Wednesday (7/8)   We ate breakfast out today at a Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives restaurant called Charlie Parkers that is  know for it's 16 inch pancake.  What a hoot - it is served on a pizza pan and only cost $3.95.  If you can eat four of them, they are free.   Rich and I shared one and left about 40% of it.  

We then headed to see the Dana-Thomas House State Historic Site (see picture.)   This 12,000 sq. ft. Prairie-style home was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright  in 1902.  The radical designed of the home, located in the middle of Victorian and Italianate homes, must have caused quite a stir among the neighbors.  It was built for Susan Dana who used it for extensive entertaining from 1904 until 1928.  It was sold at auction in 1943 and used as offices by the Thomas Publishing Firm from 1944 until 1980.   Then the state acquired it and did a complete restoration.   This was not too difficult of a project, since the publishing firm respected the integrity of the building and did little to damage it architectural features.  The house rambles on and on and has beautiful architectural features but does not have the feel of a home at all (at least in our opinion.)

Our next stop was the Lincoln Museum and Presidential Library.   The museum is fairly new and has many innovative displays that show the life of Lincoln from his childhood until his death.  They have a small collection of items actually owned by Lincoln as well as many paper items signed or written by Lincoln.  Also, there is a replica of Lincoln's casket as it was laid out in the Capitol Building - kind of erie but also neat.

A few blocks away, is the law office of Lincoln and Heardon.   The actual section of the building that the office was in is gone but there is a display showing what the office looked like and it is on the appropriate floor in the remaining section of the building. Lincoln was not a neat man and it is said that his office was a mess.  It had piles of paper everywhere and it is said to have had a pile of paper on a desk with a note on it that said "if you can't find it anywhere else, look here."  

Our last stop of the days was back to the old Capitol Building.   We took a tour of the building and saw the desk where Lincoln sat in the Representatives Chamber.  A stovepipe hat sits on the desk (see picture.)  He gave his House Divided Speech in that room and that is also the actual room in which his casket was displayed.  This is a building in which Lincoln spent much time in many different roles in his life.