Want to leave Illinois without actually setting foot out of the state? Head west.
In a historic building on Main Street downtown, the couple opened the Savanna Marketplace, a gift shop, and the Blue Bedroom Inn, a bed-and-breakfast above the store. They made friends and established themselves in the community, and then even entered local politics—Lain was elected mayor a year ago in a landslide, a gay liberal from a solid blue city in a town that had gone for Trump in the last presidential election.
If Galena is a known quantity, Savanna, just to the south along the Mississippi, is a hidden jewel. Who even knew Illinois had a Savanna? And it’s just a two-and-a-half-hour drive straight west of Chicago. On your way from the city, stop at the Nachusa Grasslands, a 3,600-acre spread of natural prairie restored by national nonrprofit the Nature Conservancy over the last three decades. A herd of wild bison was brought in a few years ago, and about 130 now graze in fenced-off areas separate from the five hiking trails running through the preserve. The bison can typically be seen from a new visitor center.
Ted Cox is editor of One Illinois, a nonprofit news website.
