Since we were already in Mississippi, we figured we couldn’t do any better for the boys than to take them to the Vicksburg National Military Park for Memorial Day weekend. We’ve been here a half-dozen times, but this was the first time the boys were old enough to really enjoy it (the ride is about an hour long to see all the memorials). This is the one for Illinois:
Inside, this mural on the floor:
Stand on the mural and look straight up:
This monument is a great place for people to get out and walk around, and kids to run around. Shug and Shugie enjoyed being in the spotlight:
Not all the monuments are this big and stately (Illinois’ is the best in this sense) — in general, though, the ones that the northern states had built here are more grandiose than the Southern states’ ones. This is the one for Alabama:
