We extended our stay in Springfield, Illinois to five days because we found so many things to see and do here. For example, we took the tour of the Dana-Thomas House one afternoon. This is one of the creations of the eccentric architect, Frank Lloyd Wright.
We know that he is famous, but we have to say this was a strange mish-mash of rooms and long hallways and too many steps and different levels and no flow and . . . Someone with too much money gave him free rein, and aside from some beautiful leaded glass windows, we weren't impressed. Of course, this house was built in 1902, and we are judging it by today's standards because it looks so modern. So to be fair, the design was way ahead of its time. The house was designed to entertain guests, and it includes a full-size bowling lane in that long narrow section on the left.
We were looking for some exercise, so we took an urban hike through some of the Springfield parks. We found veterans' memorials for the Vietnam, Korean, and World Wars on our hike.
As we were walking through the park, we also found this huge bunch of golden mushrooms among the manicured grass. We've never seen anything quite like that in our hikes in the wild. Mark put his big hiking boots beside the mushrooms just to show how huge these shrooms were. As pretty as they are, we have learned that some of these mushrooms are poisonous, so we should only eat those that we buy at the grocery store.
On another day, we got some exercise on a bike ride on the Sangamon Valley Trail.
We love trails where no motorized vehicles are allowed, so you don't have to watch out for car traffic. We are wondering about the size of the bicyclists that would warrant the weight limit sign on this bridge.
We had some wildlife sightings on our ride, including several deer right on the trail in front of us.
When we got to the section of the trail with hills, it seemed like a good place to turn around. We've been on enough trails to learn that if you go down that hill, you're going to have to pedal back up it on the return trip.
By the time we pedaled back through the falling leaves, we got 11 miles of exercise. It was a nice day to be outside in Illinois!
We really enjoyed our stay at the Illinois State Fair Campgrounds. With hundreds of camp sites, we're guessing they are only full during the fair. Our full hook-up 50-amp site for $20 was a bargain with it's great location. Other full-time RVers have also found this great park, and we spent some time with two of our neighbors while we were camping here. One of our neighbors told us about a great product to take away that damp smell that we get in our front-loading washing machine. A package of "Damp Rid" hung from the top of the washer with a strong magnetic hook solved our problem. We learned something new in the fairgrounds campground today!
We also enjoyed the events at the fairgrounds, like the weekly farmer's market on Thursday. But our favorite was the "Dog Agility Contest" on the weekend. We took several pictures, but the dogs were moving so fast through the obstacles that they were just a blur. We found that the smaller dogs move slower, but they are still blurry.
The trainers must also run through the course, pointing the way for the dog to know which obstacle to go through next. We both made a mental note that if we were choosing a dog for agility training, we would choose one with shorter legs so we wouldn't have to run through the course as fast!
After almost four years on the road, we are getting smarter. We learned about "Damp Rid," we finally now recognize that going uphill is harder than downhill on a bike, we know that dogs with shorter legs run through an obstacle course slower, and some mushrooms can make you sick. We also learned that after five days in Illinois's capitol city, it's time to head on down the road to new adventures!
Illinois has nicknamed itself "The Land of Lincoln" and proclaims that greeting on the welcome signs as you enter the state. Certainly, Springfield is "The City of Lincoln," and we enjoyed some must-see sites while we were visiting. Let's do this in chronological order, starting in 1831 when a 22-year-old Abe Lincoln moved into the little town of New Salem, Illinois.
We drove about 20 miles north of Springfield, to the New Salem State Historical site. Fun fact: Even though he was an adult, he had only one year of formal education when he arrived here.
Young Abe tried several careers during the six years he lived in New Salem. For example, at one time he was postmaster, and also a general handy man. He and a friend bought a general store, but the Berry-Lincoln store couldn't survive in this town that already had a well-established and experienced merchant.
His most successful endeavor was his time spent surveying this area of Illinois. A statue of young Abe, the surveyor, is on display at this state historic site. Fun Fact: He actually was forced to sell his horse, saddle, and surveying equipment to settle his losses on the failed store. But a local friend bought them at the sheriff's auction and returned them to the young Abe so he had a way to support himself.
Also during those six years in New Salem, Abraham Lincoln read all the books he could find, including law books loaned to him by a lawyer mentor. With that new knowledge, a more experienced Abraham Lincoln moved to the big town--Springfield, to start his career in law. The National Park Service has purchased the real estate in this area of the city, so the neighborhood looks just like it did in the 1840's.
At the age of 33, Abraham Lincoln convinced Mary Todd to marry him. He had almost given up on finding a wife. In fact, he wrote, "I can never be satisfied with anyone who would be blockhead enough to have me." Fun Fact: Mary turned him down the first time he proposed. They would move into a little cottage in Springfield, which they enlarged as their family enlarged. We got a ticket for a tour of the Lincoln house.
We were ushered into the living room where the Lincolns entertained guests. Fun fact: It was also here that the Republican National Committee came to tell Abraham that he had won the party's nominee for President. It was the first time that these prominent Republicans had ever met Honest Abe. We think the process has changed a little since then!
Some of the furnishings are original, even though this desk had been altered since it was in the Lincoln household. When Abe gave this desk to a neighbor, the legs were shortened because it was too tall. Fun fact: Abraham Lincoln was unusually tall for the time at 6 foot 4 inches.
Our tour included the entire house, included the very tiny kitchen. Fun fact: When they won the presidential election, and headed to the White House, Mary wanted to take this favorite stove with her. It took some fancy talking for Abe to convince her that they had fine stoves in Washington DC as well.
The Lincolns were ahead of their time. This was their door bell. A real bell attached to the front door with a spring-loaded wire, alerted them that they had company at the door.
While we are trying to keep things chronological, there is one stop that includes every aspect of Abraham Lincoln's life. That would be the required stop at the Lincoln Presidential Museum.
After entering at the grand hall in the picture above, there are two routes through the museum. The one on the left is through the little log cabin like the one where Abe Lincoln was born.
Throughout the museum are remarkably life-like scenes, like this one of Abe reading by the light of the fire while everyone else in the cabin was asleep. We knew they were asleep, because we could see the blankets moving and hear the snoring.
We saw young Abe as a store owner in New Salem, but we all know that didn't turn out well.
Starting his political career, we saw a scene from one of the famous Lincoln-Douglass debates. Fun fact: Douglass was 12 inches shorter than Lincoln. Another Fun fact: Douglas would win the senate race after these debates, but Lincoln would win the presidential race against Douglas a few years later.
Abraham and Mary would have four sons, and they both agreed to spare the rod and spoil the children. It wasn't unusual for Abraham to take the boys with him to the law office on the weekend. It was his habit to leave them totally unsupervised, much to the chagrin of his law partner. The partner wrote, "These children would come to our office and take down books - empty buckets - coal ashes - ink stands - gold pens, put them in a pile, then dance on the pile!"
The second half of the museum took us through Lincoln's life after winning the presidential election. In fact, we're pictured below with the entire family as they looked when they moved into the White House.
We also got some presidential practice, as Mark is pictured at the podium reading a famous speech from the teleprompter. There were more exhibits, and two great theater experiences in the museum. In almost four years on the road, this is one of the best museums ever!
We spent an entire day at that museum, and our legs were tired like we had hiked a ten-mile trail. So another day, we took a hike to the next chronological stop in Lincoln's life. About a half-mile from our camping spot is Oak Ridge cemetery, where this giant obelisk marks Abraham Lincoln's final resting place.
Fun fact: It's supposed to be good luck to rub President Lincoln's nose. We're not sure if this is good luck for him, as his tomb features a very shiny bronze nose.
From the outside, this is a grand-looking tomb. But there's more inside to see--like bronze statues of Abraham Lincoln in different stages of his life.
He is buried inside this vault, surrounded by flags. Fun fact: The flags on the left were the states where his ancestors lived, while the flags on the right are the states where Lincoln resided. Sad fact: Three of his four children are also buried in this tomb. Only one child survived to adulthood.
While many different statues line the inside walls of the tomb, this is probably the most recognizable. It's a smaller replica of the statue inside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.
Our last stop is the original grave where Lincoln was laid to rest on the day of his funeral here in Springfield. That grand tomb we just visited took some time to build, so this temporary vault at Oak Ridge cemetery was used for several years.
We've really enjoyed our time learning about Abraham Lincoln, and the collection of fun and sad facts that come from spending a few days hanging out in his old stomping grounds around Springfield, Illinois.
After a two-night stay in Cerro Gordo, Illinois, we headed an hour straight west to the center of the state--Springfield, Illinois. After traveling in the north for the summer, we know we are back in the midwest when we have to be mindful of the wind on moving days. We had a gusty side wind, so we were glad it was only an hour's drive when we pulled into the state fairgrounds campground. Abe Lincoln was greeting us at the entry of the fairgrounds. We knew he was a tall president, but Denisa just barely comes up to the top of his boots in the picture below.
We are very comfortable in our 50-amp full-hook-up site at the fairgrounds, and we have lots of things to see in this area. We have obviously gotten out of that unseasonably hot autumn weather that turned right into unseasonably cool weather. The weatherman described this day with highs in the 40s and blustery winds as "raw." So we used this raw day for indoors activities like visiting the state capitol of Illinois.
There's no blue skies to frame the picture, but it is a grand state capitol. The rain had started by the time Denisa braved the raindrops to take this picture of the front, where Abraham Lincoln is welcoming guests. He's everywhere in Springfield!
If that dome seems pretty tall, that's because it is. It's the tallest dome of any state capitol in the United States. It's even taller than the dome on the national capitol. Looking up from the floor of the rotunda, it's hard to picture just how big and tall it is.
We took the capitol's guided tour along with fifty 7th graders. After climbing all those steps up to the fourth floor, we got a bird's eye view of the chambers of the House of Representatives.
The governor was out today, so our next stop was his office. Fifty junior high students stepped aside so that "the honored guests from Oklahoma" got to go in first.
This grand building has some giant-sized paintings. This one is forty-feet tall, dwarfing Denisa standing under it.
Our tour guide pointed proudly to this newly painted wing of the capitol building. It had just been carefully restored to its original 1868 finery.
Then she pointed out the opposing wing that was next on the list for a new paint job. Over the years, it has been quicker and cheaper to paint over all that finery with solid cream-colored paint.
This restoration paint job takes a lot of time and research. On that plain ceiling we could see where layers of paint had been carefully scraped to find the original fancy paint job when the capitol was built.
Just like many states, that grand capitol building wasn't the first. Down the street is the first Springfield capitol, before all the bureaucrats outgrew its smaller floor plan. It is a nice reminder of simpler times when legislators used quill pens and candles, instead of fancy electronic voting and computers. This room is also special because it was where President Lincoln's body was laid in state before he was buried.
We took no pictures of the outside of the Old Capitol because it was raining by that time. Normally, we would be walking between sites like this, but this rain is keeping us indoors today. So we drove to the next of the Illinois government buildings that is free and open to the public--the Governor's Mansion. Private donations paid for all the work to make it look as good as old. No cameras were allowed inside, but it was a good tour.
Now that we have completed the government building trifecta, it's time to consume Springfield's famous food trifecta. We started with a stop at the Cozy Dog Drive-In. A Route 66 attraction, this is where the corndog was invented. The Food Network series, "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" featured this place when they featured Springfield. One cozy dog and fries--check.
The Food Network also stopped at Dew's Chilli Bar, where they have been serving the same chilli (spelled that "wrong" way) for 106 years. So we ordered a bowl of the traditional chilli--check. No pictures because it wasn't that picturesque or that good.
The last Springfield food invention featured on the show was "The Horseshoe." It consists of two pieces of Texas toast, topped with meat of choice (we choiced sirloin steak with grilled onions and peppers), smothered with french fries and drizzled with cheese sauce. It isn't very pretty, but it was pretty tasty.
So we've completed two Springfield trifectas in the rain. I think we're going to like it here!
