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!!!