Before we left for vacation, pal Tsuki Ames gave us a box for us to take to IL. It was the Illinois State Quarter that she had carved for a state coin postal series a while back. She felt, as did we, that IL was the perfect home for this artfully-carved little gem. So we did place it on October 1st at the Tom Madonia Park West in Springfield. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did placing it! It's a lovely little park along the lake with plenty of opportunities to sit in the sun, have a picnic (plenty of tables) and just enjoy a moment or two. And - don't forget the box!!! Thanks to Ames for giving us this box to plant!
After Sue & I visited Tiptoe & Tonto with friends Nancy & Dave last week in Chicago, we headed to Springfield for the last half of our Illinois vacation. There we spent time doing the Lincoln historic sites like the Presidential Museum & Library, the Lincoln Home National Historic Site, the Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices, the Lincoln Tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery, the Lincoln Depot and finally, the Lincoln Memorial Gardens.
We also took along 6 little gems, all Lincoln-themed from another pal of ours, carver extraordinaire, RTRW. Originally I told Rebecca which sites we would visit and she came up with some very cool images for the historic sites. But before we left, I was worried about places to hide them in such historic areas and happened upon the Lincoln Memorial Garden and Nature Center website. I wrote an email to the director after I noticed the over 5 miles of hiking trails along the same lake where the Illinois State Coin would end up. With their permission, we placed a 6 box series entitled The Lincoln Trail. Clues for that will be typed up and posted next week. We're a bit busy getting ready for the wedding this Sunday of our oldest son, Matt, to Meredith. This is after our youngest son, Steve, married Katie about 3 months ago! But it's happy busy!
Hope you guys are all well and happy too. An Illinois trip report will come next week, with pictures, that will tell of the fantastic time we had with the best hosts ever - Tiptoe and Tonto, who catered to our every need. Every day they loaded us into their mini van at about 9 am and they kidnapped us until about 8 to 10pm! Days just chocked full of sites, boxes, a baseball game, the Indiana Dunes National Park and most of all - laughs. And then they arranged a mini meet for us with almost 40 guests showing up - some of whom traveled 4 hours one way to meet us! Must have been a slow Sunday! :-)
Boxers showed up from Iowa, Indiana and Wisconsin besides Illinois. It was a blast and we thank all of you boxing nuts who drove all that way. Sue & I were even treated to a special Chicago welcome by Beetle. I hope we were worth it!! Seriously, we never would have seen all that we did if not for that special pair (Tiptoe & Tonto) who Sue & I just happened upon on a trail at the Great Lakes Gathering in June of 2005. What a special day that turned out to be!
But more on that later - we have a special Sunday when our son gets married for which we have to get ready. See ya!
