Road Trip!

Nauvoo Illinois holds a very important history for the Mormon church. In the late 1840's Mormons were forced out of the area by law. They had to cross the Mississippi River in the winter and traveled to Utah, arriving July 24th in the Salt Lake Valley. This momentous journey gives you lucky Utahns an extra day off of work and allows me to travel only five hours from my home to see an incredible history.

I've stolen pictures from some of the people I went with (which is why they are so small) and will recap my adventures. We had an amazing time and the eleven of us that went got even closer than before. I love my branch more and more every day!!

This is the Nauvoo temple. It was originally built before the pioneers left and finished by those who stayed behind. It was burned down not long after that and was restored in 2002.

Jessica and Ana Maria with the temple in the background.

The temple is in between "downtown" Nauvoo and "Old Nauvoo." Downtown is a cute area, not very big, but the kind of place where everybody knows everybody. Old Nauvoo reminds me a lot of The Village. It has been pretty well preserved and restored over the years to give it the feel that it had 150 years ago.

While we were there the city was having a Halloween festival. Blake, Jodi, and I decided to take advantage of the festivities as shown in the picture below.

The guys stayed at a house from that time period. It was a little creepy and I am so grateful the girls stayed in a hotel! This picture is in the house but it makes me laugh because it reminds me a lot of another picture taken a few years ago from another group of friends.

My guy friends all seem to like to cuddle with each other! Weird? Maybe...

While in Nauvoo, we wanted to partake in some service. Our task was basically this: Take that pile of bricks and move them to this other pile. Nice. My hands still have chunks of skin missing. This is Brett and I enjoying working with bricks in the mud. Or maybe it's just me watching Brett work.

Walking the streets of Nauvoo is amazing this time of year! The leaves were changing and the weather was beautiful and it is unreal to walk on such a historic site. This shot is Ana, me, and Jodi as we were walking the brick sidewalks.

Part of the ambiance includes going into shops that help explain the history of the city. When you go in, you are greeted by senior missionaries dressed up in garb from that time period. We went into John Taylor's house. After he left that house, he went on to become the third prophet of the church. We also went into a blacksmith's and they teach you how a wagon was made. I loved that! It was absolutely fascinating. Then, they teach and show you how a horseshoe is made. I got to keep the horseshoe and it is now hanging in my office. (It's not life size but was made just to show the basic process.) After that, you are given a "prairie diamond" ring which is a nail shaped into a ring. As you can see, we thought they were pretty cool.

Group shot from left to right: Geoff, Jessica, Jodi, me, Ana, and Blake. We had such a good time I didn't want to come back!

We also took some time to go over to Carthage, Illinois where Joseph Smith lived his last days. We took a tour of the jail where he was eventually martyred and it was unbelievable to be standing in the same place he stood. Another thing that I thought was fascinating was the size of the jail. It is the size of a small house. The jailer lived there with his family and the prisoners could stay in one of two small rooms. It boggles my mind to think of the humongous prisons that we have now that aren't even big enough compared to this little jail. This is a picture of all of us in front of Carthage Jail, alongside a statue of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.

It was an awesome experience!