Day 4: Winfield, Kansas to Spingfield, Illinois

Some Numbers:
Times we've gone to sleep past midnight: 3
States we've been through: 9
Number of books we've listened to: 7 (one was started pre-trip)
Times we haven't made it to a bathroom for a bathroom stop: 2


 We loved staying with the Harpers!  Their home was right next to a pasture with cows!  The kids had so much fun catching frogs, fireflies for the first time, and jumping on the trampoline.  It was a great reprieve from the car!



 We are trying to hit as many capitol buildings and historic sites as we can, so after leaving Winfield, we headed to Topeka.  We visited the Monroe school where Linda Brown from the Supreme Court case of Brown vs. Board of Education attended school.  The center was very well done, and the three younger kids received their first junior ranger badges. Yay for free souvenirs!


 Our next stop was the capitol building.  The Kansas capitol is unique because you can actually climb to the top of the cupola and go outside.  It is a 296 step climb to the top.  Half of our family made it to the very top.  The others went down at a few different stopping points.



 When they refinished the interior they left the back side of the pillars the way they were.  They felt that the graffiti on the back was equally historic since some of dated back from a very long time ago (hence the two tone pillars).  The next picture is the kind of hanging stairway that goes above the inner dome to the spiral staircase. 


 The library was also unique because part of it had a glass floor!







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