Posted on 08/18/2023 9:03:16 AM PDT by MplsSteve
My fall vacation is coming up in the next month or so. I'm gonna stay relatively close to home and will be travelling thru central and southern Illinois and Indiana.
I wanna see Lincoln's home in Springfield as well as other sites in that area. I'm planning on heading east into Indiana and see some national parks down there.
I like going off the beaten path and have been known to spend a day sitting near a railroad station and watch trains go by.
I know this area is pretty big geographically but I'd like some advice on what Freepers like to visit, where they like to eat, places they like to stay and most importantly, places they like to avoid.
For example, I've heard a few anecdotal comments that Springfield Illinois is not particularly safe as is Decatur, etc.
Let me know what you think and thank you!
Garden of the Gods in the Shawnee National Forrest.
Also near Shawneetown there is an old slave house. or at least used to be.
I suggest a visit to the West Baden Springs Hotel in French Lick, Indiana. Breathtaking architectural wonder.
In Southern Indiana, try Nashville. It’s a cute little Artsy-Fartsy town.
Cave-In-Rock Ill.
Yes and have lunch at Bill’s BBq, best pulled pork in Illinois
Tuscola and Arcola Illinois are east of Springfield on I 57 halfway between Springfield and the Indiana border. It is Amish country, (not the bad Amish).
Reagan’s boyhood home in Dixon, IL. I went three times. Charming little house.
And Reagan’s birthplace museum in “downtown” Tampico, Illinois, just South of the Twin Cities and former (prior to the sell-out of manufacturing in America to Asia) “hardware capital of the Midwest,” Sterling-Rock Falls.
Just say west of Aurora, Illinois or the murder-magnet of Chicago may lure you in!
Reagan’s boyhood home in Dixon, IL. I went three times. Charming little house.
It’s closed.
Was closed Aug 21 - Aug 24th... then office reopened and tours resumed. Google their web site for details.
The birthplace museum in Tampico, Il is closed for the season but can be visited by contacting Joan Johnson (she has amazing knowledge of all things historic about Reagan and is curator. See their web site for details.
https://www.tampicohistoricalsociety.com/R_Reagan_Birthplace_Museum.html
Giant City down by Carbondale is kinda nice. Nice lodge built by the CCC.
“How central IL? We lived in Champaign for a bunch of years.”
I was born in Champaign. My mom lived there most of her school years and her parents lived there until they died. We lived in my grandmother’s house/apartment building in Champaign (near Westside Park) when I was very small and later we lived in very a small town north and east of Champaign, Hoopeston - until my dad’s post-WWII military service had us transfered around the country.
I have been back to Champaign quite a number of times, and in spite of it - Champaign-Urbana - being a large university city (home of the University of Illinois), I cannot think of anything in particular to tell a tourist to go see.
Champaign to me seems very different from either the urban Chicago area or nearly everywhere south of Champaign (very rural).
To me Springfield always seemed like a “gritty” town, which always seemed strange as it is the state capital.
My dad grew up in Decatur and I have visited there more than once, but have nothing paricularly notable to recommend it.
I went to Chicago for business/professional reasons a number of times in the 1990s, but it seems it was in better shape then than it is now. I feel sorry for some places I enjoyed there, like the Sheraton Hotel with common space and room interiors based on Frank Lloyd Wright designs. And it was an easy walk from the Sheraton either out to and up Michigan Avenue’s “Miracle Mile”, or shopping and dining out along the Navy Pier, or up along Lake Michigan. Ahh, but alas, I wouldn’t do it today.
I keep wondering how low will Illinois and Chicago half to sink before it has a population that kicks out 100% of the Leftist “old guard” - a genration, two???
“I suggest a visit to the West Baden Springs Hotel in French Lick, Indiana. Breathtaking architectural wonder.”
That has recently been added to my “bucket list” after I saw it on a TV show.
Make sure you have a full tank of gas before coming into Illinois.
SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS
Lincoln’s Boyhood Home
https://trips.klarna.com/en/adp/united-states/springfield-illinois/lincoln-home-national-historic-site-a25442855/
426 S 7th St, Springfield, IL 62701
Lincoln Tomb
1500 Monument Ave, Springfield, IL 62702
Air Combat Museum
https://aircombatmuseum.com/
Old State Capitol
https://dnrhistoric.illinois.gov/experience/sites/central/old-capitol.html
1 Old State Capitol Plz, Springfield, IL 62701
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
https://www.lincolnpresidential.org/
212 N 6th St, Springfield, IL 62701
“Even “just passing through” I’d make damn’ sure I have my weapon at my side and ready if needed.”
___________
- I would make darn sure that my weapon was unloaded, locked in a case as far away from the driver with ammunition separately stored before getting to the border if passing through Illinois.
- They have NO, ZERO, NA-DA reciprocity with any other states for CCW.
- A wrong time/wrong place stop will quickly make you a resident of Illinois (in one of their state prisons).
Don’t miss the Lincoln Presidential library in Springfield.
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