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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