The title of this post says it all. Our trip to Springfield was so worth it. The Abraham Lincoln Museum was, in a word, amazing. I can hardly do it justice in a post. You need to go and see it. It's worth your time. The Museum is an impressive place. The volunteers, whose average age must be about 900, are terrific. They help you get your start. The exhibitions are fascinating. They've laid it out chronologically and it helps you to get to know the man, Lincoln. Most touching is the final stop where you see an recreation of the room where his body laid in state in Springfield. It's a reverent place. The stunningly patient and mighty fine SML picked up on it immediately, as she is wont to do, as soon as we entered the room. You truly got the sense that this man was ordained to do what he did. I certainly believe that.
One cool thing we found out about while at the Museum is this new movie:
I'm very excited about this. It's called "The Conspirator" and it opens 15 April. It's about the assassination of Lincoln and the other hideous events that went down that fateful night. It looks like a great movie and it's rated PG-13. This means I won't have to have the taxing mental debate about whether I should see an R-rated movie or not.
The rest of Springfield...not so much. As our fine state's capital, it's a mirror of our state's finances. Which is to say most of downtown is boarded up, bankrupted shops. Although the local Army-Navy surplus store seems to be doing a booming (pun CLEARLY intended) business. When you are traveling with six boys 18 and under, such a store makes for an excellent diversion and a good negotiations tool. I, however, did not go in. I got the strong sense that the owners of said store can sniff out a faithful reader of the New York Times from 50 yards, and I just didn't feel up to be shot or tarred and feathered. I hunkered down in the van and took refuge in the dulcet tones of NPR (while I still can, thank you very much, Congressional chumps).
So. I've given blood this morning and now it's time to settle down for a virtual Mormon Hajj to Mormon Mecca, Salt Lake City, for LDS General Conference. I'm ready to learn.
2 comments:
My name is Abe, my son's name is Lincoln. Needless to say, we are big Lincoln fans in our house. This is somewhere we definitely need to go.
It is on my short list of places my family needs to go. I felt the same "sense of the sacred" at the Lexington bridge.
Still waiting for them to declare my birthplace as a National Memorial - then the pilgrimage can begin for all.
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