Southern Illinois

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We decided to take a trip to southern Illinois.

We drove through DeKalb to get to Peoria. I loved going over this huge bridge in Peoria. We only stayed there for awhile. We stopped at the Yorkshire Plaza Mall for some time. Then we went to Grand Prairie Mall. We ate at Old Chicago Pizza. It was yummy, we went in the winter so there was snow on the ground. They also had their big sleigh like ride going. We rode that several times. It's so huge. I loved just going there.

After Peoria we went onto Bloomington. I know this sounds crazy, but we stopped at a mall in Bloomington. This is purely because we were hungry. We ended up going to Eastland Mall. It was a nice mall and a good place to go to get out of the car. We only stayed in Bloomington for a little less than half a day.

From Bloomington, we drove down to Decatur. Some people would have stopped, but we didn't Part of this trip was to visit family so we kept on driving. We finally stopped in this tiny town called Assumption. Seriously, no one would probably stop there, but I love going. It's so small compared to Tucson. Everyone knows everyone. It's where my parents grew up, so I know tons of people. If you're going to stop there, the spot you should hit is the Dinner Bucket. Best food in town. No one that lives there has not been to the Dinner Bucket at least 50 times in their lifetime. If you are staying longer, I'd do the library, which is so quaint and nice to visit, and the Knick-Knack Shop. It's run by Norma and I've known her all my life. She's the best and she has some amazing stuff. As far as snacks, we always go to either Jim's Red Fox (now renamed the Main Street Market) or the Smokehouse (Freedom Gas Station). I wouldn't bother driving in Assumption. Everything is so close you can walk. For me I love going to the red Caboose and the Gazeebo across from Jim's. If you're driving down south, I'd definitely stop here.

Finally on our trip, we drove down to Pana, up to Taylorville, and to Sprinfield. Everyone has heard of Springfield. We did a ton of things while there. We decided to do the whole historical trip and get it out of the way. We did the Dana-Thomas House first. It was really pretty and and so huge. It didn't look big but it was. The tour we went on was pretty interesting actually. Then we did the Old Capitol and the New Capitol. The Old Capitol was so cool. It's piece of history. The tour there was nice too. The New Capitol was cool because things were actually happening while we were there. The Capitol Dome is a piece of art. I could stare up at that for hours. We also did the Lincoln Home and the Lincoln Tomb. The home was nice and really interesting. I couldn't imagine living there. The tomb was unique. We saw his tomb, and his families. You could feel the history there. The two museums we did there was the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and the Illinois Military Museum. Both were awesome. The library was my favorite thing on the trip because you saw how Lincoln lived. I loved it. The Military Museum was cool because you actually saw Santa Anna's artificial leg. Plus you could get a dogtag like the military people wore. I still have mine. We also saw the Korean, Vietnam and World War 2 memorials. They were really peaceful. I like the World War 2 one the best. That night we acutally ate at Kick's. It's like a bigger and better Chuck E. Cheese. We had the buffet which was actually pretty yummy. Plus they had ice cream. They have a ton of Arcade Games, plus Indoor Go Karts, Bumper Cars, and Laser Tag. I liked the Laser Tag. It's so much fun if you with friends.

Overall, my trip was pretty awesome. I loved seeing family and going new places.

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