new bottled water, coffee mugs and glasses. The bed was remade and new towels appeared.
The location of the inn is in perfect walking distance to downtown. Once we parked the car behind the inn we walked (almost) everywhere. There was one super hot and humid day that after morning shopping and lunch downtown we headed back to the inn, grabbed the car and drove just less than 30 minutes to East Dubuque. Where we took solace at the Crystal Lake Cave. While on tour it was a WONDERFUL 51 degrees! Way better than the humid 85+degrees outside.
If I, or my friend, ever have a chance to back to Galena for a visit we will FOR SURE be booking this inn!