Illinois

Saturday was a travel day. We spent the day in Springfield, visiting a Frank Lloyd Wright house and some Abraham Lincoln historic sites. On the suggestion of a group in our Frank Lloyd Wright house tour, we had a special sandwich at D’arcy’s Pub. This local Springfield treat is called a horseshoe sandwich (or ponyshoe for smaller appetites). It is Texas toast, covered with a choice of meat (we had Buffalo Chicken), and french fries, and smothered in cheese sauce (we had our sauce on the side).

We met Nancy and Xhem at the Illinois fair on Sunday morning. We saw lots of barn livestock, and a very large arena running a draft horse competition. The non-livestock exhibits seemed smaller here than most fairs, especially the vendor booths. This fair was the most inexpensive one for this trip, with $5 parking, and $5 fair entry (per person). Even water was only $1 per bottle.

As for food, we had the best fresh peach of the summer. We also used a coupon from the program to get a very tasty Ribeye Sandwich. The Elephant Ear was hand-tossed (the guy who made it seemed amused when I asked if it was frozen). We also sampled some flavored watermelon, which was cubed and sprayed with various flavoring, like coconut and strawberry. It was surprisingly good. Lastly, Lisa got her traditional cotton candy.

We took in part of a good high-diving show. It has been several years since we have seen that at a fair. Overall this fair was probably the least remarkable of the trip, but for the money it was still a fun day and we enjoyed the extra time with Nancy and Xhem. Following this fair we overnighted at Laurie and Steve’s again before heading to Columbus to spend the day with Diane Hunter, then on to NY for family visits.