northern/central illinois advice needed

[caitycaity]

I am planning to fly into Chicago sometime this summer and drive to Lake County (destination is near Winthrop Harbor), Jo Daviess County (near Hanover), Lacon, and then back to Chicago. Any advice on nice but relatively inexpensive hotels in any of these areas? Since most of them are really small towns (obviously not Chicago), I haven't been able to find much online. I'm not adverse to driving a little bit out of the way in order to find a place to stay.

TIA!

 

[KarenC]

In Lake County, check hotels for Gurnee, IL and Kenosha, WI. You should be able to find some inexpensive hotels around these towns.

I think Galena is in Jo Daviess County. There are lots of places to stay there--everything from luxury resorts to bed and breakfasts.

Happy planning!

 

[KarenC]

And Peoria is probably your best bet for your stay near Lacon. It's 17 miles away. When I first brought up Lacon in Mapquest, I was unfamiliar with all the towns on the map that came up.

 

[caitycaity]

thanks so much for pointing me in the right direction.

 

[kaseyC]

Gurnee has quite a few of the chain hotels near Gurnee Mills Mall and Six Flags. If I remember correctly, there is a Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn, Fairfield Inn and a Comfort Inn. Wow, that's alot of Inns LOL. I think there are also a few more.

 

[Traveliz]

Lacon and Peoria are on opposite sides of the river - which is ok but there are also some nice hotels in East Peoria that are easy driving distance to Lacon. You should try there as well.

Liz

 

[Chicago526]

try searching for b&b's, especially in Galena.

 

[Jenn Lynn]

Galena is really nice. I would also recommend a B&B there.

 

[KarenC]

thanks so much for pointing me in the right direction.

I don't get to stay in hotels so close to home (if I do it's downtown Chicago) so I can't give you specific suggestions.

I grew up in Lake County, though. You'll drive very near my childhood home on your way to Winthrop Harbor from the airport.

I do have one thought...you might want to check out the hotel on the property of Illinois Beach State Park near Zion. It used to be a Holiday Inn but I think they renovated it and it's something else. It's right on Lake Michigan.

http://dnr.state.il.us/lands/Landmgt/PARKS/R2/Graphics/ilb/RESORT.HTM

 

[caitycaity]

thanks.

i actually am doing genealogy research and many of my ancestors were early settlers of illinois. two of my grandparents were born in illinois.

since you know the area, are you familiar with the henry paddock house in winthrop harbor? henry paddock was my 5x great grandfather and many of his decendents lived around the zion/benton area. one of the things i want to be sure to see while we are there is his house which is apparently now on the national historic registry. even if we can only pull over and take pictures (i have the address, but i don't know if someone lives there or not), i can hardly believe that i will get to see a house that he built.

 

[KarenC]

Sorry, I'm not familiar with the house. I grew up in Libertyville so the Adler House and Cook Mansion are the restored homes that I visited on field trips as a kid.

Zion has a long history as an extremely spiritual community. They have a passion play every year during Lent and all the streets have biblical names.

There is a Paddock family in Northern Illinois that published a number of suburban newspapers which became the Daily Herald. My mother worked for them when they first came to Lake County and eventually became the Managing Editor of their Lake County weeklies.

I hope you are successful in your research. My brother has done quite a bit of it himself. He's visited cemeteries in Ireland and Lithuania looking for our ancestors. He also researched my husband's family to document my kids' connection to Hoagy Carmichael, who was my MIL's cousin. Along the way, he unearthed the fact that my MIL's grandfather had a whole other family before he got her grandmother pregnant and then married her. Oops!

 

[KarenC]

thanks.

one of the things i want to be sure to see while we are there is his house which is apparently now on the national historic registry. even if we can only pull over and take pictures (i have the address, but i don't know if someone lives there or not), i can hardly believe that i will get to see a house that he built.

Our house is 80 years old so there have been more than a few families who have called it home. Once I saw a man taking pictures of our house, so I invited him inside. He'd lived there as a little kid when his dad was serving at the Naval Air Station that used to be in our town. I learned a little bit about how our house used to be (it had a summer kitchen in the back yard and a horse barn where the garage is now).

 

[caitycaity]

He's visited cemeteries in Ireland and Lithuania looking for our ancestors.

i have lithuanian and irish ties too. my great-grandmother was born in lithuania, near kaunas. most of my irish ancestors were from county monaghan. i would love to visit both places some day. i've been to ireland, but only to dublin.

the problem with researching the paddock lines is that each generation had about 20 bazillion kids. henry and his wife rachael are the furthest back i have been able to go in that line, but they had (off the top of my head iirc) 11 children. their daughter that i am related to married what seems like the most itinerant man on earth and they lived all over illinois, missouri, and kansas before i lose track of them.

i have done a lot of research on henry though and he and his wife certainly sound like characters. there are some great stories that i have found.

 

[KarenC]

My Irish ancestors are almost all from County Caven. My grandmother met my grandpap here in the states. I think both their families had been here for a couple generations (my brother would know for sure off the top of his head). After they started dating they learned their families lived a mile away from each other in Ireland. It's a small small world...When my mother and brother went to Ireland, people in the town recognized my mother even though they'd never laid eyes on her.

I'm not sure where in Lithuania my grandparents are from. My grandfather was one of 26 children (2 wives). One of his great-grand nephews moved to NY from Lithuania several years ago. His son googled my maiden name and my brothers came up. Since my brother the geneologist lives in New York, they called him up and have become quite friendly. They went to Lithuania together.