I live a couple of hours away from Springfield, IL. Last year, I took a class trip to Illinois’ state capital.

First, we visited Illinois’ old capital building. We saw many things. There were special rooms for governments such as the House of Representatives. A lot of the items that they had were just reproductions.

Second, we visited Abraham Lincoln’s Springfield house. The flooring and wall paper were very fancy. They didn’t rip down Lincoln’s home to build a reproduction, they just repaired the home. We had to stay on a gray carpet. If we stepped off it, a little bell would go off. That told the tour guide that someone was where they weren’t supposed to be. I learned a lot about Honest Abe there.

Third, we went to Lincoln’s tomb. In front of it is a statue of Lincoln’s head. The nose is gold. The night before, my dad had told me there would be that statue there. He said to rub the nose for good luck. Right before everyone started attacking Lincoln’s head (by trying really hard to touch it themselves), I managed to quickly snap a picture with my camera. I also managed to get to him to rub his nose. We walked through the tomb, which was larger than I had expected it to be. We saw where Lincoln was buried.

After that, we went to the new state capital. We had to set any items we had in this little bin when we got there. They x-rayed the items, I think. Then, we had to walk through a metal detector. I didn’t beep. They want to make sure that the state capital is safe. We had to climb up about five flights of stairs after that. There was a railing at the top where you could look down and realize the great height you were at. I didn’t want to know that! I’m afraid of heights. Just knowing I’m anywhere near a height scares me. I managed to make that part of the tour, though.

Then, we drove for a while until we got to Lincoln’s New Salem. It reminded me of a field trip I took in third grade to this place called Naperville Settlement (an attraction in Naperville, IL). They both had cabins and items from a very long time ago. First, we had to watch a short movie that introduced us to New Salem. It was pretty boring. When the movie was over, our principal decided to let the different groups we were in go their different ways. At one cabin, we met a woman dressed up like she was from Lincoln’s time. She told us some facts from Lincoln’s time. This is what I remember her telling us; if you lived in this time, the boys would sleep in whatever room they could find in the upstairs. Girls would sleep downstairs, about three to a bed. You would have three meals: breakfast, dinner, and supper. (She told us the times, but I forget them.) You ate what you got. If you didn’t like it, tough luck. No snacking in between meals. That’s all I remember. She also told us that there were many animals around, not in the past, but in the present. There were a lot of snakes. Lincoln’s New Salem had a gift shop, and I bought a couple of things.

Springfield, IL is an awesome place to visit! You have to go there if you visit Illinois!