From 80-90 degrees and serious humidity in Nauvoo, to breaking out the winter coats at a gas station in Wyoming, the next day was a traveling anomaly. And there was snow; it was awesome. We also battled some near-tornado weather in Iowa that I’m guessing was the result of these two climates running into each other. Sadly, I don’t have any cool funnel cloud pictures, though we did see some in the distance.
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Pioneering in Nauvoo
16
May
The historic part of Nauvoo is set up with original houses and shops that you can tour to learn about the early pioneers and their way of life. Senior missionaries and sister missionaries dress as pioneers and have learned weaving, making candles, spinning rope, etc., and they teach you about it. Here’s the official website if you want to check it out for yourself: Historic Nauvoo. In the few hours we had, we only toured three buildings, but we learned about:
Baking,
Spinning cotton, wool, and flax to make thread for clothes,
Making candles by dipping a rock and string in animal fat and drying it layer by layer,
Weaving on a loom to make rugs from scrap material,
Making rope by manually spinning smaller strands on a wheel,
And dancing and theater in pioneer times.
This is my favorite picture of Nauvoo.
We will definitely have to make another trip to see the rest of the sights. If anyone is coming this way or wants to do a Church History tour with us, let me know. We can do Nauvoo again (about 9 hrs away), Far West, Palmyra, the Sacred Grove, Carthage (8.5 hours), Independence, or Adam-ondi-Ahman. Since we’ll be here for five years, we should take a trip to all of them.
Nauvoo Temple
15
May
We drove along the stunning Mississippi River to the town of Nauvoo, Illinois. Since we wanted to see the temple the most, we went there first. It was beautiful.
There was also a Temple Arrival Center, which was the coolest thing ever for travelers. The senior missionary couple at the Arrival Center told us that the temple President really wanted the temple to be available for anyone visiting Nauvoo. So, the arrival center has a play area for kids so you can switch off going to the temple and babysitting with your spouse if you did not make arrangements, restrooms to change into dress clothes, a microwave and refrigerator for eating, and great air conditioning. They also told us that you can enter in street clothes if you didn’t bring dress clothes. Really, they made it very comfortable and easy to be able to have the experience of going into the temple.
It was very hot and humid when we arrived, so most of the pictures are squinters for us, but the background makes up for it. Though I don’t think any of the original stones were used in the re-building of the temple, they made an effort to rebuild it as close as possible to the design that the pioneers had built in the 1800s. In some of the pictures, you can see the sun and moon stones. This was fun for me to see since I remember seeing a few salvaged ones when my family visited Nauvoo around 1985. Back then, the temple site was just a hole in the ground where the original temple had stood, and they had marked where the original foundation would have been. It’s pretty incredible that it’s back again.
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Carthage
14
May
Most of you that read this blog will know that Carthage, Illinois, is where the Prophet Joseph Smith was killed. Though the site is solemn, it is not depressing. Cristian and I both thought it was a good experience. For me, hearing the story of the Prophet’s final hours and the courage of the men that were with him reminded me how important it is for us to stand up for what we know is true. They had that courage, and it renewed mine as well.
Leading from the parking lot to the visitor’s center, there are several plaques that contain quotes by Joseph Smith. If you’re able to zoom in and read them, they really set the tone of the place and maybe you can feel how it felt to be there.
America the Beautiful and the Internet Scam
13
May
After Urbana, we found ourselves on two lane roads through small towns on the way to Nauvoo. This was actually a really beautiful drive. It was nice to be off of the freeway and to see some of less-noticed sights of the farms and homes. Most of the pictures don’t turn out well while driving, but I would definitely recommend checking out the world from off the main road. We saw lots of nice farms and enjoyed the time together, driving through open fields and listening to good music.
We also learned not to trust Priceline for hotels. We expected Hotel #1 (the Star Motel in Macomb, IL) to be old and cheap, which it was, but we did not expect a cop out front and a price jump to get the two beds we thought we had already booked online. Hotel #2 (Days Inn in Osceloa, IA) was almost double the price to get two beds and a crib. By Hotel #3 (Ramada in Cheyenne, WY), we were wary, but this one took the cake. We had tried to splurge for one with a nice pool to let the kids swim, but the doors were outside and it looked like a re-furbished factory. The hotel manager said we could park by his car, one of the only ones out front, and the only other customer was a construction worker that was booking for 4 guys for the week. I should have seen all of these as warning signs, but I was tired and giving them the benefit of the doubt. When we walked in the room Cristian said, “Doesn’t something look funny to you?” The beds were not made. We went back, tried room #2, and found it smoked though it was supposed to be non-smoking. As the last try, and hauling both kids up and down the outside (freezing) stairs, we went in room #3. Beds made, no smoke, this might work out. Then we hear a funny noise. Drip, drip, drip. A full stream of water coming out of the ceiling!!! Needless to say, I told manager we were sorry, but we just had to go somewhere else. Cristian was dying laughing by now. And we both learned to get hotels the old-fashioned way: pull into town, check out a few hotels, tell them it’s cheaper across the way, and get a normal hotel for a normal rate at a normal hour. Yep. That’s what we did on the way back.
Urbana-Champaign
12
May
A small stop-over in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois gave us a peek at the University of Illinois campus, some good Thai food downtown, and time to run the wiggles out at a park.
Cross Country with Kids
11
May
In May, we took a long journey out to Idaho to visit my family. Merayla and Oliver did surprisingly well, and we had a great time! Since there are tons of pictures, I plan to break this up into several posts. But to begin, here’s what we looked like in transit:
Starting Out
Mid-Way
At Journey’s End (definitely comfortable in that car seat!)
Two Ballets
10
Mar
The following videos are dances from Layla and Bird. Merayla performed for the winners of the romantic Valentine’s Dinner for Two on the evening of February 14th, 2011. Oliver started dancing while I was practicing a ward choir song, and Cristian caught some of it on video on Saturday, March 5th. Hope you enjoy the show:
