Take in these Executive Branch side trips on the way to the inauguration

Chicago Tribune (MCT) - You're excited, aren't you?

So excited that you're driving to Washington for the inauguration of our next president, who is, so improbably, a black Chicagoan named Barack Hussein Obama. It will be history, and you'll be there, perhaps even without a ticket, and why not? For the first time, the National Mall will be outfitted with massive television screens and audio and open even to people who don't have tickets.

Joy will be in the air, many people won't be working, and bars will be open late _ it'll be just like D.C.'s very own Mardi Gras.

Now the only question is about getting the most out of your drive. What to see? Where to stop? What can you show the kids? Well, we took a test run to figure that out for you. Below is a suggested route that turns the 700 miles between here and there into a historical field trip best done in three days. On the way you'll visit some of our most fascinating historical sites involving presidents and vice presidents.

With some research you can find any number of routes that take you past history's doorstep, but we opted for the quirky, the surprising and the enduringly relevant. If you try it, enjoy, and let us know what you think.

_Tippecanoe Battlefield, Battle Ground, Ind. (120 miles southeast of downtown Chicago)

You've probably heard the slogan, "Tippecanoe and Tyler too." But do you know what it means or what Tippecanoe is? I'm no longer embarrassed to admit that I didn't, because everyone I've quizzed lately didn't know either. It turns out this fabled battlefield, the site of a bloody skirmish between American Indians and whites in November 1811, is a day trip from Chicago, near present-day Lafayette, Ind.

The back story: Whites and American Indians were trying to fortify their presence in the new Indiana territory when William Henry Harrison, Indiana's governor, came to the Indian settlement Prophetstown with an army of 1,000. It is unclear whether Harrison planned to attack or just talk, but while he and his men were holed up just outside of town, about 700 Indians from several tribes struck first. For two hours, the Battle of Tippecanoe raged, leading to 62 dead or mortally wounded whites and about 50 dead American Indians (the exact number is in doubt).

When Harrison ran for president in 1840, his slogan became "Tippecanoe and Tyler too," a reference to the battle and his vice president, John Tyler (for more Harrison trivia, read to the end of the story).

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Today the battlefield is surrounded by an iron fence and marked with several monuments _ a thin, soaring tower honoring Harrison's men plus grave stones that mark where the dead fell.

A Tippecanoe museum sits nearby, and it obviously was built on a budget. It doesn't tell the story of the battle very well, which means you probably should do some reading beforehand. If you do, you'll be rewarded with a fascinating stop where American Indian land rights were significantly damaged and a quiet, eerie darkness endures.

(200 Battleground Ave.; 765-567-2147; open noon-5 p.m. daily; www.tcha.mus.in.us/battlefield.htm)

_The Dan Quayle Center, Huntington, Ind. (82 miles east of Battle Ground, Ind.)

Despite his ups and downs, it's probably fair to say they never stopped loving Danny (as they know him here) in his political and teenage hometown. Though the 44th vice president lives in Arizona, Huntington opened this museum for its favorite son in 1993 in a handsome yellow-brick building that looks like a former bank but was most recently a Christian Science church.

The first floor, dedicated to a history of the vice presidency, is relatively informative. Every vice president is represented _ yes, even Schuyler Colfax _ and displays some quaint artifacts, such as John Garner's Senate manual or the People magazine cover bearing a shirtless Gerald Ford (was that really necessary?). It's so full that Nelson Rockefeller has been shoehorned in above the water fountain.

"We're trying to figure out where to put Joe Biden because we're running out of room," an employee told me. That raised the obvious question of whether the Quayle museum was less than eager to immortalize another Democrat.

"We are strictly non-partisan despite the Quayle name," the employee said.

The second floor, the Quayle wing, is quite the guilty pleasure. It includes a photo of the dashing young fellow on his prom night, his Huntington Herald-Press marriage announcement to the former Marilyn Tucker (they were married two months after meeting) and the couple's mailbox ("The Dan Quayle's" _ which means he struggled with spelling and punctuation).

The museum tracks his life and career thoroughly and deserves kudos for not shying from the darker passages of Quayle lore. The "Murphy Brown" and "potatoe" incidents are represented as is the unforgettable "you're no Jack Kennedy" smackdown he took from Democratic rival Lloyd Bentsen in a 1988 debate.

The museum forgives most of those moments, blaming the media for overdoing the negative.

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When you're done, you can walk a block and grab the "Quayle Burger" (a half-pound of ground chuck topped with grilled onions, lettuce and tomato) at Nick's Kitchen. It was the site of many a Quayle photo opportunity, the evidence of which hangs on the restaurant's walls.

(815 Warren St.; 260-356-6356; open 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday; www.quaylemuseum.org)

_The Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center, Fremont, Ohio (149 miles east of Huntington, Ind.)

Every presidential museum takes pains to point out why their guy was fascinating, and most pull it off. They were, after all, presidents.

For instance, within minutes of arrival at this museum _ the oldest presidential museum in the nation _ you learn that the 19th president popularized the term "first lady." You also are told that he was the first president to visit the West Coast, have a telephone or hear a phonograph.

What makes Hayes most interesting, though, was the controversial election of 1876 that mirrored the electoral chaos of 2000. Hayes, a dark-horse Republican candidate, lost the popular vote to Democrat Samuel Tilden but won the election after a vote by a congressional commission.

"We were getting calls all about it back in 2000 from all over the world," a museum employee told me.

If there is a knock on the museum, it's that the controversial election doesn't quite get its due; it gets only as much real estate as Hayes' years as a Civil War general, as a governor and as an Ohio State University trustee. A stone's throw away is Hayes' mansion, Spiegel Grove, where he and his wife both died (it's actually sort of awe-inspiring to stand in the room _ or touch the bed _ where a president died).

The home stayed in the family for decades after Hayes' death and was modified by ensuing generations to fit various styles of the day. Designwise, the interior is, therefore, a bit of a jumble, but the architecture and woodwork are impressive. A four-year effort to restore the home to how it looked in Hayes' day is in its early stages.

(Corner of Hayes and Buckland Avenues; Fremont, Ohio; 419-332-2081; open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday, noon-5 p.m. Sunday; www.rbhayes.org)

_James A. Garfield National Historic Site, Mentor, Ohio (110 miles northeast of Fremont, Ohio)

Our 20th president _ the last to be born in a log cabin, my tour guide says _ is a historical oddity for two reasons. He was one of four assassinated presidents, and he had the second-shortest White House tenure (the shortest belonging to our old friend William Henry Harrison, who caught pneumonia after refusing to dress warmly enough for his inauguration and died within a month).

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Garfield's home, Lawnfield, is sprawling yet cozy, intricate but tasteful. You'll want to move in, which you should, considering that the National Park Service spent $12.5 million and six years restoring the grounds in the late 1990s.

About 80 percent of the furnishings belonged to the former president and his family, including their presidential china, his canes and the wreath sent by Queen Victoria that sat at the foot of his coffin. Many original rugs remain on the wood floors, including one with a swastika pattern that sits in what was his sons' room (how or why he acquired the rug is unclear, but the symbol, relevant to many cultures, had yet to be co-opted by the Nazis). His daughter's daybed _ called a Turkish corner _ remains in her bedroom.

"It was the cool thing to have at the time," my guide said. "Like a Hannah Montana poster today."

Behind the home is a small studio where Garfield and his cronies got word that he had won the election. And in the Garfield visitor center, which muses on what might have become of a longer term, staff tells you that he was "the most prepared individual ever elected to the White House." Before becoming president, he had been a congressman, a farmer, a Civil War general and a college president.

If nothing else, it's a fascinatingly short presidency _ and a lovely house.

(8095 Mentor Ave.; 440-255-8722; open noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, but tours can be arranged during the week. www.nps.gov/jaga)

_Gettysburg, Pa. (320 miles southeast of Mentor, Ohio)

You could spend two hours or two days at Gettysburg, but this historic Civil War site is so vast and so steeped in history, better to spend more time than less. The longer you stew in the stories of bloodshed, the more haunting they seem. Just think: Close to 50,000 people died during the three-day battle here, affecting the course of this nation and the world.

The place to start is the recently refurbished visitor center and museum, which lays out a thorough history with detailed battle stories, interactive displays and artifacts, such as weapons and ammunition from the era. Museum admission also gets you access to the Gettysburg cyclorama, a 360-degree painting by Paul Philippoteaux that depicts Pickett's Charge, a July 3, 1863, Confederate attack on Union forces.

But the real stories are on the battlefield, which has been memorialized with more than 1,300 monuments honoring every participating state and all sorts of regiments and companies.

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For $55, a kindly retired accountant gave me a private two-hour battlefield tour in my rental car (as many as six people can get a tour for that price). His knowledge was vast and his delivery impeccable. When he became excited about a particular skirmish, his tone took on a thunderous "voice of God" quality that brought the battle home.

He had an answer for everything _ such as where exactly Abraham Lincoln delivered his immortal Gettysburg Address. Also, Dwight Eisenhower bought a farm here before becoming president and retired to the land after his eight years in office. Today it is open to the public as the Eisenhower National Historic Site.

(The battlefield visitor center is at 1195 Baltimore Pike; 717-334-1124; grounds open 6 a.m.-7 p.m., visitor center open 8 a.m.-6 p.m. daily; www.nps.gov/gett).

After Gettysburg, you'll be just 80 miles north of D.C. And then you can stop looking back; it will be time to take part in history's next chapter.

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Josh Noel: jbnoel@tribune.com

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© 2009, Chicago Tribune.