We spent the night in a rest stop in Iowa. For those of you not familiar with camping, that is called "Boondocking" when you spend the night somewhere for free without electric or water hookups. It does crack me up to hear the kids say "Dad, we just need to boondock tonight"! We tend to wake up really early when we do that (often because it gets light out here around 5:30 a.m.) and we headed into Illinois.
When we got into Springfield, we parked the camper and headed in town to learn more about Lincoln. We did already know that he shared a birthday with my amazing husband. We went to tour his home and got our Junior Ranger books. Below, Logan is working on his while David reads some of the exhibit information.
We watched the short video in the visitor center and then toured the house. This is the front parlour room where his children were not allowed to be. When we went to tour the house, they told us that they used to rent it out and found out that the tenants were charging admission to tour the house. Then the oldest son sold the house to the state of Illinois for $1 on the conditions that the house would always be well maintained and free for the public to tour. This is also the room where they had the funeral of his second son who died at age 3 of tuberculosis.
The sofa was actually Lincoln's sofa. The wallpaper is not original but it is the exact wallpaper as they found remnants of it and had it replicated. The black couch below was where he was sitting when they told him he had won the nomination for the presidential election.
This bed was in the guest room upstairs and was the only bed in the house that actually belonged to Lincoln.
The desk below was where he loved to write, but Mary hated it so she threw it out in the trash. He saw it and gave it to one of his neighbors and many years later it was donated to the historic foundation.
This was his dresser. I love the furniture from this time period.
The kitchen and the stove were tiny, but awesome!
The outhouse was unique because there were three toilets in there and they were barrels instead of a flat bench. This was to accommodate the dresses of the girls during this period.
On the opposite corner, they said this is the most photographed view of the Lincoln Home. It was huge in comparison with the neighbors and for that time period, but it did not seem huge when you were in it.
We walked down to the museum and the library, but did not go in either one.
Hunter was doing flips in the grass to burn off some energy- crazy kid!
We drove to Lincoln's tomb (about 2 miles away) and there was an impressive monument built there.
Once you walked inside, you walked through a hallway to the vault where he was buried. The flags are significant based on where relatives lived and where he lived.
This was the vault where he originally was received until the monument was constructed.
Then we went to D'Arcys Pint to have dinner with Molly Grisham, my college roommate. I have not seen her in 12 years, so I was super excited to see her. We were able to laugh just like we used to. We told some stories to the boys and Jimmy was really the only one that could appreciate them. I miss her already!
The two little boys loved her and had so much to say and so much to show her!
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