The Abraham Lincoln Museum

I wish I had beautiful pictures of the displays in the Museum.  However, the only place photography was allowed was in the foyer.

I cannot begin to tell you how amazing this museum is.  There are no words to do it justice.  I can only say that if you are ever anywhere semi-close to Springfield, Illinois, please do yourself a favor and allow a day to tour it.  We almost didn't.  On our 1st day (the day we visited the capitol, the home, etc.), we almost opted for just the free stuff - it cost $9.00 or $10.00 each to go into the museum.  However, when we went into the Library right across the street, the guard there was telling us about different things to see and advised that we really needed to go into the museum but that we needed to allow 2 hours to go through it.  We didn't think too much about it, it was about 3:00 then, so we left - went to the cemetery (previous post) and went back to the hotel for the night.  Decided we'd go through the next morning and we were there for 4 hours - and could have stayed a little longer, but we had a long drive ahead of us that afternoon.

Again, it was amazing.

These are the only pictures we could take:

I don't know how or what they made all the figures out of, but they were so real-looking it was almost scary.  I'm talking about seeing veins in their hands and everything.

It was heartbreaking to go into the sickroom of little Willie Lincoln.  Mary was leaning over the child in the bed, Abraham was at the door, and you could hear the music playing from the "downstairs" where a party was going on.  It was as if you were actually there at the scene of this family tragedy.

And I won't tell what was at the end, but just let me say, I had to take more than a moment to get myself back together.

You can click HERE to see more info about the place, but it really doesn't do any kind of justice to it.

They did have a play/dress-up area for children and we could take pictures in there.  I only have this:

I wanted this dollhouse in the worst kind of way.

I bought a book in the gift store (of course) - The Lincolns in the White House, by Jerrold M. Packard.  If you can get your hands on one, it is a book well worth reading.  It's written in a way that's easy enough for me to follow without having to think too hard, and gives great insight into what those 4 years did to that family.

FYI, the kiddo brought home a set of DVDs from the library this week that we've found to be very good.  It's a PBS Home Video, "American Experience" collection entitled: "Abraham and Mary Lincoln - A House Divided", directed by David Grubin.  You may want to check with your local library if you're interested.

Even being the South Carolina girl that I am, I have the highest respect and gratitude for Abraham Lincoln.  I firmly believe he was placed by the Lord to keep this country together.  Just so you know, though, I also have the highest regard and respect for Robert E. Lee as well.  He was as honorable as Abraham Lincoln, and a true gentleman.

We left the museum and headed north - to spend the night close to the next day's destination - Wheaton College.

On the way, we passed these - and I was fascinated by them:

I woke the kiddo up from a nap and made her take pictures of them as we were driving along.

You can Google "wind farms" and find information on them.

I like this picture she took.  Good job, seeing as we were cruising along at 65ish and the windows were up.

The grass was as green in that state as anything I've ever seen.

A little too much flatness for my taste though.  However, the kiddo did remind me that Eastern NC is pretty flat.  And she's right.  That's one of the things I've never been particularly fond of these last 20 years.

Anyway, the reason for our trip to Wheaton to come next.

(P.S. - I'm trying to get the kiddo to get some more of her pictures up on her blog)

(P.P.S. - Thanks for the comments peoples.  This  has been a travelogue mostly for my mama and my brother but it makes me happy that you other 2 have stopped by as well!)