The Land Of Lincoln
We started our Illinois adventure in one of my all time favorite cities: Chicago. Visiting the windy city is always exciting but visiting during Christmas time with my husband made the experience even better! We hit the ground running at the ZOO!
The Lincoln Park Zoo is such a fun, interactive, and FREE zoo! Completely open to the public we wandered through here for hours! I am not sure if it was because it was Tuesday or because of the cold but the animals were EXTREMELY active. We basically had the whole park to ourselves and the critters were lively!
I was so used to visiting during the summer on a Saturday and maybe catching a glimpse of animals while sweating to death. This was pleasantly the complete opposite.
The lions seemed obsessed with the glass observation wall, and kept looking right into the souls of the guests. You kinda forget how big they are until they are inches away from your face! Another group of animals that were quite active were the chimps.
The chimpanzees have an indoor exhibit during the winter and they were taking full advantage of their warm playground. They kept stealing each others blankets and wrestling one another. I swear they loved the attention of the guests because they kept knocking on the glass and cheering if you weren’t giving them your undivided attention.
While getting our animal fix, we worked up quite an appetite. When in Chicago you have to do as the Chicagoans do: Deep Dish! That’s right we headed to Pizzeria Uno the original creators of the deep dish styled pizza.
Even though it is kind of like a casserole, deep dish is worth the hype! Perhaps I’m biased because I’ve never eaten a pizza I didn’t like, but it was quite delicious. We ordered two different flavored personal pan pizzas so we could try two different ones. On a cold windy day, deep dish pizza hits the spot!
From there, we had to go check out the iconic Chicago Bean! Located in the middle of Millennium Park you will find a crowd exploring and snapping selfies with the reflective “bean” sculpture. Since we visited during the winter there is even an ice skating ring located right below the Bean for people to enjoy.
Due to the art school located blocks from the Bean there are neat sculptures and designs throughout the whole park. Across the street, there is a rock climbing park with an ice skating rink snaking through the gym. There are outdoor bocce ball fields and some tennis courts sprinkled around as well. It is really a unique area complete with a zigzag pedestrian bridge to skip the traffic and busy streets.
After Millennium Park it was time to hit another Chicago Favorite: The Navy Pier. Located out on an actual pier, there is a whole shopping world and hang out center.
Complete with a Ferris Wheel and beautiful sky line views The Navy Pier has become a natural place for people the gather. Indoors there are endless amounts of shops, while the outdoors is fully of board walks, bier gardens, and ships.
During the summer, festivals and concerts are often held at this festive location. Even with the cold there was still plenty to do in the “off season.” In the spirit of Christmas there were a lot of green and red lights as well as light up tunnels you could run through.
Inside the mall section of the pier, is a very impressive Botanical Gardens. There are fountains and you really feel like you stepped into the jungle. The temperature of this greenhouse warms your heart, and the views are really incredible. The gardens are mostly glass which allow natural light to play with the bright colors of the plants and fountains.
With benches sprinkled around, we spent a much needed break enjoying some extra pure oxygen. When we left the Botanical Gardens, we could not help but stop and admire the glass architecture of this indoor mall/garden. The whole wall is made up of geometric glass pieces that give the mall a modern vibe.
As night started to approach, we decided to wrap up our visit in this artsy city. The windy city always amazes me and this visit was no exception! We drove for a bit, crashed for the night, and then headed to Lincoln’s home.
After some driving, we finally hit Springfield, Illinois. Lincoln spent many years in his home there with his family before moving into the White house. His home is now officially a National Park.
Once you visit the Lincoln Home National Historic Site Visitors Center, they offer free tours. The tours are guided to preserve the house and offered every hour. They limit the amount of people that go through at a time, but thankfully we did not have to wait any time before jumping on the next tour.
Lincoln’s home was actually quite wealthy for his time period and he allowed his wife Martha to decorate it how she pleased. The bold patterns of the living room and parlor seem over whelming to our eyes, but were quite fashionable back in the 1850’s.
Martha and Abe actually had two different bedrooms that connected with two different beds (another sign of wealth). This separation allowed Lincoln to write at his desk late into the night without keeping Martha awake. The bedrooms were both decorated with a bold French wall paper that was specially imported.
Even though they had a maid girl, Martha still did almost all of the home cooking exclusively. It is said that Martha was most upset about leaving her beautiful kitchen when moving to Washington DC.
It was actually really nice having the national park tour guide leading us through the house because she was very knowledgeable on Lincoln’s history. She pointed out all the little details and tradition the Lincoln Family added to this home. The whole experience of touring the Lincoln Home was very interesting. If you are ever passing through Springfield it is a good 45 minute investment or entertainment.
That just about wrapped up our time in the Land of Lincoln, and we left Illinois a bit enlightened with Lincoln history. From there we headed East toward the land of Kentucky. Thanks for tuning in this week and I look forward to sharing more adventures soon.
