I drove down my street the other day and saw the first leaf changing for the season. Really? A green leaf on a tree had turned to red already? All of my friends have started talking about their kids starting preschool. Really? Back to school so soon? I started missing summer already!

As I drove east on Liberty Street in Wauconda, sad that the summer was passing quickly, sad that I would soon see boats being pulled from the local lakes, my husband and I decided to pull into Docks Bar and Grill on Bangs Lake. Wow – did that do the trick! It’s like preserving a piece of summer!

I walked up the long ramp to the outdoor seating area (Docks on the Rocks) to a 6600 square foot deck – dressed in Tiki Bar motif…palm trees included! Their motto is “Come for the Food, Stay for the View”. It was wonderful! I felt like I was on vacation and it was 9 minutes from my home!

We started dinner with the calamari and crab cakes (to go with the whole island theme) and they were quite tasty! I LOVED the Apple Pear Walnut Salad on the menu; apples, pears, baby mixed greens with bleu cheese, cranberries and candied walnuts, all drizzled with raspberry vinaigrette. Hmmm, just writing about it makes me want to go back again.

Did I tell you about the view? The deck has a panoramic view overlooking Bangs Lake. It was incredible. We actually changed seats after dinner to go to a barstool on the lake side and continued to enjoy the second half of the evening.

If the view and the food aren’t enough to entice you (Huh? I don’t get that…), then let’s talk entertainment. There is live entertainment on Friday and Saturday in the bar and Saturday and Sunday on Docks on the Rocks. This weekend’s bands include: The MIX, TRIAD and Beach Bums, ranging from 90’s dance music to Carribean rock, Reggae and Calypso. Again I say…NO…summer is not going anywhere!

One upcoming event deserves mention, One Swingin’ Night – September 19th. From their press release, “Critics claim “One Swingin’ Night,” performed by The Chicago Rat Pack, is as close as any person could come to experiencing the original Rat Pack. A show that Must Be Seen!” Jack D’Amico (as Frank), Lawrence Evening (as Sammy) and Tony Ocean (as Dean) will perform a reproduction of the 1965 Villa Venice Show.

Italian Buffet with dessert begins the evening at 7pm. Frank Pisani “The Man of a 1000 Voices” performs at 8pm and One Swingin’ Night begins at 9p. Reservations are required so don’t delay.

If you need to hold on to a little bit of summer, or just feel like you are enjoying a vacation, head on over to the view on Bangs Lake – Docks Bar & Grill. I wish I could say to tell them Judi sent you, but they don’t know me…yet. I’ll be back! See www.docksbarandgrill.com for more details.

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The end of summer is here, which also means another year of Gurnee Days! We attended for the second year in a row and had a great time again. We were able to do and see more this year and our daughter was at a better age this year to really enjoy the festivities.

We headed over to Viking Park on Friday early evening. Since the rides had just opened it was the perfect time to go because there weren’t lines and it wasn’t super crowded which made it a little less intimidating for Reese. They had some different rides this year which was nice.

After the rides, we found a spot to sit by the stage to watch Gurnee Idol. This was my favorite part of the weekend. I am a big fan of American Idol and it was set-up similarly. They had 9 contestants and after each performed there were judges who gave their comments. At the end, the winner from last year returned to perform and then they announced the new winner. There was some great talent!

On Saturday night we watched the fireworks show. What an amazing show. One thing that was different than most fireworks shows we’ve seen is that they had almost two shows going on at once. One with fireworks lower to the ground and another set that were higher so you were able to see way more fireworks at once and it made for a great show. The finale was also great with lots of fireworks for a decent amount of time.

Another thing that I really enjoyed were the booths that were set-up with people from the local businesses around Gurnee. For the food booths they had Timothy O’Toole’s and Jersey Mike’s which are two new restaurants to the area among others. There were also many other booth’s set-up by local businesses as well. Reese’s favorite booth was one for a church in Gurnee, they had free face painting and the kids were able to make necklaces too. There was live music being played throughout the festivities which we enjoyed.

We were also able to see the parade again this year. We weren’t disappointed. It was a great parade with some nice floats and entertaining bands, etc. The kids of course loved all the candy that was being thrown.

We were glad to be able to partake in so many of the events at Gurnee Days this year. It was a great time and really a fun weekend for the whole family.

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August 1st and 2nd marked the 5th annual Greek Days held in Long Grove. Everywhere you turned you saw the familiar blue and white striped flag of Greece!

We arrived right at the beginning of the event and immediately heard music coming from tents in the Mill Pond area. The dancing began as soon as folks were setting things up. And I don’t mean “dancers”…as in someone hired to entertain the crowd. I mean men that were cooking a lamb on a rotisserie, men that were selling souvenirs, men that were serving gyros and Greek salads, as soon as they heard the music!

Picture it: the music from Terran’s Greek Band begins. You hear the sounds of a drum, guitar and bouzouki (peaked your curiosity, didn’t I?). A bouzouki is part of the lute or mandolin family; a long-necked pear-shaped stringed instrument. OK, back to the picture in your mind…you hear the drum, the guitar and the bouzouki and all of a sudden, men start raising their arms, horizontally outstretched, and snapping their fingers to the rhythm of the drum. It was fantastic.

May I tell you that the food was incredible! Bill Hristakos, owner of the Long Grove Café hosts the event. The café had the lam on the rotisserie and there was also a booth serving gyros, shish-kabob, Chicken Divine, sausage, Greek salad and much more. We ordered the sampler and were full and content! It was SO yummy!!

Dessert was in the next booth and they served ice cream AND traditional baklava…plain and dipped in chocolate. We had to try both. Funny enough, we had a couple people try to take it as they walked by. I was ready for them though…I would have tripped them and got it back.

Folks did NOT wait to break out the Ouzo, so even more people began to dance shortly after…what fun!

I think the best part of the day (aside from great music, even better food and fun jewelry to purchase) was the “banter” between the men at a few of the different booths. They called out to the potential customers, “SHISH-KABOBS HERE…THE BEST THE BEST!”

I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I am finding that I LOVE the festivals of Long Grove. If the Wine and Art Fest (THIS WEEKEND 8/15-8/16) is anything like Greek Days, you have to make plans to be there! Visit the Long Grove website (http://www.longgroveonline.com/) for other future events. Irish Days are just around the corner too!

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Have you ever seen the movie Field of Dreams? Do you remember the last scene of the movie, after they have built the baseball field into the cornfield, there is a LONG line of cars, just waiting to come in? It is what they said would happen if they listened to the voice that said, “If you build it he will come.”


Well, let me tell you that Lake County listened to the voice. They built it. And they came!


Last week was the Lake County Fair, in its new digs, at the corner of 137 and Midlothian. The site is expansive! It’s simply HUGE! There was a place for everything. It was beautifully laid out. There were thousands of people in attendance and it never once felt over crowded.


There were so many things to do throughout the day, every day. We saw the judging of horses, demolition derby, dirt bike riders…things you just don’t get the opportunity to see every day. We had a blast.


When we got there, I HAD to have one of those lemon chills. They are simply my favorite! Very refreshing (and sweet) on a warm and sunny afternoon! We also had the pork chops and the pizza. They were both quite tasty and HUGE!


There was a really fun interactive play area for younger kids, toward the stable area. Maggie, our daughter was able to milk a cow (simulated), pick produce from a pretend garden and sort it for the farmer and grocery stores. She LOVED it! One of her favorite things to do was to walk around the stables and see all of the animals including; cows, horses (Clydesdales) sheep, goats, pigs, rabbits, alpacas and even a couple camels!


There were carnival rides and games for kids, exhibitors and vendors inside, shows and a ton of food! It made for a fantastic morning and afternoon for our family. Our little one had so much fun that while eating a yummy piece of corn on the cob, she actually fell asleep!!

It seems like this fair just keeps getting better and better!

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