Holiday Travel
Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, was quite a busy day for the two of us. We got up fairly early for a holiday, got ready to leave and we loaded up the car for a two-day trip out of town. But, before we could leave town, we had a couple of visits to make.
First, we drove to visit some friends who live south of town, then we made our way to Elaine's sisters place. A large contingent of the family was there, and it was quite nice to see everyone again. The food was also good, and thankfully we didn't eat too much because we left for Springfield, Illinois after we'd had our dinner. I was sort of surprised that it is about 30 minutes closer than Springfield, Missouri. I was also disgusted with our Tom-Tom GPS device. I knew roughly the route I wanted to go, and knew it would not only be quicker, but 30+ miles shorter. Tom-Tom wanted to take us through St. Louis, which would add distance, frustration and TRAFFIC to our drive. Thanks, no. But it took Tom-Tom around 30 miles of steadily heading the other direction to finally get the clue that I wasn't interested in following the directions it was offering.
Where the GPS came in handy was when we got to Springfield, and needed to find the Bed & Breakfast where we were going to be staying (The Rippon-Kinsella House). I think it took us 'round Robin Hood's barn in getting there, but we got there nonetheless. It was an utterly charming place, built in 1871. At that time, it was out in the country, now it was less than a mile from downtown. The proprietor of the place was a gracious and entertaining host. We liked him quite well.
The place was liberally decorated with antique radios and more than a couple of late 40's/early 50's TV's. Sadly, they no longer worked as it would have been interesting to see what cable would look like on a 60 year old TV set. They had very small screens, but were in lovely wooden cabinets. Just lovely to look at.
We went to the Abraham Lincoln Museum, and can recommend it. The Lincoln Home was something else. I had been there when I was a boy, but had vague memories at best of the place so it was great to go back and see it again with adult eyes. And going out the to the Lincoln Tomb was more interesting than I thought it would be. That was because I'd seen the place on TV, but more importantly, it was because of the man who was working there.
We got there about 5 minutes to 4 in the afternoon. They were closing at 4, and this man told us so right as we arrived. Fair enough, we thought. We went and saw his resting place (He was moved several times after he died, plus there was an attempt to kidnap his remains) and it was moving. Across the hall, or right behind us as the case was, his wife and three of his sons were interred. Robert Todd Lincoln was buried at Arlington National Cemetery at the request of his wife, but there is a marker for him there with that information on it. We also found out that there are no surviving descendants of Lincoln alive today, the last passing away about 25 years ago. The man at the Tomb was very forthcoming with information and gave us copies of the handouts given to schoolchildren and other groups as the State is too broke for brochures anymore.
We ate a couple of meals at local establishments, those being Cook's Spice Rack & Chili for lunch on Friday and the other being the Chesapeake Seafood House. I had this thing called a Horseshoe sandwich at Cook's and I'll never do that again. Not that it wasn't good, it was. It was too much food, and it will kill me with all that cheese and grease. At dinner, I had a wonderful dish, but again, too much cheese. Elaine ate more sensibly than I did. She had salad at lunch, and steak for dinner. The breakfasts at the B&B were fantastic, well prepared and served in style. We didn't go hungry, that's for sure.
On Saturday, before we headed for home we stopped at this great place called Recycled Records. I didn't see the records, but there are 35,000 of them on the 2nd floor. Since I don't have a turntable, I didn't venture up there, or I might have cried. The CD selection was something else, and I found a couple I'd been looking for at prices that were more than great.
The drive home was brightened up by listening to Missouri beating Kansas 35-7, and hearing that Ohio State downed Michigan (AGAIN!) 37-7, so my college football teams did very well. We had a nice time on our little weekend getaway, but we were also quite glad to return home again last night. I think the cats missed us...and I know Elaine missed them as well.
First, we drove to visit some friends who live south of town, then we made our way to Elaine's sisters place. A large contingent of the family was there, and it was quite nice to see everyone again. The food was also good, and thankfully we didn't eat too much because we left for Springfield, Illinois after we'd had our dinner. I was sort of surprised that it is about 30 minutes closer than Springfield, Missouri. I was also disgusted with our Tom-Tom GPS device. I knew roughly the route I wanted to go, and knew it would not only be quicker, but 30+ miles shorter. Tom-Tom wanted to take us through St. Louis, which would add distance, frustration and TRAFFIC to our drive. Thanks, no. But it took Tom-Tom around 30 miles of steadily heading the other direction to finally get the clue that I wasn't interested in following the directions it was offering.
Where the GPS came in handy was when we got to Springfield, and needed to find the Bed & Breakfast where we were going to be staying (The Rippon-Kinsella House). I think it took us 'round Robin Hood's barn in getting there, but we got there nonetheless. It was an utterly charming place, built in 1871. At that time, it was out in the country, now it was less than a mile from downtown. The proprietor of the place was a gracious and entertaining host. We liked him quite well.
The place was liberally decorated with antique radios and more than a couple of late 40's/early 50's TV's. Sadly, they no longer worked as it would have been interesting to see what cable would look like on a 60 year old TV set. They had very small screens, but were in lovely wooden cabinets. Just lovely to look at.
We went to the Abraham Lincoln Museum, and can recommend it. The Lincoln Home was something else. I had been there when I was a boy, but had vague memories at best of the place so it was great to go back and see it again with adult eyes. And going out the to the Lincoln Tomb was more interesting than I thought it would be. That was because I'd seen the place on TV, but more importantly, it was because of the man who was working there.
We got there about 5 minutes to 4 in the afternoon. They were closing at 4, and this man told us so right as we arrived. Fair enough, we thought. We went and saw his resting place (He was moved several times after he died, plus there was an attempt to kidnap his remains) and it was moving. Across the hall, or right behind us as the case was, his wife and three of his sons were interred. Robert Todd Lincoln was buried at Arlington National Cemetery at the request of his wife, but there is a marker for him there with that information on it. We also found out that there are no surviving descendants of Lincoln alive today, the last passing away about 25 years ago. The man at the Tomb was very forthcoming with information and gave us copies of the handouts given to schoolchildren and other groups as the State is too broke for brochures anymore.
We ate a couple of meals at local establishments, those being Cook's Spice Rack & Chili for lunch on Friday and the other being the Chesapeake Seafood House. I had this thing called a Horseshoe sandwich at Cook's and I'll never do that again. Not that it wasn't good, it was. It was too much food, and it will kill me with all that cheese and grease. At dinner, I had a wonderful dish, but again, too much cheese. Elaine ate more sensibly than I did. She had salad at lunch, and steak for dinner. The breakfasts at the B&B were fantastic, well prepared and served in style. We didn't go hungry, that's for sure.
On Saturday, before we headed for home we stopped at this great place called Recycled Records. I didn't see the records, but there are 35,000 of them on the 2nd floor. Since I don't have a turntable, I didn't venture up there, or I might have cried. The CD selection was something else, and I found a couple I'd been looking for at prices that were more than great.
The drive home was brightened up by listening to Missouri beating Kansas 35-7, and hearing that Ohio State downed Michigan (AGAIN!) 37-7, so my college football teams did very well. We had a nice time on our little weekend getaway, but we were also quite glad to return home again last night. I think the cats missed us...and I know Elaine missed them as well.