Honestly, Abe

I had the coolest museum experience of my life on Wednesday. Mark took me to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, IL. This place was, hands down, the greatest museum ever. From the moment you walk in the door, you are greeted by the man himself, Abraham Lincoln. His family joins him in front of a giant facade of the White House. They are not cheesy actors, but very realistic-looking wax figures that Madame Tussaud would be proud of.

From there, you get to see what Lincoln's life was like as a boy in Kentucky and Indiana and as a man in Springfield. There are lots of really interesting displays and artifacts from this period, as well as a really interesting look at what Lincoln's campaign, and those of his competitors, would look like if he had access to today's modern media coverage.

After that, you get to follow the Lincolns to the White House, where interesting information about Mary Todd Lincoln greets you. In this part of the museum one finds the most interesting displays of how the creators of the exhibits combined amazing techniques using light and sound with the more traditional mural/diorama displays. You feel like you are part of the action in many cases because the saturation of your senses is pretty much complete.

For example, one of my favorite parts of the museum was the Hall of Whispers. In this part of the museum, the lighting is very strange, and you see pictures of political cartoons of Lincoln hanging on the wall. Their frames are skewed and disproportionate, to match the outrageously negative things they say about Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln. There are negative quotes on the walls, and (this is the cool part) voices of gossips can be heard whispering nasty things about the first family. I was impressed by this blatant showing of how many people found them to be detestable. From Abe's desire to help the union be preserved at the cost of slavery to the type pf dresses worn by Mary, no facet of the Lincoln's lives remains untouched.

There are many more interesting sights and sounds in this museum, but it would take pages to describe them all, and none of it can really be done justice by words alone. I really encourage everyone who can to visit this amazing museum. I know I look forward to doing so time and again.

Experiencing Illinois

For the last several days, I have been spending my days in the Land of Lincoln. That would be Illinois, for those of you not from here. I have never seen more corn in my days here than I have ever seen in the first 19 years of my life. Combined. No joke, these people loooove their corn. There are lots of beans here, too, but miles and miles of corn as far as the eye can see.

Another interesting feature of Illinois is the beautiful weather. In Texas, the general temperature this time of year is near the century mark. Here, it has been 85 just about every day. It's been pretty sweet.

Mark and I went to see Lincoln's home and Lincoln's Tomb today in Springfield. It was really neat to be able to see the place where Lincoln lived and where he was buried. At the cemetery, there was a monument including the very slab where Lincoln's body was laid. I actually touched it. Not gonna lie, that was kinda creepy.

Anyway, this vacation so far has been great! I will probably provide more details later, but who can really say?