Union Station in Chicago

The empire Builder arrived in Chicago almost two hours late which turned out to be a good thing because now I have only two hours to wait at Union Station. It’s okay but not as impressive as Grand Central in New York.

One thing though. If you saw the movie “The Untouchables” with Sean Connery and Kevin Costner, you will remember the scene where Eliot Ness played by Costner was in a shootout on the staircase at Union Station.

This is the staircase where that scene was shot.

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New Orleans and the Mississippi River

I had a hard time getting my head around the fact that the Mississippi flows through New Orleans from west to east rather than north to south. The river dominates the city. It actually winds through the city in a “u” shape. The right side of the “u” actually flows south to north. They don’t use the cardinal directions: north south east west. Instead they say up river downriver toward the river and away from the river. They also talk about before aKatrina and after Katrina. I took a riverboat down riverfive mikes to where the Battle of New Orleans was fought in 1815. I took some pictures along the way including the dukes that are supposed to keep the river under control.

President's Graves

On this trip with David we are going to visit the graves of five Presidents. One of the greatest, George Washington at Mount Vernon. One of the worst, James Buchanan at Lancaster, PA. Three in the middle. Woodrow Wilson at the National Cathedral in Washington. John Kennedy and Howard Taft at Arlington Cemetary in Virginia. The two most impressive Presidential graves I have been to are Lincoln's in Springfield, IL, and Grant's in New York City. I have been to 17 of the 39 Presidential graves. Most of them are very humble. many are located in regular cemetaries. Their grave stones are less remarkable than many others in the same cemetary. I found this to be true of Buchanan's in Lancaster and Tyler's in Richmond. Many are buried at their Presidential libraries, such as Hoover and Truman. Some are buried at their homes, such as Washington, Jefferson, and FDR. I think Lin...

Ford's Theater

The theater where Lincoln was shot has been completely changed since the last time I visited a few years ago. They purchased the building.next door and turned it into the box office. The museum in the basement is much better than it was before. The derringer used by Booth has a prominent place. Most of the other weapons used by the conspirators are on display as well. The pistol and knife Powell attacked Seward with and the rifles, pistols, and knives Booth and Herold had with them during their twelve days on the run were there. It is a great museum, but anyone who plans on visiting should study up on the assassination first. Visiting the theater itself was a disappointment. I expected a ranger talk, but there was none. The theater is a working theater and workers were busy building a set. Nonetheless, I still get the willies when I think of what happened in there.

Pastor Skar

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