Bonus material! Springfield, IL

One of the perks that I anticipated with taking a solo drive cross-country is the ability to pull off my route at a moment's notice in order to visit, say, the World's Biggest Ball of Twine, without having to check with any fellow travellers. However, what I didn't consider was the fact that since I had scheduled myself trips of at least eight hours on almost every leg of the journey, I ended up rather disinclined to make detours that would add to an already lengthy day's travel (to say nothing of the fact that out west, their idea of a "nearby" attraction is frequently upwards of 30 miles off the highway).

This is one of the stops that I did make, and - due respect to Lincoln - it was mainly because my route took me basically straight through Springfield anyway. It's a cute little city, but not one that I would have considered going far out of my way to visit. I'm glad I did stop there, though, because it turned out to be more rewarding than I expected.

The Lincoln Home National Historic Site (as they call it) is the only national park in Illinois, and it's something of a misnomer, since it would lead you to believe that it consists of the Lincoln house and nothing else. What the National Park Service has actually done is to purchase and preserve the few square blocks around the house as well, restoring it as accurately as they can to the neighborhood that Lincoln would have been familiar with.

The Lincoln house - the only one he ever owned, where he expected to return after leaving the White House - holds pride of place at the crossroads of the site.

Admission is free, thanks to Robert Lincoln, Abe's oldest son and the only one to survive to adulthood. Apparently, during their stay at the White House, the Lincolns rented out this house in Illinois, and after the assassination, those renters started making money off of visitors to the house. Robert subsequently sold the house to the federal government for a dollar, with the stipulation that it remain free and open to the public.

As you might expect from the NPS, the interior of the house has been painstakingly restored and preserved as it would have appeared when the Lincolns were in residence. Highlights include:

the desk in the parlor where Lincoln accepted the nomination to the presidency,


the original banister of the staircase (and yes, touching it is oddly like reaching straight back into the past),


and the real Lincoln bedroom.

I'd expected the town in general, and the tour in particular, to be a rather solemn experience, all things considered, but it wasn't, surprisingly. Despite the tragic circumstances of Lincoln's death, the site was unquestionably focused on his life; as this place was where he came into his own both professionally and personally, the focus was only fitting. About his adopted hometown, Lincoln himself asserted, "To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything."

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And now, for something completely different: I got the magic phone call yesterday, and I'll be starting work as a UCLA NICU RN (and other acronyms as well) come February! Yay employment! :-D

And, if you're interested, I enjoyed this little time-lapse video of the construction of the new building that UCLA just moved into. Appropriately enough for a hospital in Los Angeles, it plays a little like what you'd get if you paid Disney to animate the construction of a hospital - and then gave the animators crack.