For fall break, we originally planned to drive to Memphis and New Orleans to see the National Civil Rights Museum and the National World War II Museum. But Hurricane Delta interceded and we decided to stay away from Louisiana. Instead we did our own version of the Illinois middle school field trip to the state capital, Springfield, since it's a pretty safe bet school trips aren't happening anytime soon! We enjoyed one night / two days on the road, and still had the weekend left to relax at home!
Springfield is about 3 hours south of us. On the first day we went to Lincoln's New Salem, which is a the town where he lived in his 20s before marriage. They have reproductions of the stores and homes that were there at the time. We were one of a handful of groups there, and it was lovely weather for exploring the small outdoor site for an hour or so. William referred to it as "Minecraft IRL." That make me chuckle. And to translate, IRL = in real life!
This is the same dresser I have in my bedroom! I bought it at an antique store in Alexandria, VA, when we moved there. I laughed that they had it in old timey village!
Our next stop (after lunch from the DQ drive thru...thank you tiny towns!) was Lincoln's Tomb at the Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield. You're supposed to rub the nose on the Lincoln bust for good luck. But....COVID.....so we weren't touching anything! We heard a crazy story about tomb robbers, and learned that Robert Lincoln, the only Lincoln child to survive to adulthood, ordered his father's grave to be interred under 10 feet of concrete so no one could tamper with the body. His wife and 3 of his 4 children are buried there. Robert is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
We didn't want to dine indoors, so we hit up a local microbrew in downtown Springfield. They had a cool setup in the street. We ordered pizza delivery from around the corner to our barrel! It was a fun way to spend the evening. We originally planned to spend some time at the hotel pool and hot tub but both were drained (to our surprise) because of COVID. We felt safe at the hotel - online check in, picked a room on the 2nd floor so we could use the stairs, etc - but we were really looking forward to vacation pool time so that was disappointing.
After dinner we tried to join a walking tour of the Lincoln sites downtown. There weren't enough people signed up so the tour guide said he'd just meet us at the Lincoln's Home and spend 45 minutes or so telling us stories. We really enjoyed hearing all sorts of new to us stories about the Lincolns. Their time in this home was one of their happiest times in life before all the tragedy they encountered in the White House.
Thanks to our obsession with Guy Fieri's Diners, Dine-in and Drives, we knew we had to hit up brunch in a quonset hut! This was an indoor breakfast which was a little nerve wracking but they had plastic sheeting dividing the tables. It was like we were inside our own shower stall! William had a delicious strawberry french toast and I tried a Springfield original called a Horseshoe.
Our stops on our the second day were the Lincoln Presidential Museum (which was amazing!) and then the little gem of the Illinois National Guard Museum. We were gone about 36 hours and covered a lot of ground! I feel like we're officially raising an Illinois kid!
