A Breakfast Fit For A President!

 Every year I spend a week or two during the winter with my children.  We try to do something fun every day, even it's just out to breakfast or shopping.  Last year, we went to Geneva, Illinois for an evening stroll on their River Walk and downtown main street (Read "An Evening Stroll in Geneva, Illinois" HERE).  The stores were closed or closing when we were there last year, so I promised myself I would get back there the following year.  The number one item on my list was to eat breakfast at Buttermilk.

Well fast forward one year later, and I was back in Geneva...on President's Day.  We arrived at the restaurant and we couldn't believe how crowded it was on a Monday.  It was a 45 minute wait for a table.  I was shocked.  How do all these people have off of work on President's Day?  Where I'm from, no one but a bank employee would have the day off!

Well, because the wait was so long, Ashely and I decided to go check out the stores I missed the first time I was in Geneva.  And guess what?  They were all CLOSED!  I couldn't believe it!  This was the second time I've been to Geneva and couldn't go shopping.  Whoever heard of a store closed on President's Day?  Had these businesses never heard of "President's Day Sales?"  I was beginning to think I was in the land of Oz, because this certainly was not the norm in the state of Wisconsin.

Although the weather was warmer in Illinois than it was in Wisconsin, it was rainy and I didn't have a coat, so I was quite chilled walking down main street.  I was so disappointed the stores were closed.  I really wanted to get a cupcake at the cute cupcake store I spotted last year!  Oh well, it was probably better for my waist line that it was closed.

Alethea patiently waited in her carrier with daddy back at the restaurant.  She was in a good mood despite the crowd and long wait.

The restaurant's decor is just stunning!  I'd like to redecorate my house to look like this restaurant. I love the modern, fresh, farmhouse style.

This restaurant is famous for the amazing coffee drinks, pancakes, and well, everything breakfast related!  Everything looked so good, I didn't know what to order.  I wanted to taste everything!  I looked on the menu for a sampler platter, but there was none.  There were 'add-ons'..but it would have been too costly to add-on everything I wanted to taste!  I finally decided to order something I would never make for myself at home and promised to return every time I came to Illinois to try something new on the menu.

I ordered "Strawberries and Cream" crepes...and I'm so glad I did!  My, oh my were they delicious!
I made the right decision.  I could never make these crepes at home!

My coffee drink was so good I forgot to take a picture before I had a sip.  It felt so nice to have a hot beverage after a brisk, cold walk in the rain.  This is the "Toasted Almond Latte".

Ashley and Jason both ordered omelettes with a side order of crispy potatoes and gluten-free pancakes.  They let me taste their omelettes and potatoes and they were so, so good!  They also said the gluten-free pancakes were so good they worried they weren't gluten-free!  haha!

Look at all this food!  It was definitely a breakfast fit for a president!

I think next time, I will order an omelette too!  Then I can do the $2.50 add on and try these pancakes!

Well the restaurant was crowded, the weather sucked, the stores were closed, but the food and company was wonderful!  Not much to complain about after all!  I got the most important thing that day:  good food and time with my loved ones.  And, now I have another excuse to go back to Geneva!  haha!

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

An Evening Stroll In Geneva, Illinois

 Last week I spent seven days with my three children who live in Illinois.  Everyday we went somewhere and did something fun.  With the exception of Chicago, Illinois is usually not a state on people's bucket lists.  It really surprised me how much there really is to do in the area.  For the next several weeks I plan on doing a new travel series of my week in Illinois.

My kids live about six hours a way from me, so most of my first day was spent in the car driving to get there.  Once I arrived and we spent a few minutes catching-up, we decided to go for an evening stroll in Geneva, Illinois and then out to dinner.

Geneva is a pretty little town located on the Fox River.  It's main street is filled with quaint historic buildings, cute shops and restaurants, and a beautiful park and river walk.

This amazing building was right next to the river and housed shops and facilities for banquets, meetings and weddings.  It had a breath-taking view of the river.

There was this old-world style patio behind the building.  It reminded me of Europe!

We did arrive around dusk so most of the stores were starting to close, but we were able to pop in and check a few out.

This consignment store was absolutely amazing inside.  The walls were all exposed brick, the floors were old hardwood and even had a trap door on the floor.  Being the curious person that I am, I wondered what this building was once used for and where that trap door led to.

This fun restaurant is only open for breakfast.  It looked amazing!  Someday I will have to go back here...probably with my husband as getting my kids out of the house early enough is quite the challenge.

After strolling the main street for a bit, we headed to the river to check out the river walk.  The first thing we saw was this amazing bed and breakfast located right on the river.

The river walk was absolutely gorgeous.  I don't know if it was the unusually warm weather (it was a rare seventy degree February day), or the fact that we were there at sunset, or maybe the sound of geese returning home for the spring, but it was a wonderful, beautiful, magical night.

The geese were so loud this evening.  They seemed so happy.  I always love seeing all the birds and animals come home in the spring.

 There were many geese flying above our heads all night as well.  Such a beautiful sight.

The river walk has a lovely playground and hiking trail.  We only walked from the bridge on main street to this bridge, then we crossed over the river on the pedestrian bridge.  Can you see the small enclosed bridge under the main bridge above?  That's the pedestrian bridge.  I thought that was so neat.  I've never seen one like this before.

Near the play area was this hollowed out tree.  How fun that it was located right next to the play equipment.  I'm sure kids love to play hide and seek in it!

My son-in-law Jason sure enjoyed jumping inside!

This is the inside of the pedestrian bridge.  You get fabulous, unobstructed views of the river.

From the pedestrian bridge you can see the playground and an old stone bridge.  Isn't the stone bridge just gorgeous?

Of course I had to stop my kids halfway across the bridge to take their picture.  For those new to my blog, the girl is my daughter Ashley with her husband in the center, and my son Jordan on the right.

I accidentally left my DSLR camera at home so unfortunately the picture quality of this travel series won't be the best. 😢

There looked like there was a longer nature hike you could walk or bike past the bridge, but unfortunately it was getting late and we wanted to check out the rest of the town.  Someday, I hope to get back to it.  I also hope to get there a little earlier in the day so I can check out all the cute stores!

It was fun however to be there at night and see the town all lit up.  The lights made it all the more pretty!

All the restaurants and bars were open for business at this time and seemed very busy.  Because the weather was so warm, they even had all their doors and windows open to the streets so we got some great peeks inside!

Is this a fun name for a shoe store or what?

This is the inside of cupcake store.  It had just closed, so I was unable to go inside.  I did see someone walking with a container of cupcakes and they were so yummy looking!  Again, I hope to go back someday just so I can visit this bakery and get some cupcakes!

The town clock tower was so pretty lit up.

And finally, this is a picture you may have seen on Instagram.  It was the window display of a lux furniture store.  Isn't it gorgeous?  My newly renovated master bedroom isn't quite so lux as this one, but it did remind me a little bit of the style I was going for when designing our room.

After our evening stroll in Geneva, we went out for dinner and had some great conversation.  The next day we went to a conservatory and the Lincoln Park Zoo.   I'll share my experience at the conservatory on next week Wednesday's Travel Post.

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!
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