We will be travelling to Chicago,from England, on 10th Sept,for two weeks vacation,can any one suggest any small towns worth visiting in either Illinois or Wisconsin?

Here are a couple of really nice ones: Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin and Galena, Illinois. Galena is in the northwest corner of Illinois, near the Mississippi River. Sheboygan Falls is in southeastern Wisconsin, north of Milwaukee and just west of Sheboygan. For the latter, I would not necessarily recommend it as an overnight destination, but well worth a detour and stop on your way up the Lake Michigan coastline to Door County (speaking of some nice, small communities -- Egg Harbor, Sister Bay). Galena will take you into the beautiful Missippi River country and I'm sure they have a website for their well-developed tourism trade. Happy Trails!

Okay, I am biased. My hometown is Waupun, Wisconsin. A beautiful small town in Wisconsin where thousands of Canada geese temporarily stay during migration. Make sure you watch the huge flocks fly at dawn from the Horicon Marsh. And, Waupun is known as "the city of sculpture" to include "The End of the Trail" by James Fraser.
For more info about the incredible outdoor sculture, go to his web site
http://www.waupunchamber.com/sculptures.html

Nice plug for Waupun and I love those geese that they hang from the lightposts on the main street. Quick caution, though, about migrating geese: the early to mid-September period may be too early to really see large concentrations of migrating Canada geese at Horicon Marsh. Mid-October is far more reliable for that, but I agree that it is a truly awesome spectacle which is well worth seeing. M&J, is there a hotline that people could call to keep up-to-date on the build-up as it is occurring in the fall there, perhaps?

another vote for galena. it's been years since i was there, but it's a beautiful town with amazing, historic homes. you might also want to check out the house on the rock on wisconsin (i can't remember what town it's near).

Great suggestion, k! House on the Rock is at Spring Green, west of Madison (southwestern Wisconsin). Perhaps a loop out of Galena through a little Mississippi River country? Here's the website for that truly interesting house:

http://www.thehouseontherock.com/

Happy Trails!

Please don't go to House on the Rock, it's a very depressing & weird way to spend a good part of your day. Do travel to the Spring Green area though, very bucolic as they like to describe it & check out Talesin, Frank Lloyd Wright's midwest studio, also some nice WI small towns in that area are New Glarus & Mt Horeb. Galena is a beautiful town w/ lots of history. St. Charles & Geneva in IL on the Fox River are 2 nice towns not too far west of Chicago, good shopping, dining & antiquing in this area.

Frank Lloyd Wright's home, Taliesin,in Spring Green, WI (45 min. west of Madison) is a National Historic Landmark and tour information is available at: www.taliesinpreservation.org
About 25 miles south of Spring Green is Mineral Point, WI, settled by Cornish miners after lead was discovered in the 1820's. The State Historical Society offers tours of Pendarvis House, a preserved Cornish cottage on Shake Rag Street. More recently Mineral Point's picturesque setting has attracted many artists, and this small town is considered one of the "hundred best small art towns in America. The work of artists and artisans is available in the shops and somewhere in town you're likely to find Cornish pasty on the menu. See: www.mineralpoint.com
Welcome to Wisconsin - and enjoy!

Galesville, Wisconsin - reputed site of the Garden of Eden. Cutesy little town.

Another vote AGAINST the house on the rock.

Also, I think we should be giving our o'seas friend, Kathryn, some info re driving times here. Galena is a good three hour drive west of Chicago; Shebooygan Falls would be close to three, and Door County is five.