Girls Weekend: Southern Illinois Style

This travel guide is a touch different because I was able to team up with Do Soill, a company that is redefining travel in the Southern Illinois area. This weekend was extra special for me because I was able to host my best friends at the Caffeine until Cocktails Lake house. As most of you know that is my second baby that I rent out on Airbnb. This was my first time staying there and getting to experience the house and all the amenities it has to offer for our guests. You can find a link to the house here.

What I love about hosting a special weekend like this is that with everything going on in the world we were able to safely get together, spread out in the home, and enjoy the outdoors. Something that I love to do is to hire someone to do my makeup especially for a girl’s weekend. It just makes you feel better about yourself. Can we normalize having our makeup professionally done???? YES PLEASE! My friend Olivia over at The Avenue Barbershop and Salon is the perfect person to reach out to and schedule this for your day! They came to the house and brought alllll of the goodies! I love working with Olivia! Check out our photos below or search her on Instagram to see how amazing our makeup looked.

For anyone staying at a lake house while visiting Southern Illinois I always recommend to order groceries or pack your cooler with snacks so you don’t have to leave once you make it to the house. We brought all of our booze, snacks and breakfast there so we didn’t have to leave until it was truly time to make it out for the day. Our first night at the house we relaxed on the back porch drinking Champagne and snuggled up in our Polished Prints custom sweatshirts.

Do Soill and Deliciously Ordinary provided us with a curated schedule for Saturday and decorated the house with a balloon garland for a little extra photo fun.

We started our morning with lots of prosecco and showers. Olivia and Cheyenne joined us around 9 am to do our makeup. It was such an awesome addition to our day. As moms and the state of the world we all needed to just feel like ourselves for a bit and what better way to do that than by having our makeup done. Self care is the best care!

Our first stop of the day was the Peachbarn Winery and Cafe. Their food was to die for. Seriously I was so impressed by a local place! The brie, candied walnut flatbread is what dreams are made of. They had live music and the setting is absolutely gorgeous. They accept cash and credit cards. The Peachbarn changes their menu frequently and use seasonal and local foods. Make sure to check their Facebook page for the most up to date information.

After the Peachbarn we ventured into Alto Pass to take a group photo at the overlook where you can see Bald Knob cross from. This is an absolutely breathtaking view and worth the stop to see true Southern Illinois Beauty.

Now after the overlook we turned back around and headed to Alto Winery. I will honest with you all that if you are visiting it is pertinent to pick wineries decently close together or you will spend the majority of your day in a car and not getting to enjoy the beautiful establishments. Alto Vineyard and Winery has been around for awhile and it is an absolutely gorgeous area. It has an upstairs rooftop area and a large out door space. You will not be disappointed.

For dinner we knew we needed to make reservations and my go to to for a GOOD dinner is Global Gourmet in Carbondale. We sat out back on the patio and enjoyed allllll of the appetizers. They also frequently change menu options with some items that always stay. But this evening was special they tuna poke and filet mignon on the menu which are two of my favorite things. They make amazing cocktails and hand stuff their blue cheese olives. You can’t go wrong with Global and I always recommend for special occasions.

Now at this point we have had a LONG day. But of course you always need a night cap and what better way to end the evening by a local marina/bar. We stopped at Pyramid Acres Marina Bar. They have cheap drinks and such a fun atmosphere. It is in the middle of nowhere but about ten minutes from the lake house. I am so glad that we made this stop. Also do not worry we did have designated driver all day long.

This was the perfectly curated day and it was so fun to discuss with Lindsay what we wanted to do, what we were thinking about doing and what our interests were. This was such an amazing opportunity! I hope yall check out the new website and let me know what questions you have about travel to Southern Illinois!

Lunch at Peachbarn

Peachbarn

Alto Overlook

Pyramid Acres Marina and Bar