My first Capital trip was to Illinois. Why you might ask? Blame this girl (on the left).

This is Kori: a Louisiana transplant living in Illinois for work. We met in undergrad at LSU and quickly bonded over our mutual awesomeness. The trip was planned for March despite the weather to make sure I paid her a visit before she moved again for a new assignment. It worked great for me though- I got to experience the tail end of a real winter!

I flew in on a Thursday after work and we got up the next morning and hit the ground running. Springfield, the capital of Illinois, is about a 2 hour drive from Kori so we loaded up for quite a HBIC road trip. Our first stop in the capital was Café Moxo, a cute little neighborhood stop with a view of the Capitol.  I always like to find quirky independent places like this and the specialty lattes they serve really got our attention. We tried the “Salty Dog”, a salted caramel concoction, and a “Red and White”, a mix of raspberry and white chocolate. We were both hooked and had to keep ourselves from ordering another.

The main event followed our café visit: a trip to the Capitol building. A picture with the official building and visit are the only two things I make myself do on any Capital trip. The weather was perfect for our photo and after a little navigating around the building, we found the visitors entrance. Looking back, it does seem kind of obvious that the entrance wouldn’t be at the front on a random weekday. Once inside under the gorgeous dome, we were able to snag a private tour. We were also the only people there, but a win is a win. We almost didn’t do the tour at all because we didn’t want to wait for the next one to start!

The Capitol itself is meticulously beautiful- meticulous as in there were intricate and beautiful depictions of Illinois history every, and any, where you could turn or look in all the fabulous and over the top mediums you would expect of a center of government. Even the wood paneling was gorgeous. As a huge fan of The West Wing, House of Cards and really any dramatic, fictional depiction of politics, I completely nerded out when we went into House and Senate chambers. You are hit by the history and importance of the space when you learn the human-sized chandeliers are from Austria hanging above individual hand crafted wooden desks and an electronic voting board with all the important names. Our guide made a point to highlight where President Barack Obama sat when he made his start in the Illinois State Senate. This tour was actually a great surprise and I am still glad we went through with it. Illinois is now the reason a Capitol tour is apart of the project tradition.

Kori and I walked around compact downtown area and stopped at a few museums and shops before heading to lunch. Obed & Isaac’s is a microbrewery and restaurant set in a home original to the area. It has a dining room, separate bar area, a patio and a beer garden, which is probably perfection in better weather. We ended up sitting in the bar area because the restaurant was already full by the time we got there. That didn’t bother us though. We ended up being closer to all the beers we wanted to try.

The house-brewed availabilities were written on a board in my direct view so it took me a few minutes to decide what to get. Luckily, they offer a “flight” of beers that allows you to sample 4 different ones. We ordered the Ditzy Blonde, Upside Brown, Chocolate Stout, and Mother Road APA. I’ve recently gotten more into craft beer and beer in general since moving to Houston and trying everything there is to offer here. This beer sampler killed all of those. Upside Brown and Chocolate stout actually made me appreciate beer with coffee and chocolate notes. I’ve also been on a Cider kick lately so I ordered theirs and was not disappointed. I spent the rest of the lunch wishing I could take a growler of it with me back home. Our actual lunch lived up to the beer too. The pretzels with cheese dip were everything with all the beers we tried. Kori’s fish and beer battered chips and my roasted lamb sandwich solidified our love of this place. It makes complete sense that the place was packed.

We ended our time in Springfield with a quick stop at the Pease’s Factory Outlet and picked up some ridiculous salted caramel turtles. I felt bad for taking us here when Kori gave up sweets for Lent but I made up for it by indulging for both of us. Who needs to load up on road trip snacks at a gas station when you can snag some handmade chocolates and free samples on your way out? All road trips should end like this.