Road Trip, Days 1-3

The Monday after Easter, we started from our home as early as we could (8:30, if I recall), after I had packed and my husband had loaded everything.  The last thing I packed was our fresh food.  I had an assortment of cooler bags (I don't like big, bulky coolers and I can't haul them anyway) and an iceless refrigerator cooler that plugged in (a gift from a friend!).

We headed to Springfield, IL; and, my husband headed to work.  It rained that day, off and on (more on).  We got caught in a couple of downpours; but, drove out of the worst of it after a bit.  It was drizzly in Springfield; and, we quickly found our destination:  The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum (http://www.lincolnlibraryandmuseum.com/lincoln-tour.htm).  We parked our car and crossed the street to an old train depot, where we used the bathroom, looked around a bit and decided to eat lunch in the shelter of the pavilion.  Then, we went to the museum.  It was neat; but, not a destination alone.  My 8yo did not learn much that he did not already know.  My 5yo was not engaged and kept asking to leave (but, his favorite part was the "theatre":  they did a "show"--behind glass to protect the archived items--and, they told a story where they made the actor a ghost from the Civil War).  What was interesting (and unknown) to me, was how disliked the President and Mrs. Lincoln were.  Some books we have read only alluded to that fact, but never really to the extent they enacted at the museum.  Another neat thing is that they occasionally put a real, loose penny in the center of the floor, under the dome.  Each of my boys found one at different times of the day.

So, my goal was to leave by 3:00.  We were running late; but, that is not why this was MISTAKE #1.  It is because I FORGOT that we were traveling to Indiana that night, where they are on EST!  AND, I estimated it would take 2 hours to get there, not 4 hours and not in the rain!  Oh my!  Great start, Melissa!  We made sure to give my youngest enough snacks to tide him over because I knew he would fall asleep in the car.  We ended up getting to my niece's house at about 9pm EST (UGH!); and, her fiancée was kind enough to get me some ingredients to top the gluten free pizza crust I had prepared and brought with (and had planned to buy before we got there). 

My gracious niece had everything ready and even made some chocolate covered strawberries for the boys.  We carried in what we needed the next two nights (and my sleeping son) and made dinner, visited for a bit and went to sleep (exhausted!).  The next day, we decided to go to the Indianapolis Children's Museum (http://www.childrensmuseum.org/) with my niece and her daughter.  It was fun and very big.  The best part may have been the ramp that goes to each floor, which my boys loved running up and (especially) down.  The other neat thing was that the lab was working on some dinosaur fossils; and, they had the windows open and said, "Please, touch".  So, we did!

My niece also found us this great place near her house called, "INgredients" (all healthy, majority local, yummy food, more info at, http://ingredientsindy.com/)...we perused there a bit and got some chocolate/spinach/almond milk shakes (YUM!).  We stopped at Trader Joes on the way back and got dinner fixings and some things for the road the next day.  We enjoyed this leg with family and found Indianapolis spread out and similar to St. Louis in some ways.

The next day, we headed down to Louisville.  We had planned to do more in Indy; but, frankly there was not much more I could find that was cheap/free and on our way (MISTAKE #2:  I thought their Earth Day Fair was ON Earth Day, but was in fact the following Saturday).