Wayne, Illinois?

[SarahandSam]

My husband and three dogs and I will be passing through Chicago for a night this summer. Normally we get an AirBNB in the city, but it’s tough to go anywhere and leave the dogs behind in a strange apartment without having them bark their heads off, and I’m nervous about the dog flu so don’t want to put them in an overnight kennel, so we don’t really take advantage of the city. We were thinking instead of maybe staying a little bit outside the city this year. Husband looked up Wayne, which sounds horse-y, based on the Wikipedia article. Anyone know if it would be a good place to stop over, as far as having interesting things to do, tack shops, etc.?

Also I can’t believe that my husband suggested we stay somewhere “because it sounds horsey, like maybe there’s tack shops.”

[dontskipthecafe]

My grandmother used to live in Wayne and my mother grew up there. It’s a beautiful little town. I would love to go back and live in the area myself, someday.

[Kwill]

Lamplight is there.

http://www.lamplightequestriancenter.com/

[Smiles]

Waynes, ok but very small, think people with upscale homes on 5 acre farmettes, but I wouldn’t call it say middleburg Virginia if that’s what you are looking for as far as a “horsey area”. Oh and no tack stores there either. If it were me I would stay in St Charles or Naperville.

[IFG]

My husband grew up there. It is a bedroom community to Chicago. He has not been there is over 30 years, but we have heard that it has gotten quite built up.

[IFG]

Oh, tons of horses and lots of hunts when he was there.

[peedin]

I live down the road from Wayne. There is a post office and a real,estate office in downtown Wayne. That it is. Wayne is homes, some big, some mall, and farmettes. You can drive through Wayne in about 3 minutes. Lamplight is in Wayne and is a great venue but check their schedule. There isn’t always a show. I assume you will have a car. Stay in Wayne but drive to Geneva which is on the river and has great shops and restaurants.

P.S. Please ignore my typos. I’m on an iPad…

[BasqueMom]

Not too far away is Barrington Saddlery in Barrington, IL. Understand Dover has
taken over the old Libertyville Saddle Shop building in Libertyville.

[peedin]

Dover in Libertyville would be a minimum hour and a half drive. Barrington would be close to an hour. Batavia is about a 15 minutes drive from Wayne and has Oros tack shop.

[BBowen]

SarahandSam, so much would depend on what you want to do/like to do. Wayne is a beautiful, little enclave in the Chicago suburbs; however, there is little to do right in Wayne unless something is going on at Lamplight (there is a H/J show there most weekends), or you enjoy hiking or biking. I live in Wayne and love the community, but for anything other than horse shows, we have to venture out. It is a quiet community but fairly close to shopping/restaurants. Geneva is a lovely community right on the Fox River and there are numerous really good restaurants in the area (just south of St. Charles/Wayne). Close to Geneva Commons shopping and Oros Saddlery is just south in Batavia. Have a good trip.

[danceronice]

Hah, I knew I remembered Wayne, IL for a reason…Marguerite Henry lived there much of her life, including the time she owned Misty.

[SarahandSam]

Thanks all… we’ll be there early in the week, so probably nothing at Lamplight, and so it sounds like it might not be the most entertaining one-night stopover. Thanks for the recommendations of Geneva though–that might be a better fit!

[HungarianHippo]

If you’ve got a blank slate for possible places to stop, check out Galena, IL. It’s a really scenic, historic town, would be a charming one-nighter. It’s further west and north of Wayne, so it might not fit well with wherever your next destination is.

[peedin]

Galena would be close to a 3 hour drive from Wayne.

[Inese]

[QUOTE=SarahandSam;8176116]
Thanks all… we’ll be there early in the week, so probably nothing at Lamplight, and so it sounds like it might not be the most entertaining one-night stopover. Thanks for the recommendations of Geneva though–that might be a better fit![/QUOTE]

If you stop by on a Wednesday, you might enjoy the Lippizan show at Temple Farms north of the city - and could fit in a trip to the Dover store too (I assume you are driving)

http://tempelfarms.com/lipizzanerperformances.html

http://www.doversaddlery.com/dover-library/a/511/

[Kwill]

Yes, if you are driving, and just stopping in Chicago as one leg of your trip, then many more options are open to you!

[SarahandSam]

We are driving, but will be caravan-ing with MIL from Ohio to Chicago and thence to Minnesota, so we need to stay somewhere relatively close to where she’s staying, with relatives in Carol Stream. But Galena would be a fun stopover for lunch if it’s on the way–I’ll have to look it up. Will look for the Lipizzan show as well. Thank you.