Route 66, Day 3, Springfield to St. Louis...

We awoke Thursday, April 25th, ready to learn about Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois. Museums opened at 9am. We found our way to the Museum Parking Garage and secured our spot for the next couple of hours. Then we walked to begin at Lincoln Presidential Library. 

Honestly, I don't think I have ever been to a Presidential Library. I anticipated exhibits and things of that nature. Treasures saved from their time as President. Alas, this is really a research facility. You can go through shelves of books and papers about Lincoln and his time as president. We would only walk the front floor around the lobby area. There were some treasures there I found very interesting.

This is a sample of Lincoln's handwriting. Not bad for a poorly educated man. He wrote a little poem. The museum was nice enough to have a typed version below.

There were a few actual photographs of Abraham Lincoln.

This is a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation.

A painting of Lincoln believed to be one of the earliest depictions of him as a young man. Lots of symbolism in this painting.

The Gettysburg Address.

The entrance end of the lobby had several statues of Lincoln. 

Well, this didn't take too long. We walked across the street to a building with a similar front that is the Lincoln Museum. This is an excellent museum. There are two nice theaters with excellent presentations. There is a replica of the White House which you enter and walk through to learn about their years in the White House. There is a log cabin which you enter and walk through to learn about Lincoln's early years. All of this in on one level. We skipped the gift shop. 

We arrived just in time to view the first video in the main theater. Lots of school children on field trips this day from elementary to high school. Claude and I got seated and some elementary kids came in and sat behind and to our left. One little guy about Raelyn's age sat next to me. He had his arm in a sling. As I approach should surgery with a sling in my future, my heart went out to him. I asked if he had broken his arm. He was VERY talkative. He assured me it was broken but they weren't finding anything. They put him in the cast and it was very itchy. He assured me you didn't want to put a coat on with your arm in a sling. He was very cute. I could see his teacher watching us out of the corner of my eye. She was on the row behind us. In today's world they have to be so careful. But I'm a Great Gramma and I felt this little guy's pain. Plus, it was so fun to listen to him spill his arm-in-a-sling story to me. Very cute. 

After the video, we went to tour the White House exhibit. Claude posed with Mary and Abe and the kids! Pictured is a political cartoon, a picture of Willie who was very ill and would pass away in a few days, the White House kitchen back in the day (bet it looks a lot different now), a recreation of the room where the Emancipation Proclamation was written, the assassination of Lincoln (you can Booth at the far right of the picture getting ready to enter the box seat), and finally, Lincoln lying in State. 

We went to the second theater to watch that video. This was another excellent presentation. 

Then we toured the log cabin exhibit. This was a one-room affair to give you the understanding of trying to have any private time with an entire family in one room. As you exited that room, there were more rooms filled with memorabilia. 

We left the Lincoln Museum and opted not to go to the Lincoln home in Springfield. Instead, we headed to Lincoln's Tomb. The Tomb is located in the Oak Ridge Cemetery. It sits near the back of the cemetery in its own area. We walked up to The Tomb and took a few pictures. The base was open for you to tour the inside. There is a hallway all around the inside. Placed around the corners are statues of Lincoln. At the back (opposite side of where you enter) there is a large sarcophagus representing Lincoln's burial place. My understanding is Lincoln is actually interred some distance under this sacrophogus. On the wall across of Lincoln's sarcophogus, there are marble pieces engraved the the names of Mary and the boys who are buried her as well. It is beautifully done and done in a way to protect the bodies of those buried here. 

We were very happy with what chose to see of Abraham Lincoln in Springfield. We sure could have stayed all day and seen it all but there was not time. 

On to Glenarm, Illinois to see the 1880 Sugar Creek Covered Bridge. With honeysuckles in bloom, a nice creek lined with green trees, this was a very restful stop for photos.

On to Girard, Illinois for our ice cream stop for the day. We were in search of Doc's Soda Fountain and Drug Store Museum. You enter the soda fountain side. There is an opening to a room on the left side of the soda fountain that was the drug store. The cabinets are full of very old medicines. We would each get a nice float. I had a grasshopper (chocolate and mint) and Claude had an orange creamsicle. Both were great. I loved the oversized straws. It allowed me to get chucks of chocolate with my shake. Yum!!

After this refreshing stop, we made our way to Waggoner, Illinois. A family erected Our Lady of the Highways Shrine. They maintain it. It is meant for travelers to stop and take a break. They have signs (like the Burma Shave signs) that say the Hail Mary. There was a set of rosary bead in the cubicle you could borrow if so inclined. As we drove away, Claude drove slowly so I could record the Hail Mary signs. Again, the video is too long for Blogger to accept it.

On to Litchfield, Illinois for a photo op and lunch. The photo op was the Sky View Drive-In Theater. This is one of four original drive-ins on the Mother Road. Can you imagine never having television and the fun of seeing a movie at a drive-in. Whoa!

In Litchfield is the Ariston Cafe. It was opened in 1924. That makes it 100 years old. It is original and continuously running on Route 66. We did eat here. Not our best meal of the trip. But we were eating in an historic place.

Southward we pressed on to Staunton, Illinois. This is the home of Henry's Rabbit Ranch. This was highly recommended by everything I researched and was told as an important stop by Tom at The Shop as a place we really should stop. So, we did. Guess What? The store part was closed. So, a photo op stop it became. The deal is Henry has trained rabbits to do things that others never do. But I'm telling you, the yard out front of the store was filled with wonders.

Off we go in search of another photo op. This time in Livingston, Illinois at Pink Elephant Antiques. This place was full of photo op places. Of course, we pulled into park right in front of a Donald Trump giant. Oh, my heck!! Will not vote for this man. Can't believe he is even on the ballot as he is going through multiple trials. Reminds me of Marian Barry running for mayor of Washington DC when we lived there. He was caught on camera with multiple illegal things, sent to prison and ran again for mayor when he got out. The people elected him again. Oh, that we had a great candidate to run for president. Off my soap box I go. I did enjoy the other items at Pink Elephany Antiques. The picture of the spaceship looking in the window was to show the little alien inside in a Pink Elephant Antiques t-shirt. Clever. 

Our final stop on this leg of our Route 66 tour was The Old Chain of Rocks Bridge. This bridge actually was the crossing for cars on Route 66 between Illinois and Missouri. There is a place to park on either side of the Mississippi River. However, according to my research, the Missouri side is being reworked and you can't park there. The Illinois side is the only place to park. You were supposed to be able to walk across the bridge. However, there was a big gate over the entrance to the bridge. The thing about this bridge is it was built where there are rapids caused by rocks at this point. In order to deal with the currents caused by this feature in the river, there is a 30-degree turn in the middle of the bridge. The bridge is 1 mile long and about 60-feet over the water. In 1966, they built a new Chain of Rocks Bridge and closed the old one in 1970. The new bridge now carries I-270 traffic over the Mississippi. We could see the old bridge as we crossed on I-270 but with traffic there was no stopping for a picture of the 30-degree turn. Cool thing none-the-less. 

We determined we would not make hotel reservations ahead. This would allow us to make whatever time each day we could and then find a place to rest. Our hotels in Pontiac and Springfield were great doing this. I checked Google maps for one and used the hotel Fred's group stayed in for the other. As we approached St. Louis, it was time to find another hotel. Claude and I agreed we would stay on the outside edge of St. Louis. I did a Google Maps search and found a nice Wyndham hotel on the road running along the river. We decided not to call ahead. We would drive to it and then go in to get a room. Good thing I didn't call ahead and reserve by paying for the room before we got there. When we got to where the hotel was supposed to be we were in a very weird intersection of a very industrial area. No restaurants. No businesses of any kind. We went down a bit and turned around to go another way but Google maps kept trying to re-route us to where we had originally stopped and there was NO hotel there. As we tried the third road, we could see the hotel sign down the way. We drove to it. Ugh. It was a nice enough structure on the outside. However, it had a big metal fence around it and there was absolutely nothing around but warehouses and the trailers from semi-trucks. Why was there even a hotel in this place. We looked at each other and decided NOT to get a room here. I finally found a Holiday Inn Express on the far side of town and we decided to head to it. We secured a very nice room in a very nice area and settled in for the night. Whew!!