Road Trip: Ohio. Again.
Day 7: Monday, April 17, 2023 - Springfield, IL
Day's statistics:
Weather: upper 70s
Steps: Steve 13,682; Linda 10,876
Travel: 157 miles
Breakfast was a buffet with bagels, pastries, and eggs.
Springfield isn't really that big of a city, compared to some of the other capital cities we've been to.
The Lincoln Home, Lincoln Museum and Library, and the capital were all within a few blocks of each other.
We drove around a little bit trying to find the best place to park. The museum's lot was about $2.00 per hour. Across the
street was street-side parking that was only $0.50 per hour. But on the cross street at the end of the same block was
free parking with a two-hour limit. Yes we can affort the $4.00 to park, but who doesn't like free parking if you can
get it, right?
Our first stop in this capitol was at the Lincoln Home. It is part of a village - think Williamsburg, if you can. While
there were groups - school classes - taking tours, we were given a private tour by a docent also named Steve.
By the way, the Lincoln Museum is a National Historic Site, not a Park, so we didn't get a stamp.
We left the facility and headed to the back of the block, across the street, and to the Lincoln house.
The house was build in 1839, and the Lincolns moved in in 1844. The interior was either restored or retained to its original
condition based on the numerous drawings that were available.
We entered and proceeded to the left into the parlor.
Attached to the parlor, separated by a door, is the sitting room.
In the sitting room were two old globes.
We exited the sitting room, and crossed the hall to the dining room.
An old clock.
After the dining room is the family room (off the foyer on the right).
There is an original "view finder" on the table, along with a recreated chess set based on a couple pieces that were found on
the property.
We went up to the second floor.
One of the kid's bedroom.
The alcove between the kid's bedroom and Abe's bedrooms.
Lincoln's bedroom, including the desk at which it is believed he wrote the Gettysburg Address.
He and Mary had separate bedrooms because he tended to do a lot of work, especially into the night.
Mary's bedroom.
Another kid's bedroom.
The last kid's bedroom, including an original game board and dominos.
We walked down the rear staircase and past the kitchen.
We exited the house out a rear door.
We exited the property through a gate in the side of the fence.
We walked to the front of the house.
As said above, there are a few square blocks that are set up to look like period homes, much like Williamsburg, though here
is a different period.
Across the street from the Lincoln house was the Dean house which was also sort of a museum wtih various artifacts.
An original clock from the black forrest believed to be a gift from Mary's father; along with a picture of Reverand Dresser, the
minister that not only performed the marriage ceremony for the Lincolns - on November 4, 1842 - but also sold them his house.
A couple of models of the home. The first is what the house looked like before the second floor was added.
We returned to the main building and watched the ten or so minute video about Lincoln and the home.
We finished our visit and headed to our next stop.
Fun fact: Abe Lincoln is in the Wrestling Hall of Fame.
After the Lincoln home, we visited the Lincoln Library.
We left the car parked where it was because the Lincoln Public Library was on the next block over from the Lincoln Home.
We stepped inside to look around.
We weren't checking out any books, and since it was the start of the day, we didn't stop by to relax or anything.
So we were only iin the library for ten minutes or so, then left.
We got in the car drove around the block - which turned out to be around the Lincoln home - and proceeded a couple
blocks down to get to the Lincoln Museum.
Near the Lincoln Museum was the OLD state house, which was being worked on, so it was closed to visitors (most of the ten to
fifteen foot antena / lightning rod on the top of the dome was cropped out as it provided not visual value to the picture).
We parked the car curbside and headed to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. This was a reseacher library rather than
the public library like we had already been in.
This one had some sculptures, artwork, and photographs - and we weren't even permitted to go to the second (for staff) or third
(for actual researchers) floors. So our visit was rather brief.
A wood carving titled Lincoln and Friends by Art Sieving from 1968.
The oldest known signature of Abraham Lincoln.
The first known photograph of Abraham Lincoln from 1846.
The Battle of Bull Run by James Paul Sarver from ~1919.
An original hand written draft of the Gettysburg Address.
We stepped out of the library.
Across the street from the library was the Lincoln Presidential Museum.
We entered the museum just ahead of a large group of school students. We decided - independent of the school kids - that
having already visited the house and Presidential Library, that there likely really wasn't going to be much gained from
going through the museum. So we didn't. But we did visit the gift shop.
If you're going to buy Lincoln Logs, what place other than at the Lincoln Museum is there?!!?
It was too early for lunch, and we thought going to the capital now might push lunch later than we wanted. So we decided
to visit the Lincoln Tomb. It was less than three miles up the road.
We spotted this building, which was the law firm that Lincoln & Herndon formed. Lincoln became a highly sought-after lawyer.
We arrived at the Oak Ridge Cemetery.
We arrived at a parking lot near the tomb. After parking the car, I got out to get a couple shots of the tomb. I approached and took a
couple pictures. The bust, to my right when I took the first photo, was about eight feet high - his nose is rubbed for good luck.
I was getting ready to take another picture and I saw an employee making a beeline for the tomb. Perhaps he was picking something up,
or going to whatever. As I looked around... he disappeared. Uh, what?!!? It turns out that the front of the tomb has a door. And he
must have gone in. I thought it was a sealed tomb. So I approached. And the door was unlocked. And I went in.
The tomb was rather large. I entered the foyer area.
There was a square hallway around the interior perimeter of the tomb, with statues in the corners.
At the far end of the tomb was Lincoln's burial site. This large stone is ten feet above the body.
In the wall behind looking me at the headstone, his wife and three children are entombed.
I finished up my ten minute visit inside the tomb and returned to the car.
As we drove away, I told Linda about the tomb, and moreso, the inside.
A couple blocks from the cemetery, we stopped for gas. I wanted to stop inside to use the rest room. I asked an employee about
getting into the mens' room, and she said a key is needed - but it was currently in use. Just then a guy came out of the ladies'
room. She asked "Why were you in the ladies' room?" He said "Because there was no key to the mens' room." "That's because it's
in use." Now that we all know how that system worked... after another what-felt-like ten minutes, I asked the same employee if
she wouldn't mind letting me use the ladies' room too. She obliged. I shortly returned to the car. I put the nozzle back but
the pump was out of paper. I went inside to ask for a receipt. After getting it, I asked if the mens' room was still
occupied. It was. I said "Good luck with that." and left.
After I got back into the car, Linda told me that she wanted to go into the tomb too. So we returned and we both went inside.
This time we were greeted by a docent. She told us a decent amount of information about the construction of the tomb. For example,
in 1874 the tomb was dedicated, the original 32 brass columns in the tomb represented the 32 states of the union at the time. The
48 stars represent the 48 states of the union at the time the tumb was renovated.
We also learned from the docent that each state - that existed at the time - is around the top of the memorial. Though Delaware is the first
state, Virginia is the first state listed for some reason. This shot shows the states as well as some of the detail of the statues.
We returned to the car and headed out to lunch.
Lunch was at Charlie Parker's, and it was literally on the other side of town - so we passed by the capital again.
On the way through town we passed by a Route 66 sign, with the capital in the background.
CP's is only open for breakfast and lunch.
We were pretty much post-lunch crowd, so it wasn't packed.
There was memorabilia on the wall too.
Linda had tuna salad on marble rye with chips.
I had the special - fried pork chops with mashed potatoes and white gravy, and green beans with bacon.
The server was polite, service was rather quick too, and it was a good meal. We finished up and headed back to the capital.
This was our fourth and final new capital of this trip.
I have to say "new" because we will be visiting two more capitals on this trip, but not for new stamps because we've already been
to both of them: Indianapolis, IN and
Columbus, OH, - both of which were visited during
the previous Mind Games that were also held in Ohio.
We approached the capital.
We found a parking space on the cross street in front of the capital.
We walked to the capital. And took our selfie.
The capital and the dome.
We approached one entrance. There was a sign that read "No smoking area". And there was a guy smoking about five feet away.
Maybe the back of the sign read "except you"?
The sign indicated that the entrance was for staff only. We could use the entrance on either side from where we were.
We made our way inside and got our stamp.
Looking up at the dome, the tallest Classical-style capital dome in the US.
We also saw the main staircase.
And a satue in the middle of the ground floor.
The state seal.
We talked to a docent and was told that there was a group from the Chicago area that was expected at 2:00. The school
group of 48 was late - because of snow in Chicago (I guess we got out of Dodge Chicago just in time).
Eventaully they shgowed up and we got underway, going straight to the third floor.
Some of the adults took the elevator to the third floor while others, and all the kids, took the stairs.
Our first visit on the third floor was to the house chamber, and the speaker of the house's seat.
There are 118 representatives in the house, and half as many - 59, for the math challenged - senators.
The chamber chandelier weighs 750 pounds each.
The chamber skylight.
Some woodwork on the ceiling.
The gallery.
We left the house chamber and proceeded into the hallway.
We did NOT have an opportunity to go into the senate chamber due to renovation work that was being done.
Some lighting.
The skylight above the main staircase.
The grand mural, the largest work of art in the building at ~20' x ~40', at the top of the grand staircase.
Some of the stonework in the floor.
We made our way down to the second floor. The grand staircase.
A portrait of George Washington.
We made our way into what was once the supreme court, with some close-ups of the ceiling and other detailing and lighting.
Back in the main section of the capital, some marblework behind the grand staircase.
Looking down the staircases into the basement.
Our tour inside the capital was complete. There was no gift shop for us to potentially find a shot glass, but we
were directed to the State Museum on the next block that may likely have one. So that's where we headed.
On the way to the museum, we passed some memorials, statues, and artwork.
Our goal at the museum was strictly to acquire a shot glass. Which it turns out they did not have. However, while
Linda was looking for the shot, I was looking on line to see if the moon rocks were anywhere to be found in the capital.
According to one site, they were supposed to be on display - in the museum! We asked the receptionist if she knew where
they were and she didn't even know about them. She said they may be on display, but had no idea where. Entry was free,
so we made a quick pass through the museum to see if we could find them. We did not. Because this was the "state"
museum, there were a lot of things on display about the state and its history. Not that we weren't interested in that,
but we weren't interested in that.
We did come across this dinosaur exhibit.
It was now approaching 3:00, and we realistically didn't have much time to do anything else in the capitol. So we decided
to start to make our way to Saint Louis.
We put the hotel address into the GPS, and started our trip.
Saint Louis was about two and a half hours away.
We took a break at a Love's rest area. While not as large as Wally's, Love's actually has a better selection of souveniers
than Wally's, including shot glasses. So we picked up our shot glass for Illinois. We also saw that they had Missouri glasses
too, so we got one because we WILL be in Missouri - a small part of it this trip - and we won't have to worry about getting
one when we visit the capital of Missouri whenever we get there.
We also got some coffee.
We continued on toward Saint Louis.
Less than ten miles outside of Saint Louis we saw signs for National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows.
Linda asked if we could stop by because it was only a couple miles down the road from the interstate we were on. Shrine it is.
The letters were raised / lifted, and the sun was at just the right angle to create an effect that makes the sign a little difficult to
read.
The complex was quite a few acres and looked to include a church and some residences, and perhaps even a small school.
Catholics have what are called the stations of the cross. These are 14 representations of Jesus' life covered by the Passion -
condemnatation, crown of thorns, [mostly] carrying the cross, his crusifiction, entombment, and resurection. The shrine also
had the stations, but these stations were drive-up stations - statue scenes enclosed in glass / plexiglass. While one could
get out and observe / reflect / pray, it seemed that the intent here was more for convenience.
We didn't get pictures of all of the stations, but here are a couple for reference.
We came across an outdoor ampitheater. The pictures were taken from the car a decent distance away -
so it is a little hard to tell exactly how the stage area is used.
Lourdes Grotto.
A couple sculpture / works of art.
We drove around the grounds for about fifteen minutes, then returned to our route to the hotel.
Not far down the road, we got a shot of the Gateway Arch from afar.
Not far from the hotel, we crossed the Mississippi. Our route included some construction, and our side of the bridge was
closed and all the traffic was on the other side. But crossing the Mississippi also means crossing a state line. But we were
expecting the state line to be on our side of the road - but we were on the other side of the road. This was the best shot
we have because when the sign got closer, the phone focused on the car's a-pillar and visor instead of the sign.
A few more minutes down the road we found the hotel and I checked in. But we didn't go to our room right away. Rather, we
went to find a snack for dinner. Nearby was a Wally's. We picked up our dinner snack. In the meantime, I noticed this wall of
jerky. There were at least eight flavors including: original, garlic beef, hot & spicy, peppered turkey, peppered beef, teriyaki
beef, honey jalapeño, and Korean BBQ.
By about 6:40 we were in our hotel room. We got situated and had our dinner of salad, cheese, bread, and wine (remembered to
take a picture after we were done).
We did the luggage thing, relaxed a little, and called it a night.