There is currently a heat wave through out the Midwest. People's lawns are turning yellow and its hard to go outside without feeling like you have just put your head into an oven. Even for Midwest summers this one really sucks. But, that's part of the Midwest experience and with good air conditioning - not a deterrent to traveling. It was time to head into the Land (and City) of Lincoln.
We left St. Louis and made our way up the I-55 to Springfield. There is a small red Lutheran Church on the highway that I've always loved and is a perfect spot for sketching - if one is so inclined. On the right are the Cahokia Mounds. This was once the sight of a large civilization with cities that rivaled and even surpassed their European contemporaries. Yet it disappeared and the investigation is still on to find out why. I would strongly recommend this as a place to check out:
After about an hour and a half we arrived. Springfield is where I went to high school, meet some excellent friends, and became a U.S. Citizen (in the words of Apu of the Simpsons - "Now which way to the welfare office?!"). The old capitol is where I was sworn in back in the 6th grade.
It was amazing to see everyone and revisit the downtown - which houses a nice library and history museum. The Hilton, pictured here, is the tallest building for a hundred miles in any direction. We managed to get into the roof top restaurant to see the fireworks for the 4th. This restaurant- which unless you love the view - is not exactly the best place to get food. That said, it seems like there is a bunch of cute little restaurants in the downtown which are built into charming old buildings. We went to one place called "Incredibly Delicious" which had, as the name implies, excellent food and is built into a old downtown mansion.
The rest of the time in Springfield was based on meeting people. It was nice to come home to mom's. What can I say about the place? People are always coming and going and my mom's house is apparently the place to be. Every night someone would stop by to eat, drink, and listen to music.Coming home, I also found out that my mom has a pellet gun she uses to deter rabbits from eating the plants in her garden.
Being back in Springfield was also like a high school reunion. As luck would have it, my friend Doug and Racheal - now happily married with three kids and living in FLA - just happened to be in town. Ally and Bill, also long time friends, came out along with their two amazing kids. Maria was a bit dazed from meeting some many people. On our last night in town we all met for food where the rest of the crew showed up. Clay, Jaime, Mike, Tony and too many others to list easily all joined us. It was good to see everyone doing so well.
(How much for the little girl?)
I would be remis if I didn't mention that every possible Lincoln site is avaible to the Lincoln Junkie. As I've been to all of the them to the point of nausea - I'd just recommend googling the sites for info
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