Blogging from West Branch, Iowa.Northwestern Illinois has much to recommend travelers because it is so, well, un-Illinois like. The glaciers that created the Illinois flatlands bypassed this corner of Illinois, and petered out in the southern part of the state.
Of course this was thousands of years ago, before Illinois existed.
Throughout Illinois, US Route 20 is known as the Ulysses S. Grant Highway. The same road is 95th Street in Chicago and its southwest suburbs. I grew up near 95th Street, but I've only seen U.S. Grant Highway signs west of Rockford.
But that's the scenic part of the highway, so it's just as well Grant is memorialized here.
The picture was taken early this afternoon from the summit of Terrapin Ridge, near the village of Elizabeth.
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3 comments:
Galena is always nice to visit.
Do they still give tours of
Grants home? If so, probably not
in the winter. There was a building
between Galena and East Debuque,
it's on the right side of U.S 20.
It caught my eye, because it is
teetering on the edge of a cliff.
I think it was a hotel at one
time. It has been two years
since I've been to that area of
Illinois, that building probably
isn't there anymore.
How far is East Dubuque, Ill. from
West Branch Iowa?
The Galena History Museum is well worth the visit. It is on the hill above the town and it contains such oddities as the cigar butt thrown by US Grant as he boarded the train to Washington DC after his election and the muddy boots that he left behind that day. The butt was retreived by a local kid who put it in a jar and later donated it to the town museum. The story of the flag from the Battle of Lake Erie alone is also worth the trip.
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