I don't blog about my night job, however I will tell you this much: I work downtown nearby Water Street. The other night I was driving home and saw something quite unsettling on the lawn of the Peoria Riverfront Museum. It was dark out and I wasn't about to stop then and I'm hoping it was just a figment of my overactive imagination. I've decided to go there in the cold light of day and see if what I saw was real or maybe a delayed reaction to some pill or powder I ingested in the '70's...or '80's. I called in a backup friend just in case it's as real as I hope it's not and we'll meet him down there. So it's off to the Peoria Riverfront Museum we go!

And here we are at The Peoria Riverfront Museum, on the Water Street side. There’s my friend who’s going to be the back-up in case trouble happens today, Carl. Carl lives in New York and is back in Peoria for a week visiting friends and family. He told me he was looking for something interesting to do in Peoria and I told him if he was looking for an adventure, today is the day! And so it’s off we go...

Down the sidewalk and there it is! It’s not a figment of my imagination after all, a giant Abraham Lincoln and an almost equally giant Perry Como have invaded Peoria and they're standing on the lawn of the Peoria Riverfront Museum. Let’s go take a closer look!

Carl is taking some photos of these giant icons of American History. As he’s taking the photos, I noticed something...

The giant Lincoln has a tight grip on Perry Como...

And he appears to be very angry and more than a little perturbed. Look how red he is in the face! And Perry Como understandably looks very nervous.

Oh no, Giant Lincoln looks like he’s going to hit Perry Como over the head with his huge stovepipe hat. That thing must weigh over 100 pounds and it could crush Como’s skull. Let’s hope giant Lincoln is just trying to scare giant Perry Como. I’d hate to see things get violent here!

Giant Perry Como looks very shaken and scared! The blood has drained from his face and he’s even whiter than he was in the ‘70’s!

All of a sudden, Lincoln strikes! Giant Lincoln has ka-bonged giant Perry Como over the head. That had to hurt!

This is horrific! Giant Lincoln has killed giant Perry Como and he’s showing no remorse. Instead he looks thirsty for more blood, mayhem and death! Carl and I did what anyone with half a brain would do in this situation...

We quickly retreated to Cyd’s Gourmet Kitchen Cafe in Junction City for some lunch. We should be safe from Giant Lincoln’s reign of terror inside of here.

We made our way inside to the front counter and I ran into a friend of mine behind the counter, it’s Keith Cotton, who we met back in 2014! Check that post out here. Keith is back there with Andy and Clark. Keith is one of the best photographers in Peoria and beyond. Some of his work is hanging on the walls in here at Cyd's and we’ll take a look at some of them soon. First we need to order lunch!

In keeping with the theme of the day, I asked Keith, who’s here at the register with Sarah, if he could make us up a Lincoln-styled lunch for us. I went online and found a list of five of Lincoln’s favorite foods and gave them to Keith, who said he’d do the best he could. And that’s all we can ask!

We found a table and Carl settled in while I went to go take a few photos of Keith’s photography on the walls in here.

Check these portraits out! Keith Cotton does amazing work! You can check out more of his photography and philosophy by clicking here. And you can read more about him in this PJ Star feature by Leslie Renken. Okay, I think the Lincoln lunch is served...

And whoomp, there it is! The five foods on the list were: Bacon, oysters, apples, corn cakes and gingerbread men. We got a bacon sandwich and some sliced green apples. That’s two out of five and two out of five ain’t bad!

In fact they’re delicious! Carl got the apples since he’s a vegetarian and I scarfed down the bacon sandwich! The sandwich usually comes with lettuce and tomato, but in light of what happened earlier, I thought I better stay true to Lincoln’s tastes. I don’t to suffer the same fate as what happened to the giant Perry Como!

We had a nice lunch and it was fun talking about Peoria and New York City with Carl! And in keeping with the theme of the day, we left a nice Lincoln-styled tip on the table! Meanwhile, out on the boardwalk at Junction City...