Trip to Springfield

I returned from Iowa yesterday and am now back to the old routine. I had a blast out there. On Thursday I went with my parents to Springfield (Illinois) to see Abraham Lincoln's house and museum. We took part in an organized tour of the house, which was not very long but fascinating nonetheless. Lincoln apparently bought the place for $1500 and lived there with his family for 17 years before moving to DC. He was a lawyer for the majority of that time and had an office nearby. After becoming president, he never returned to Springfield (alive, anyway). The museum had lots of detailed exhibits and displays, and we even saw a short movie depicting the notable events in Lincoln's life. There was also plenty of information on the Civil War, including a very cool "Civil War in one minute" film which showed the day-by-day progression of casualties throughout the crisis. The number of deaths was astounding, and most of them occurred not on the battlefield, but rather due to sickness, disease, and malnutrition. Near the end of the museum was a recreation of Ford's Theater, where one could clearly see how John Wilkes Booth entered and shot Lincoln. Apparently Booth was quite a big-name actor, and everybody in the 1860s knew who he was. Now everyone knows him as an assassin. I think that anybody who has an interest in history would find that place informative and very enjoyable. I sure did.