the sights, sounds & tastes of a good road trip

You surely must remember my post about the indispensable White Book (click HERE for a refresher). The week before our road trip, I busily prepared my own version called, "The Blue Book."

And it was handy, indeed.

In assembling the binder, I stumbled upon several cool sightseeing opportunities. I thought I'd share them here in case you ever venture to Gurnee, Illinois. I mentioned the rockin' hotel in my last post; it just so happens to be situated in a lively suburban area with restaurants such as the Lone Star Steakhouse & Saloon, The Monkey Dish Bar & Grill, Oberweis Dairy, Elliots' Cafe and a few familiar favorites (IHOP, Applebee's, and Culver's). A plethora of dining options.

What thrilled me most was the Gurnee Mills Mall. And why, you ask, would I travel to another state just to visit a mall? Because it houses one of my favorite online shopping stops, Forever 21. (Sigh.) It was so fun to see it live and up close.

The mall was a mix of regular and outlet shops - I'd never seen the two combined before and found it rather convenient.

Another fun stop was the Jelly Belly Center. Though located in Wisconsin, the warehouse was only 15 minutes from our hotel.

After a free tour of the facility, we received a bag of jelly beans and tasted several other candies (including Melty Mints) at the Sample Bar. (Which led to the purchase of sugar-free belly flops and a few other treats as well.) The kids loved it almost as much as their jelly bean freak of a mom.

On the way home we made a last-minute detour to check out Hobby Lobby which was well worth our trek through the rain. I'd heard so much about this place through bloggy friends and then again from Jodi H. several weeks ago; when I saw it, we just had to stop! The place is HUGE and had a little bit of everything - almost like a Party City, Michaels, Jo-Ann Fabrics, and Pottery Barn rolled into one. (I picked up a couple of things for the August prize-drawing basket.)

These are just the highlights... I'll share with you the Six Flags scoop tomorrow!