Illinois, Part 1

Because I have a whole week of vacation time left....

Since the Virginia trip ended early and most of what we had wanted to see seems to close on October 31st, we're now off to Illinois. Specifically Springfield, the "land of Lincoln". Reservations had to be made on short notice (which made for some very interesting and creative online maneuvering at the Amtrk website for me to get seats and sleeper car arrangements). However, after a fairly uneventful trip by train (ask me about the two obnoxious "teenagers" who sat in front of me in coach), we arrived in Springfield.

In the middle of a downpour. The weather for the last two days has been rather miserable at worst, overcast at best. Add to that the fun of trying to find our way around in the dark, driving a rental car I've never seen before, and you can guess what some of the trip has been like.

Fortunately, the attractions have been good. Our first stop was the Abraham Lincoln Home Historic Site. This is the home the Lincolns owned and lived in during the 17 years they were in Springfield. The home is open to the public through guided tours, on which the guide points out items actually owned by the family that are still on display. The tour takes about 20 minutes. The house is at left.

At right is a "parade float" from Lincoln's campain in 1860. A team of horses would pull this during parades, accompanied by marching bands and walkers and other mobile displays.

Since the Lincoln Home is a National Park site, I got my National Park Passport stamped while in the Visitors' Center. I've started collecting the stamps and cancellations this past year. I'm surprised at home many of these places I've already been. I probably shouldn't be....

Our second stop was the Lincoln Museum and Library in Springfield, which was well worth the visit. The woman at the ticket counter suggested about 2.5 hours for the whole thing, but we ended up taking nearly four hours.

The museum consists of two walk-through displays, two theater shows, Mrs. Lincoln's Attic (a place for children to play with Lincoln-era toys and try on period clothing), a gift shop and a cafe. The show "Ghosts of the Library" was particularly well done. I've often suspected that the library back home has a few ghosts of its own, although not necessarily like this.

At left is the entrance to the "log cabin years", a walk-through display of information on Abraham Lincoln's early life, up until he took office as president. The "tour" is a series of rooms, hallways, and video screens. As you enter the cabin, there is a statue of Lincoln reading by the fireplace, with a dog asleep at his feet. Someone in the room is snoring (there are a couple of beds with lumps under the blankets that suggest the rest of the family is sleeping). Other sections show Lincoln debating Stephen Douglas over slavery and states' rights, working as a shopkeeper, and reading in his law office while his two sons create havoc. A series of computer screens in another room presents the campaign of 1860 as it would have been televised 100 years later. (The late Betrand Russel provided the commentary.)

At right is the entrance to "the White House Years", which deals with Lincoln's presidency and assassination. Beginning with a display of the gowns worn by Mary Lincoln's Washington, D.C. "rivals", the tour takes you through a room of political cartoons blasting the presidents policies and personal character (while a soundtrack of voices criticizes him on every imaginable subject). The frames on the cartoons start out as rectangular; by the end of the hallway, the frames are noticeably slanted.

Another scene of a kitchen has the voices of several Aftican-Americans debating the Emancipation Proclamation, followed by statues depicting Lincoln's advisors as the first draft is read to them, and then followed by a series of faces (suspended in air) offering comments and criticisms of the idea. A large screen in another room shows "the Civil War in Four Minutes" -- each second of the show = one week of the war. The colors of the Northern and Southern armies expand and contact on a map, as the names of battlefields literally explode on the screen. The tour wends its way through the end of the war, Lincoln's assassination, and a room depicting his coffin lying in state in the Old State Capitol Building.

Along with the show "Ghosts in the Library", there is another show called "Lincoln's Eyes", which includes smoke effects, explosions, and the actual movement of the seats in the theater. Both shows had impressive special effects. I can see where kids would get a lot out off this entire experience. We were in the museum along with at least one school bus-load of elementary kids, and I didn't seen any behavior problems.

In Mrs. Lincoln's Attic, my mother and I both learned how to roll a hoop with a stick, a common activity during the time of Lincoln's youth. The museum staff member there told us girls/women didn't usually spend much time doing that particular game, and he was impressed. He rewarded us by giving us directions to Darcy's Pint, a pub that offers "horseshoes", a local specialty food.

A "horseshoe", or its smaller version, the "ponyshoe", is made with toast, covered with some sort of meat (chicken and turkey, in our cases), topped by french fries and covered in cheese sauce. If you don't a cholesterol problem before you start, you will have one when you're finished.... They were pretty good, but we all agreed that one was enough.

Despite the weather, the trip so far has been reasonably good. Tonight I'm in Rockford, Illinois; tomorrow we will be off to the Ulysses S. Grant home in Galena, and then it's back to Springfield for more Lincoln history.

Reading material this trip (which has nothing to do with Lincoln): Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, by Jane Austen and H. Ben Winters. It's the original Jane Austen novel (mostly) combined with all kinds of odd oceanic creatures and done for laughs. I don't think this is as funny as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but it all seems to flow much more naturally than events in the latter. Plus, it's not a teen vampire novel -- a major bonus right now!