a Review from the Top: June 2019

Illinois Sojourn Day Three

On our last day here, we drove from Bloomington to Elgin to visit Doreen's Uncle Chuck, Aunt Ella Mae, and cousin Dana and Dana's husband Roger.

We had a great conversation, and another meal where we just ate too much.

Now, we're stuck at ORD waiting on a late flight. Oh well, into each trip some delays may fall.

This has been a fantastic trip. We'll do something like this again.

Illinois Sojourn Day Two

Every room on our floor of the hotel was named after a famous train. Ours was the General Pershing.

Here is a photo:

But we packed up and after a considerable delay because Enterprise Rent-A-Car was not prepared for the onslaught of renters, we headed into Illinois.

The first stop was the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Location. Well worth a stop. Cahokia was the second largest city in the Americas in the 10th or 11th centuries. What, something like 50,000 people! Isn't that crazy? All that is left is a few mounds:

some pottery:

and some stone drawings:

They are something to see.

So close to St Louis you can see its skyline from the top of Monk's Mound:

On the way to Springfield, we stopped in Litchfield (not too far from Hillsboro, Coffeen, and Greenville. My neighborhood when I lived here) and ate at Jubelt's on Old Route 66.

Our first stop in Springfield was the Lincoln Museum:

It was something:

Great giftshop:

We stayed in an old converted rooming house, the Inn at 835. (the street number was 835). It was very nice, and the staff was very friendly.

Just two blocks from the State Capitol!

And a short walk to Lincoln's House.

That night we ate at Maldaner's a nice local place that has been open since the late 19th century. Also on Old Route 66. Thought it might have been on Historic Route 66. Always hard to tell.

There is a very well preserved 1904 Frank Lloyd Wright house in Springfield - the Dana Thomas House. Build for a rich widow (aren't they all?) who gave FLW an unlimited budget, it was finished for $60,000. (Using a CPI deflator, that would be about $1.7 million today. But that is honestly way too low). You can read about it on their site, but the short story is that it was bought by a publishing company in 1948 (for $12,000!), kept in great shape and then bought by the State of Illinois for $1,000,000 in 1981. Free tours, $10 donation suggested (which we were happy to pay). Well worth the time.

Doreen loved this little state building:

Then we were off to Bloomington, and the Knapp Family Reunion!

This was at the Chenoa Family Restaurant. Doreen will have to fill in the names. It is in Chenoa, IL.

We had great fun.

Then we went to her cousin Link Roth's farm:

Which is fantastic.

Here is Doreen, her cousin Linc, and his wife Debra.

and here is a youtube of Linc's farm from last year's harvests:

Brings tears to your eyes. Some day I will write more about that story. It is a good story. This is the Heartland, baby.

The on a great cross country, no GPS (thank goodness for our Illinois State Map!) to visit her family that lives on Lake Bloomington:

A great time was had by all!

Illinois Sojourn Day One

Doreen and I made a trip to Illinois to trace her roots in light of her father going to his great reward last week. We thought this would be a good way to reflect on where she came from, and meet family that I have never seen, and whom she has not seen for many years.

We started in St Louis, as all good journeys do:

The Mississippi was still in flood stage, and you could see that from the air:

We like to stay in interesting small hotels and properties, so Doreen found out that the old Union Station in St Louis was converted to a hotel.

The lobby was fantastic:

With lots of Art Deco glass and statues. The building was built in 1904, or there about.

Every evening they perform several light shows (on the hour, from 6:00 until 11:00). We saw two of them. One was a tribute to Queen. The other was a tribute to the station.

The front desk at the hotel was terrible. They could not be bothered to answer any questions, or be useful in any way, shape, or form. But one of the doormen was great. We asked about someplace interesting to have lunch, and he sent us to The White Knight a couple of blocks away. He said he ate there almost every day for 30 years. (The front desk told us to eat in the hotel).

On the way, we passed the World Chess Hall of Fame. We didn't stop in, though, as we had an appointment at the Arch later.

Here we are at the White Knight. It was tiny. We got great service when we said "Randy sent us". It's good to know someone.

The movie The White Palace was filmed (partly) in this restaurant. Susan Sarandon and James Spader were the stars. It was filmed in 1990, and they still have memorabilia on the walls.