Over the Memorial Day weekend I had an opportunity to visit Tierra Linda near Galena, Illinois.  Tierra Linda is a bed and breakfast, but unlike the ones I have visited in the past, there are no antiques, no crystal glasses and really no frills. What there is made me forget about these other things…but first things first.

The house is a simple old farmhouse, nicely decorated and simple; “homey” is the word for it.  There are only two guest rooms, so you don’t have a crowd to contend with, and everything is personal; you get to know people if you want to. It is “pet-friendly” so you get to know their dogs too!

In the evening, we had a cook-out, and while this is not an advertised occurrence and everybody contributed to it, it was more like a BBQ at a friend’s house than anything else, and then there was good conversation around the fire.  Note, this was just a spur of the moment kind of thing and they don’t advertise it, but it happened when I was there.

The grounds, 11 acres of them, are not carefully manicured formal gardens; they are simply natural.  If you like being in nature, this is the place for you. If you are up early, I highly recommend that you find a nice spot out in the property, a nice quiet one to spend some time with the Lord in nature; I sat down by the pond; there’s just something about time with God in nature…

There are little surprises all over the place, and I will be posting many more over the next couple of weeks; it is a treasure chest if you bring your camera!

I arrived in mid-afternoon on a very hot day, and the pond looked so inviting; there’s even a sandy beach…  It is secluded and private and don’t tell anybody, but it looked so cool and inviting I jumped right in!

This blog is not a travel blog, but if you are ever in the Galena area in Northwestern Illinois and you have a pet with you (or not) you might want to check out Tierra Linda at this link.