Springfield Illinois

| tralev | springfield |

Trip Dates

May 1 - May 3rd 2019

How I Got There

I was in Chicago for business, and I took the Amtrak from Chicago to Springfield. The train ride was similar to the one I took a few years ago from Indianapolis to Chicago, except we got off to a bumpy start and it took nearly two hours to get out of Chicago proper.

Where I Stayed

There is no Marriott in Springfield. I ended up staying in the tallest building in the city at the Wyndham. The hotel was a bit dated, but there was an excellent restaurant on the roof with panoramic views of the city.

How I Got Around

Downtown Springfield is pretty walkable, so I walked. I took a bus here and there, and also took an occasional Uber.

What I Did

After a bumpy start out of Chicago I arrived in the afternoon and was able to check in early to the hotel. After dropping my things off, I explored downtown. I visited the old statehouse, Lincoln museum and presidential library, and Union Station. Afterwards, I got dinner at Nick and Nino's steakhouse at the top of the hotel and it was excellent, especially compared to my microwaved cheeseburger on Amtrak earlier that day.

The next day I explored Lincoln's old neighborhood, which has been preserved as a National Park. I walked down to the State Capitol and after touring the interior, visited the Illinois history museum.

On my last day, I didn't do anything too notable. I checked off a few more Lincoln themed spots such as the old railroad station that he left from when he became president. I spent the afternoon working from the Library and then made my way to Springfield airport for my flight back to San Francisco.

What Was The Fuss

Two words – Abraham Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln

I've learned throughout my travels so far that every state in the Union claims Abraham Lincoln as their own. Springfield takes this to a whole new level. Their entire economy is essentially "Lincoln lived here for a while".

Thank you for reading! Share your thoughts with me on bluesky, mastodon, or via email.

Check out some more stuff to read down below.

Most popular posts this month

Recent Favorite Blog Posts

This is a collection of the last 8 posts that I bookmarked.

Articles from blogs I follow around the net

Pluralistic: Carl Hiaasen's 'Fever Beach' (21 Oct 2025)

Today's links Carl Hiaasen's 'Fever Beach': If you didn't laugh, you'd have to cry. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Scary Godmother; Nightvale novel; The war on Worker's Comp; Cadillac's murdermo…

via Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow October 21, 2025

10 pointless facts about me

Found on Kev’s blog and originally started by Dave, here are my answers to this fun blog challenge: Do you floss your teeth? Sometimes. I’d say maybe a few times a week? I’m terrible at being consistent, and that includes flossing regularly. Tea, co…

via Manuel Moreale — Everything Feed October 21, 2025

Getting started with simple CSS View Transitions

There's (yet another) new piece of CSS to learn! Hurrah! Way back in 2011, jQuery mobile introduced the web to page-change animations. Clicking on a link would make your high-tech Nokia display a cool page-flip as you navigated from one page of a web…

via Terence Eden’s Blog October 21, 2025

Generated by openring