A Perry Tale

Friday, October 2, 2015

Vacation, part 3

Our next stop was a tour of Busch Stadium.

A statue of Stan "The Man" Musial sits at the entrance of Busch Stadium. Musial played his entire career as a Cardinal and ended his baseball fame with 475 home runs.

Statues of former Cardinals baseball players inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Shortstop Ozzie Smith.

World Series trophies.

Wallpaper of old baseball playing cards.

Relaxed.

August Busch statue.

In the dugout!

Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis

This is one of the largest collections of mosaics in the world, created by 20 different artists and covering 83,000 square feet. The installation began in 1912 and was completed in 1988. There are 41.5 million pieces of glass tessare with over 7,000 colors!

We lit a candle for Aunt Ann.

This little guy saw his first movie in the theatre. Well, he saw parts of the "Minion" movie when he wasn't finding excuses to leave his seat.

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Vacation, Part 2

Visiting Lincoln's New Salem was a great view into the past. New Salem is the reconstruction of the village where Abe spent his early adulthood. Lincoln spent six years in New Salem and it is said that his years there were a turning point in his career. He clerked a store, split rails, enlisted in the Black Hawk War, served as post master and a surveyor, he had a business that failed and then was elected to the Illinois General Assembly in 1834 and 1836. He was unsuccessful in a bid for the assembly in 1832.

In the summer of 1832, William Berry bought part interest in this mercantile store. Later that year Lincoln bought the other interest in this store with a promissory note. Stores were a popular social place for locals. It wasn't long before a larger store with more stock of goods came available across the street and Berry and Lincoln purchased it.

The Schoolhouse and Church was originally a Baptist Church. Mentor Graham taught reading, writing and ciphering. Graham ran a subscription school and received his pay in goods such as corn, wheat, firewood, chickens and meat.

The interpreters were so knowledgeable! This woman was gardening and telling us about the size of the gardens that were needed to feed large families.

Anyone home?

Watching the chickens.

It was fun to take a step back in time and think about how life would've been in the 1830s.

We headed south to St. Louis for more fun!

We visited the Old Courthouse to get our tickets to The Arch.

We visited the galleries of the Westward Expansion.

Our tram for the "Journey to the Top."

Tram selfie.

View of the construction for the new Arch Visitor Center.

The Arch family selfie.

Riverboat Cruise.

Vacation, Part 1

Our 2015 summer family vacation included destinations in two states. The first leg of the trip was Springfield, Illinois. Grandma Mary and Grandpa Richard live along that route and they were our first stop.

When we started discussing the location of our summer vacation Lucas was quick to suggest visiting the Lincoln historical sites in Springfield, Illinois.

We all rubbed Lincoln's nose for good luck!

The Lincoln Tomb.

President Lincoln's remains rest in a vault ten feet below and just behind the massive Arkansas marble monument. Flags to the left of the monument represent the modern states that Lincoln's ancestors lived. The flags to the right are the states that Lincoln himself resided - Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois.

The Lincoln Memorial is located in Oak Ridge Cemetery. This cemetery is 365 acres, the largest cemetery in the state of Illinois. Oak Ridge has the distinction of being the second most visited cemetery in the United States, right behind Arlington National Cemetery. It's history is rich and Brent and I could've driven every curvy road to see its beauty but the kids weren't that intrigued by old gravestones.

At the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum we were welcomed by the Lincoln family. Lucas has been reading some books this summer about Abe and his family. It was fun to see exhibits of Lincoln's sons who we had read about.

Some of Mrs. Lincoln's gowns.

Re-enactment of writing the Emancipation Proclamation.

Display of Ford's Theatre.

Map of the funeral train journey. It was stated that more people saw Lincoln in his coffin than saw him in person while he was in office.

Outside the log cabin exhibit.

What Abe's one room childhood home would've looked like.

Willie and Tad Lincoln playing in Abe's law office.

This is the Lincoln Home National Historic Site. This house is the only house Lincoln ever owned and is where he and his family lived when they left for the White House in 1860.