RAGGEDY ANNIE'S GRANNY



This blog will be all about FUN Times .. Granny's have fun times too you know .. especially Raggedy Annie's Granny .. she's always having a good time!!


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Thursday, September 18, 2014

OUR LAND OF LINCOLN ADVENTURE .. DAY TWO!!!!

DAY TWO .. Of course we would start out the date with a delicious hot Breakfast .. for me .. Scrambled Eggs, Bacon, Sausage Links AND a Waffle with Strawberries and Reddi Whip .. Yummmmm!!!  What a way to start the day!! 

 
I've had a full Breakfast in many hotels / motels but this is the first place we have stayed that actually had REAL plates and dinnerware!!!  The coffee mugs in the rooms were even REAL!!!!!  I was impressed!!! Now I have to admit they kind of messed up this wonderful thing because the drink cups in the Breakfast Room were NOT real .. not sure why when everything else was!!  The more you get the more you want, right?????  LOL LOL LOL!!!
 
Our first stop on our agenda was the Lincoln Museum .. it didn't take Ken long to discover THE PENNY SMASHING MACHINE!!!  So he was off across the room to smash a couple of pennies for Madonna!!!!  
 

While Ken was crushing pennies the others were listening to the welcoming speech ..


 


Welcome to our museum from the Lincoln Family ...



Abe in his younger days ..



 
It's too bad we can't remember what we are told by the guides that take you  through the tour!!! 
 

 

Inside the cabin ..


Pretty dark in the cabin but you're not supposed to use your flash ...


On to the next display ...
We were told no picture taking in this part of the museum .. however, when I entered and area with no one around I quickly grabbed my camera out of the case and snapped a quick one!!! 
 
As you can no doubt tell .. the selling of slaves .. separating families .. a sad and thought provoking scene ..  


Abe working in the Berry - Lincoln store ..


 
Mary Todd Lincoln watching over their dying son ..

 
Mary Todd Lincoln in grief after the death of her son ..
 

Lincoln .. leading an important meeting ..
 
I asked a young lady who worked there what the long tasseled rope hanging there by Abe was for .. she didn't know!!  She caught up with me later and told me that she had discovered that it was to ring for the servants!!



WHOOPS .. I got caught!!  Shortly after I snapped the pic above a young guard stopped by me and very nicely informed me that we were not allowed to take pictures in that part of the museum .. I of course innocently said "oh .. I'm so sorry"!!! 


Look who we found lurking outside the "capitol" .. John Wilkes Boothe!!!! 


Across the way were two Union Officers having Tea .. or could it be Coffee????


We saw many many more displays I would love to have taken pictures of to share with you but after having been told by a Security Guard "No Pics" I thought perhaps I should play it safe and keep my camera in it's bag for the rest of our time here!!! 

For more information on The Lincoln Library and Museum click on the blue link below ...

 
I think I haven't told you yet .. in the package Shirley came up with from Travelzoo for our trip each couple got two  $25.00 vouchers for a meal at Boone's Saloon .. so of course that was our destination for lunch!!!
 



Ken, Don, Jerry, Carl, Rich and Bill on the left ... myself in the empty chair, Bev, Nancy, Sylvia, Pat and Shirley on the right side. 


Rich got a much better picture of the group on his camera and I hope to snag it one of these days to replace these pics!!! 




And we're off again ..
Union Station ..





According to Wikipedia  Springfield Union Station was originally a combined passenger terminal for several railroads serving Springfield, including the Baltimore and Ohio Raiload, Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis railroad, Illinois Central Railroad and the St. Louis, Peoria and Northern Railway.    Now it is a museum.  At this time it is filled with memorabilia from the filming of the Stephen Spielberg movie "Lincoln".   To see a clip from the movie click on the blue link below ..
 
After leaving Union Station we headed back to the hotel for a little rest and once again got together in the hotel Cocktail Lounge for drinks and snacks and a chance to "redo" our day!!!!  I think I also have not told you that as a part of our package from Travelzoo we each got 2 vouchers for a free drink in the Lounge .. and those of us who chose to drink Soda didn't even have to use the voucher the bartender just gave them to us free!!!!  We were all pretty pooped from our day out and about so no card game on  this night .. LOL!!! 
 
This would be our last night in the hotel .. time to rest up for our last big day in Lincolnland!!!!  

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

OUR LAND OF LINCOLN ADVENTURE!!!


When I was first dating Ken and getting acquainted with the  “Bread Company Bunch”  Ken ttold me many stories of places they had all traveled to .. and day trips they had made together .. or 2 day trips .. I had started doing some whining lately about all these trips and adventures they all used to go on before I joined he group and now they hadn’t taken any trips together since then!!!   Recently we have started talking about possibly spending a couple of days in Springfield, Illinois together and Shirley got busy on the internet and came up with a great deal from a place called travelzoo.com and we got the plans together and off we went!!!!! 
 
DAY ONE  ... we left home about 10:00 am on Thursday, September 11 and arrived at the State House Inn in Springfield about 12:30 am .. not a long trip at all!!! 




 
To our surprise the hotel was  just across a parking lot from the State Capitol building ....



The pictures below of the hotel were snagged from the internet ..



 

 






 
 Our room ..
 


The chair at the desk in the middle of the room was a pain in the rear .. when you were sitting on it you were in the way of the other person in the room being able to get anywhere .. bad thinking there!!! 



The "Gallery" .. where our delicious HOT Breakfast was served.  Scrambled Eggs, Bacon, Sausage Links, Potatoes, Waffles ... a choice of Bagels, Toast and Cereals too of course!!! 





 
The Cocktail Lounge .. 




We had made arrangements to meet at the hotel at 1:00 but wouldn't be able to check in and go to our rooms until 4:00 so after everybody had arrived we went to the Brickhouse Grill and Pub for a late lunch / early dinner and some  visiting ..


Notice the Cardinals sign in the window!!!  Of course they also had a sign on the other side of the window for the Cubs!!!! 


After our delicious lunch / dinner at the Brickhouse we went back to the hotel to get checked into our rooms and then went on a hunt to find "Scheels Sporting Goods" store.  Shirley had read that the sporting goods store had a two story Ferris Wheel in the middle of the store and we all decided we would like to see it!!! 


I don't know who this goof is .. sitting in the lap of a giant wooden  Grizzly Bear!!!


Once inside the store the first thing we saw were these giant acquariums .. which also contained some pretty giant fish!!! 


There it is .. the giant Ferris Wheel!!!  



I THINK the pic below is Ken and I .. Ken waving from the top of the Ferris Wheel ..



And I THINK this next pic is Pat and Rich waving from the top ..


And I THINK the next one is Shirley and Nancy at the top and Carl And Sylvia below them .. 

 
Sad to say I gave my camera to Bill and asked him to take pics of us riding the thing but alack and alas .. I didn't think to show him how to zoom in to get a closer picture .. My Bad!!!!  

 
Pat, Shirley, Bev and Nancy checking out the Christmas decorations for sale in the Home and Décor area of the store!!!! 


Could that be Rich and Bill looking over the balcony???? 


And look at this huge fish Ken caught .. right there in the middle of Scheels Sporting Goods store .. LOL!!! 

Scheels is not one of the historic places you think of visiting when you go to Springfield but it had some very interesting displays and of course that GIANT Ferris Wheel.. it was well worth checking out!!!  I even bought a few Christmas pretties from their beautiful selection of Christmas décor!   I hadn't ridden a Ferris Wheel since my kids were little .. and we all know that was a lonnnnnnggggggg time ago .. LOL!!! 

After leaving Scheels we headed back to our hotel and our rooms to rest up for an hour or so  and would meet in the Cocktail Lounge of the hotel at 7:00 where we put tables together and  visited for a while and then played  a rousing game of  "Screw Your Neighbor" .. or perhaps you prefer to call it "Pass The Trash" .. whichever you call it .. it costs you 15 cents a game and when your 3 nickels are all blown you get to play one round on your honor.  At the end of the game Bev was the big winner of all those nickels .. let me see 1 cents times 12 = that's a whole $1.80 .. WOW!!!!  The ladies had brought some snacking goodies along and of course those were brought to the Cocktail Lounge also .. and much enjoyed as we visited and played cards!!! 

That's it for the fist day of our adventure .. Stay Tuned for more exciting pics and stories .. LOL!!! 

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Blogging is one of my favorite things to do .. in fact .. I have FOUR blogs .. LOL!! "MY BIT OF MORNING BLATHER" .. is just that .. a bunch of blather!! My way of keeping up with friends and family. "BERTHA'S BED AND BREAKFAST" .. this is an ongoing project about my ancestry. RAGGEDY ANNIE'S GRANNY .. is about fun things Ken and I have done and travels we have made!!! KEN AND LIZ'S BIG ADVENTURE .. is about our latest adventure .. selling our home and buying another home!! If you want to check any of them out let me know and I will send you a link!!