Yesterday Greg and I had some fun adventures going to the Keokuk, Iowa area. I wanted to check some land records for people who lived across the Mississippi River from Nauvoo in the 1840s, so we went to the Lee County Courthouse in Keokuk where all of the land deeds are housed. When we first went into the Recorder's office, the lady there said, "Well, we do have records going back that far, but you can't look at any of them. They are too fragile." So it didn't sound good--but luckily they ended up finding an index of the records that we could check. Unfortunately I didn't find what I was looking for, but I always enjoy a good hunt through old books. After our courthouse escapade, we ate at Mom's and my favorite restaurant in Keokuk: the 4th Street Cafe! It was, as always, delicious. I had some yummy ham and bean soup with cornbread and Greg had a hot roast beef sandwich. While we were eating lunch, a guy from the kitchen came out and asked us how our food was. We said it was great, and he said, "Yeah, I was surprised to hear that such a young couple was ordering this kind of food." What does that mean? :-) It made us laugh though.
After Keokuk, we were so close to Nauvoo that we decided to head up the road to see our favorite place in Illinois. It had been cloudy and dreary all day until we reached Nauvoo--then the sun finally came out. The flowers around the temple were so pretty!
After Nauvoo we swung down through Quincy where we stopped at a baseball card shop. Greg and I enjoy collecting sports cards, and we have just recently started putting some on eBay--which has worked out to be quite a booming business. We bought a box of football cards and pulled out this gold Mark Ingram rookie card. I said, "Oh, look how pretty and shiny it is!" But then Greg saw the number in the lower right-hand corner of the card and said, "It's a one-of-one card!" Sometimes they only make a certain number of a particular card which makes it very collectible. We have gotten cards numbered to 10 and even 5 before, but never a 1 of 1. So that means that this is the only card of its kind. I know it sounds crazy that just because they put a number on a card it makes it more valuable, but this is literally the most valuable card we have ever gotten. It was quite exciting, and we are going to put it right up on eBay. The last 1 of 1 Mark Ingram card on eBay sold for over $700, so we have high hopes! :-)
Anyway, we've been busy around here with work and church stuff and are really looking forward to a visit from our friends Matt and Angie next week! Matt and Angie and their son Ben live in Gettysburg. We had a great time visiting them last year and can't wait to see them!
After a hot, dry summer here in Springfield, we have welcomed the cooler, fall-like weather with open arms. As a fun way to celebrate the coming autumn season, Greg and I went to the Fall Festival at historic Clayville on Saturday. Clayville is a little settlement about 8 miles west of Springfield that was settled back in the 1820s. The centerpiece of the little village is the Broadwell Inn, this beautiful building that is supposedly the oldest brick structure in Sangamon County.
Even though the leaves haven't changed colors yet, it still felt very fall-ish around the village with the corn stalks and pumpkins around. These are some old cabins from the area that were moved to the site. The festival was a lot of fun and included Civil War re-enactors, craftsmen, black powder demonstrations, and other period-style crafts.
We had a great time welcoming fall!
One of our favorite things to see was the bee display. Even the bees around here love Lincoln! We were so impressed by the Lincoln honeycomb that we bought some honey from these people. It was a beautiful day and a fun event to attend!
