Such a cute couple!
This picture was taken on top of the Melvin docks, one of the places we visited while driving the Great Rivers scenic byway from Alton to Grafton in southern Illinois.
But I'm getting way ahead of myself since that's about 2 weeks down the road from us leaving Columbus, so let's start at the beginning, shall we?
As scheduled, we left Columbus that Saturday and headed north for Memphis, or actually Coldwater, about 25 miles south of Memphis, where we'd planned to camp for 2 nights while visiting the city.
Despite being located right next to the freeway and filled with a lot of construction workers, we ended up in quite a nice section of the park, next to a pretty pond with fountain.
The next morning we drove into town for a day of sight-seeing.
We were early enough to score a great parking spot, right in front of Beale Street and steps away from the bus that we'd booked for a guided tour through town.
The bus took us by all the interesting sites of Memphis, of which there are quite a lot:
The Riverfront
The Peabody Hotel:
This landmark 13-story downtown hotel is known for its grand, marble-columned lobby, as well as its resident ducks—whose daily parade to the hall's fountain is a tradition dating from 1933.
The General Manager of the time, Frank Schutt, had just returned from a weekend hunting trip in Arkansas. He and his friends found it amusing to leave three of their live English Call Duck decoys in the hotel fountain.
The guests loved the idea, and since then, five Mallard ducks (one drake and four hens) come down by elevator from the rooftop garden at 11 am and 'march' to the fountain every day.
It's a total tourist-trap, takes only 30 seconds and we could have totally done without it but .. oh well ..
We drove by the Lorraine Hotel, the place where Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968 ...
A fresh wreath is hung every year at the day of his death.
We had lunch at Central BBQ, one of the city's famous 'Memphis style' BBQ restaurants.
Apparently this style of BBQ is slow cooked in a pit for hours (not a BBQ in sight) and is served either 'dry' or 'wet'. "Dry" ribs are covered with a dry rub consisting of salt and various spices before cooking, and are normally eaten without sauce. Wet ribs are smothered in sauce.
At the end of the tour we were dropped of at the Rock ' Soul Museum.
This interesting museum, with help from individual MP3 audio guides, tells the critical story of the musical pioneers from rural field and porch music to 1940's radio and the opening of Sun Records, the soul music of the 60s and 70s and the influence of the civil rights protest-movement, who overcame racial and socio-economic obstacles to create the music that changed the world.
Opposite the street from the museum is the Gibson guitar Factory. Unfortunately we were to late for the tour of the factory but we took a look at the retail store, just to the site of the large atrium-style lobby:
Lots and lots of, very expensive, guitars ...
After that we took a walk down famous Beale Street.
Spanning several city blocks in the heart of downtown Memphis, Beale Street is a hub of music, entertainment and history.
Louis Armstrong, BB King, Elvis and Johnny Cash all played here various times, developing the musical style known as the 'Memphis Blues'.
Today it is packed with nightclubs, restaurant and galleries, making it a great place for a sunny Sunday afternoon stroll ...
It is the only place in Memphis where you can walk around with open containers/glasses of booze, and even has a Brass Notes Walk of Fame:
We sat down for a beer and listened to some live music at Silky's outdoor patio, one of the biggest bars on the street.
As for Elvis ... well, I always thought I'd visit Graceland if I ever found myself in Memphis but guess what .. I didn't!
I know, I might regret it somewhere in the future, but I couldn't justify the $50-$60 a person and wait in line for hours in the blaring sun, just to see his house, I'm sorry ...
We visited his birth-place in Tupelo, visited the museum there and saw some very informative videos and movie, and that's going to be it for us, I'm afraid ...
At least I took a picture with his statue:
And we actually did drive to the house on Elvis Presley Blvd:
This is all we could see from the front gates ...
We did visit Memphis' famous Pyramid, formerly a stadium and recently re-opened as a Bass Pro Shop.
It boasts the first (wilderness inspired) hotel inside a Bass pro shop and the tallest, twenty-eight story, free standing glass elevator in America.
The Cypress Swamp Waterfowl Habitat is, besides of course a retail area, a giant cypress swamp environment with enormous ponds, towering cypress trees, an 84,000-gallon alligator habitat and a huge aquarium.
The Ducks Unlimited Waterfowl Heritage Center on the second floor is an interactive wetlands education museum and has an, honest-to-god, area for engraving, tuning and customizing ... duck calls ...
Amazing, what a crazy store ... !
The next day we managed to drive through 5 states in 260 miles and 5 hours, due to following Highway 55, which follows the meandering Mississippi river who forms in it's turn a natural border-line for several states.
We started in Mississippi, than Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri and ended up in Illinois!
Our campground for the following 3 nights was Little Grassy Lake in Makanda.
A very nice remote campground, on a beautiful lake (Little Grassy Lake .. duhh .. surprise, surprise) ...
My main reason for going to Makanda, was to visit the Giant City State Park, so the next day we went for a couple of short hikes ...
Nestled in the Shawnee National Forest, Giant City State Park was named for the unique impressions made by its massive sandstone structures.
And Cooper Hawks, apparently ...
Whenever we can, we fire up the BBQ, nothing says 'summer' more than slightly burned meat ...
Next stop: Beaver Dam State Park, just north of St Louis, but in Illinois.
Another beautiful site, although the 'woodsy-ness' gave us fits finding the satellites for the dish and WiFi for Internet.
Another pretty lake ...
And, as the name suggested, a dam ...
Several Blue Martin 'apartments' at the lake were fully occupied ..
Quite a lot of Red-Headed Woodpeckers and Eastern Chipmunks called this area home ...
First we visited the ginormous Melvis Price Locks and Dam (8 stories high!) and Great Rivers museum just outside of Alton.
They help to control the flow of the Mississippi and are the means by which barges are able to navigate the river.
As one of the largest locks on the Mississippi River, it is central to river traffic for soybeans, corn, grain, asphalt and other commodities that are transported via the river.
Together, the dam and the museum offer a unique opportunity to see a working dam and to learn more about the engineering behind these modern marvels. The Corps offers free 45-minute tours of the dam daily at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Much of the tour is 80 feet above the river, providing spectacular views of the Mississippi and the nearby Clark Bridge
Next, just down the road, we drove to the Lewis and Clark winter camp, just south of Alton.
Located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, just several miles south of the current mouth of the Wood River (River Dubois) is Camp River Dubois.
This facility, operated by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, is designated as Site #1 on the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail and features the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, a replica of the 1803-04 winter encampment, and the Lewis and Clark Monument.
..
Lots of forested, limestone river bluffs:
We passed the quaint, historic town of Elsah.
And had some ice-cream in touristy Grafton, winter-home of the bald eagles ...
The next day, to round out our stay here, and combining some history, nature and sport activities, we also managed to sneak in some golf, at wolves Crossing:
Phew, are you still with me? Good for you, we're almost there! That is, for this post, I mean ..
Onward we went, this time to Springfield, Illinois, home of everything 'Lincoln'!
After driving some hours north, through endless fields of corn and soy-beans ..
Soon, we arrived in Springfield and had no problems finding the State Fair Grounds, in the northern part of town, where we'd arranged for a couple nights stay at it's (cheap) campground.
Another great site, this time under an enormous Oak tree!
Like I said, Springfield is known for 'everything Lincoln', his home (before elected president and moving to the white house) is here, the neighborhood around it, the presidential Library and also his tomb.
The State Capitol
This beautifully restored, prairie-style house
was commissioned by Susan Lawrence Dana In 1902. Recurring themes used within the house are the prairie sumac and butterfly. It shows Wright's superb craftsmanship in it's glass doors, windows and light fixtures, sculptures and exquisite murals.
It's the best preserved and most complete of his early 'prairie houses.
The home has an astonishing 35 rooms in 12,000 square feet which includes 3 main and 16 varying levels in all.
We joined an afternoon tour and spent about 1 1/2 hours walking through this gorgeous house. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take any pictures inside ...
That evening we golfed 9 holes at 'twilight rate', at Long Bridge Golf Course, just a few minutes from the fairgrounds.
What a nice little course this was, no wonder so many couples have their wedding feature here. It's so pretty!
A guide (park ranger) takes you through the nicely restored home and provides you with many fun and interesting stories and details of this first and only home Abraham Lincoln ever owned.
Restored to its 1860 appearance by the National Park Service, the four-block area contains twelve historic structures dating back to Lincoln's time.
This 'cabin-on-wheels', on the left, was actually part of the election parade, to show Lincoln's humble childhood origins.
It looks like a very early RV to me!
After lunch we walked to the Lincoln Presidential Library and museum.
This Presidential library is without a doubt the best we've ever seen!
The exhibits are incredible authentic and beautifully done, chronologically following his political career, with wax figures, videos and realistic displays, many of which had sound effects.
There's a reproduction of the White House exterior as well as a log cabin similar to one that Lincoln would have known.
Several very interesting movies, one of which using an eerie hologram, and many incredible lifelike scenes of his home, his office, his wife and children, the theater where he was killed, a slave market, several war-scenes and even the East Room of the White House where he lay in State after he was assassinated.
He was quite intrigued by 'modern' technology, like 'instant' digital photography!
Like I said, an incredible museum, well worth the $12, you can't miss this one!
Our last visit of the day was to Oak Ridge Cemetery, where Lincoln, his wife Mary Todd, and three of their four sons were buried.
The somber mausoleum, underneath the monument, houses several beautiful statues, among which the original study for the big statue everybody knows off, the The Lincoln Memorial that's located on the western end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
And, of course, there's the tomb ...
Outside there's this bronze of his head . Rubbing the nose of any statue is said to bring luck, especially from someone this important.
Judging from the appearance, I'm not the only one ...
OK. I think this is a good moment to end this waaayyyy too long of a post.
While writing this we're already about 2 weeks further down the road, and a lot has happened, but I'll save it for next time.
See you there!
Full moon over Springfield, Illinois.
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