Lake County has a lot of towns with unique little downtown shopping areas comprised of boutiques, restaurants and fun areas to browse/walk. Today we went to Long Grove Village to walk around and check out the shops.

As we drove up, I was surprised at the number of stores. I was expecting 15-20 stores, however, I learned that there are actually over 80 shops/restaurants in Long Grove Village. As we started walking around, the area reminded me of a nostalgic, old fashioned town, there were a lot of shops and galleries with cobblestone and brick walkways winding through the shopping areas. The first store we visited was the “Olive Tap”. This store sells oils and vinegars from around the world. I loved that you are actually able to sample lots of different types of balsamic vinegars and olive oils. They had some really interesting flavors. It is great that you can taste them prior to buying a bottle to make sure it is a flavor you will enjoy.

Another store I liked was “Within Reach”. This was a nice boutique that had lot’s of collectables and gifts. They had some really cute children’s clothing that had sayings on them like “What happens at Grandma’s stays at Grandma’s”, etc. Another store with great gifts was “The Tuscan Table”. This store had nice ceramic bowls and other Italian specialties.

We also went into “Paddy’s on the Square”. This store had items from Ireland. I wish I knew about this store a couple weeks ago when I was looking for something to wear for St. Patrick’s Day! After shopping we stopped for something to eat at the Long Grove Café. This is a great restaurant that overlooks a nice pond with a fountain in the middle of it. If it’s pretty now, I can only imagine how great it would look once the weather gets better. We had a great meal and decided to skip dessert, so that we could get something at one of the shops that we noticed afterwards. We went into “Apple Haus” to find something to have for dessert. We had plenty of options, this store has homemade apple cider, breads, etc. We decided to have tiger tails and cinnamon sticks which were great! Before leaving we stopped into a couple more shops. One was “The Fairy Garden” which is a florist. However, they also have a lot of wind chimes, key chains with cute sayings on them and garden type decorations. The other was “Baby, Baby & More”. This store had great baby/toddler clothing which I could not get enough of.

We had a wonderful time in Long Grove Village and look forward to returning to try more of the restaurants, do more shopping and just relax.

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On an average week, I find myself traveling by car between Cook County and my home in northern Lake County at least once. It's sometimes difficult to know which route to take at what time of day, but I usually find myself on some stretch of IL-41 or US 94. 41 is usually a quick shot if somewhat winding, while 94 has some ongoing contruction but no traffic lights to contend with.

Last week I took 41 south after reading about the planned changes to the roadway for later this year. I began at the point which could be the biggest transformation as far as my usage in Gurnee is concerned- the intersection of Route 41 and Grand Avenue. I've heard the ramp design described as "1930's style", and I know it has been unchanged at least since the 1950's, when my father grew up down the road from the four-way stop. The long back-ups on either side of 41 may finally be streamlined, as plans are underway to remove that section of the bridge and modify the ramps into a standard diamond interchange.

I cruised on past the next two major streets in the area, Washington and Route 120, both of which are also slated for renovations that should greatly improve the flow of traffic through Lake County. A two-mile stretch of Washington is slated to be rebuilt between 41 and Great America after 120's bridge over 41 is reconstructed. I continued south past Martin Luther King Drive into North Chicago, and remembered that MLK is also scheduled to be rebuilt between Sheridan Road and Green Bay Road later this year as part of the massive effort. I headed soutwards past the leaveless Oak trees to Lake Cook Rd and back without much incident, and decided that for my next trip I should take 94 south to compare notes.

Two days later I hopped onto 94 and headed south on a trip into the city. I could tell right off the bat that 94 was enjoying its own share of construction, as just past Great America the road slimmed down to two lanes and the signs listed the speed limit at 45 miles per hour. It became apparent as I rolled on that a major overhaul was taking place, as the two wide center lanes were bordered for miles by concrete barricades on either side as teams rebuilt the surface. A little further down, a vehicle resembling an ice-rink Zamboni with whirling brushes on either side roared over a grated segment of asphalt. I passed beneath a Red-Tailed Hawk who watched the procession of cars from a low-lying tree limb as we cruised along. Snow patches lingered on the banks along the roadway, and a sign instructed trucks to use the right lanes. As I passed Lake Forest I reflected on another scheduled change that I'm looking forward to as an avid cyclist- the extension of the Lake County bike path north from Lake Forest into Lake Bluff.

The green markers atop the construction barricades whizzed by in a blur as I continued, and the real scope of the construction project sunk in. Two miles before the 94-294 roadway split the surface widened into four lanes, and signs announced the end of the road work. My return trip northwards took place later in the evening without much fanfare, and crews continued to work the beneath yellow lights. Although it looks gnarled at the moment, I remained impressed by the range of the widely-encompassing construction project. With so much work taking place, Lake County residents will no doubt be appreciative of the upgraded road systems upon the program's completion.

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KeyLime Cove Resort & Waterpark Grand Opening

By: Kelly Skoty

http://kellybelly.net/
http://shootfromthebelly.com/
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Justin and I arrived at KeyLime Cove around 4:15pm. Walking in, I did feel a bit like I was walking into a tropical paradise — the decor was of the stereotypical “tropical/Caribbean” variety and was consistent throughout the entire facility.
Check-in was fairly quick and painless. I received a bunch of pamphlets and information on the resort in my media kit — including a handful of tokens to spend in the RipTide Reef Arcade. Nice.
We also received our RFID wristbands — KeyLime Cove is the first fully cashless (and keyless) water resort. With the RFID technology embedded in the wristband, you don’t need to carry any money with you, which just helps keep up the carefree feel of the resort. The wristband is used to unlock and enter your stateroom, pay for your meals, buy stuff in the gift shop and fill your pockets with tokens in the arcade. You can even buy stuff from the vending machines with a wave of the wrist, which as a technophile is right up my alley. We linked our account to a credit card to automatically charge any purchases, but the better option for parents probably is to pre-fund their children’s wristbands so you can monitor or limit how much your kids spend.

Once we checked in we headed to our room to drop off our bags and check the place out.We were going to stay the night in the Queen Deluxe Stateroom. This is one of the smaller rooms available at the resort, but it’s far from being considered “small” compared to most places I’ve stayed. The room had two queen beds plus a sleeper sofa, so there was plenty of sleeping space for a small family.

The first thing I noticed is that the room still smelled new, like paint and new carpet. Added bonus — there weren’t any weird stains on the comforter… to the contrary, it still had the fresh-out-of-the-bag stiffness to it. It was a bit disconcerting to know that we were the first people to spend the night in the room.

Every room at the resort has an HD television (with standard local Comcast digital cable service) and an iHome in it. The latter was nice because we were able to plug in our iPhones and relax to our own music, and our nightly ritual of falling asleep to music was not interrupted.
What I’ve never seen before is that we had the option to have housekeeping remake the bed or replace the sheets each day to save on water and energy. There was a similar option available for the towels in the bathroom as well.

Here are a few other shots I took around the room: 1 2 3

After we got done checking out the room we decided to spend our free time before the reception to explore the place. The first (and nearest) stop was the RipTide Reef Arcade to spend the tokens we had been given.
The arcade is huge — 8,000 square feet of fun. We played a few games, including my favorite… DDR Supernova. There were a wide variety of games to choose from — a number of “crane” games, Skee-ball (called Ice Ball here), a few shooters and a retro Ms Pacman/Galaga game.
After our tokens were gone we went to explore the rest of the resort. The waterpark was still closed, but we got a good view through one of the many windows that overlook the park. DW Anderson’s was closed in preparation for dinner, and the Paradise Mist Spa was not yet open (though they were offering complimentary neck and hand massages in the main street), and I didn’t see any indication that an exercise room was on the premises. The bulk of the shops were open and we peeked our heads into all of them.

After wandering around and taking some photos, we stopped at the Crazy Toucan Margarita Grill for a drink — I had tried a sample size of their margarita earlier and had to go back for more.

At 6pm we headed down to the first floor and into the waterpark for the cocktail reception. We sat around and sipped a virgin Mai Tai (I think it was sans alcohol, I certainly didn’t taste any). There were a number of tropical drinks to choose from, not just Mai Tais, and plenty of appetizers were getting passed around as well. We snacked on bacon-wrapped shrimp, chicken empanadas, fried plantains with mango salsa, and batter-fried grouper.

Right around 7pm “Famous Dave” Anderson and the mayor of Gurnee Kristin Kovarik addressed the crowd to welcome them to KeyLime Cove.
After their speech we headed over to DW Anderson’s Eatery and Ice Cream Parlor for dinner.
We started off with the onion rings, which came with a delicious jalapeno pineapple sauce. For dinner I chose the Old Fashioned Chicken Salad Sandwich while Justin had the BBQ Burger. The chicken salad was delicious, the bun was perfectly toasted, but the fries were way too salty for my taste.

We skipped dessert — too stuffed from dinner — but there were two ice cream creations that caught our eye. Both of them were “coming soon,” and our waiter Brad said that was because David Anderson had yet to approve them. The first is the “World’s Largest Ice Cream Sundae.” This consists of 85 scoops of ice cream, and comes to your table in a garbage can! If that’s too much for your family to handle, you can order the “Kitchen Sink,” which is made up of only 35 scoops of ice cream and all the toppings you can handle. As indicated by its name, this one comes served in a sink.

When we returned to the room after dinner, the beds were turned down and there was a box of Godiva chocolates on the pillow. Swanky.
We went to bed fairly early in order to wake up bright and early on Friday so we could make it to the waterpark when it first opened at 5:30 in the morning — an ungodly hour especially since we didn’t get a lot of sleep. Because it wasn’t too packed we managed to get on a lot of the rides in a short amount of time. We went through KeyLime Creek (the lazy river) three times, the Hurricane’s Vortex once, and each of the two tube slides (Wahoo! and Screamin’ Banshee) once within about an hour.

All the slides we tried were awesome — I’d never really been into water slides but I’m glad that I braved these.

Sadly, we had to leave shortly after enjoying the waterpark so we missed the grand opening ceremony at 9:30am. The water resort opened to the public at noon on Friday, February 29th, 2008.

My Final Opinion: The resort is geared towards families with young children — this place is perfect for kids and has a ton of activities to keep the tykes occupied. We were completely welcomed by the extremely friendly staff and we definitely had an enjoyable time during our stay at KeyLime Cove. At one point on Thursday evening I remarked to Justin that I totally forgot that I was still in Gurnee with a few feet of snow outside the door. This is the point of the resort — a get-away without having to travel outside of the Midwest.

I have more photos on my Flickr account, so check it out if you want to see some more shots. I should upload a few more soon once I develop the film in my Horizon.

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It was blustery and cold last Thursday evening as I made my way through downtown Waukegan towards the Genesee Theatre. A few years back, a friend and co-worker of mine had told me about how he and his daughter had enjoyed seeing Rain- The Beatles Experience, a band that dresses as The Beatles during various phases of their career and plays their hits, and recommended that I check them out. Although I've been an almost life-long fan of The Beatles' music, part of me has always been a little skeptical about seeing a cover band perform interpretations of the songs that I love; I guess I've always thought along the lines of "if it isn't broke, don't try to fix it". I had been meaning for some time to see the recently renovated Genesee, however, and when I saw that Rain was scheduled to play there, I remembered my friend's praise and decided to see for myself what they were all about.
Although I've been a Lake County resident for most of my life, I had never been inside the theatre, and I was immediately impressed upon entering. Exquisite crystal chandeliers lit the way through expansive corridors with beautifully engraved ceilings. I marveled at the intricate floral pattern on the carpeting, which the theatre brochure informed me was the original design used in the 1920's. The floral theme was mirrored by the ceiling carvings, which displayed a unique craftsmanship not often seen these days. Everything around me contributed to a beautiful vintage aesthetic, and although I had no prior image of the theatre to compare to, my opinion was and is that the restoration was masterfully done. The biggest visual treat, however, hung from the ceiling of the Grand Lobby in the form of an 18-foot Baccarat crystal chandelier, composed of thousands of individual crystals that cast a pleasing glow on the surrounding scenery.
I strolled past the burgundy seats below the balcony and soaked in the ornate decor as excited concert-goers filed in around me. Although most of the audience looked as though they had grown up listening to The Beatles, there were many people in their twenties and thirties, and even a fair amount of younger kids who looked as though they had recently discovered the band through their parents. I settled into my seat and admired the decorations around me- artfully-sculpted columns holding stacks of speakers book-ended the stage, while a golden eagle and an elaborately carved crest with a silver face looked down from overhead. The lights dimmed, and a movie screen appeared showing footage of The Beatles, including a quote from Ringo about how The Beatles will live on after the band is gone. The screen disappeared, the stages lights came on, and the curtain lifted to reveal a strikingly familiar set from the Ed Sullivan show, as four young men in suits played a perfect version of "I Want to Hold Your Hand", much to the delight of the cheering audience. The instruments flowed out crystal-clear from the speakers and filled the acoustics of the auditorium beautifully. The group segued effortlessly through "Hard Day's Night" and a couple of other classics from the period before the curtain came down on the applauding crowd.
After a moment's intermission, the curtain was back up and we were serenaded by the band outfitted in the apparel made famous by The Beatles' popular concert at Shea Stadium. A few hits from the era were played, most notably an excellent cover of "Day Tripper" that had the the crowd cheering and clapping along. Another set brief set change found us gazing upon a display of fantastically psychedelic lights and a kaleidoscopic backdrop as the band launched into the introduction to "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band", dressed in full regalia from the album. The stage was bathed in blues, yellows, and purples as the band belted out more hits from the time period. Mist rolled in gentle waves across the stage floor, further seducing us into thinking that we were back in the 1960's. The background shifted to footage of clouds moving through a blue sky as the band performed the monumental "A Day in the Life", and for a brief moment the experience was so authentic that I forgot that I was watching a cover band. After the song ended, the curtain came down for a brief intermission, and I could tell from the smiling faces around and above me that I wasn't the only one being treated to an entertaining show. With the lights back on my eyes once again traced over the ornamental atmosphere, and I noticed the decoratively painted wreaths around the base of the chandeliers. The lights went back down and the curtain came back up, and the band launched into "Hello, Goodbye" to the cheers of the audience, then continued with more favorites from the era like "I Am the Walrus" and "Mother Nature's Son".
The lights carried a more sober tone as the lead guitarist came forward to play a great rendition of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", earning a standing ovation from the crowd. Another brief intermission and we were greeted by The Beatles circa Abbey Road playing a smooth cover of "Come Together". The audience applauded and clapped along to remakes of "Get Back", "Revolution", and "Give Peace a Chance", before "Golden Slumbers" and "The End" seemed to signal the show's finale. After much applause from the crowd, however, the band re-took the stage to treat us to "Imagine", "Let it Be", and a closing tribute of "Hey Jude" that had the whole theatre on our feet. The show was officially over, and we filed back through the lobby beneath the chandeliers. Once again I felt the sensation of time-travel, this time from the 1960's to the elegant 1920's. As I stepped out into the modern day, the night air off of the lake was chilly but refreshing. Reflecting back on the evening, I rated the total experience as top-notch, and vowed to keep an eye on the theatre's list of upcoming attractions for an opportunity to return.

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