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| It begins |
Summer begins to have one meaning around our house, road trip. This year was no different and for about the past 6 months we have been planning yet another epic road trip. (I will have to stop thinking of each one as epic because they don't ever stop being epic) We drove 5,600 miles and saw most of our extended families and a bunch of neat places.
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| Sunset on the Mississippi. |
We left on July 3rd and our first stop was to Nauvoo, Illinois. It is a sleepy little town on the Illinois/Iowa border but it holds religious and personal significance for Hyrum and I. In the mid-1800s the LDS Church built a community there. It flourished for a while and then at the martyrdom of Joseph Smith, the prophet and his brother Hyrum, the mob violence drove the Latter-day Saints west and eventually to Utah and the Salt Lake Valley.
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| Hannah participated in the "Just Plain Anna Amanda" Show in Nauvoo. |
There is a historical part of town where you can visit old stores, a blacksmith shop, a bakery and various homes of people who lived there at the time. There are young performing missionaries there in the summer and they put on different shows through the day and evening. We arrived in time for their night time show on the 3rd. The kids loved it and it made me miss my dancing and singing days in high school. We laughed and shed a few tears.
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| Our family posing with statues of Joseph and Hyrum Smith at Carthage Jail. |
We started the 4th of July off with a visit to Carthage jail where Joseph and Hyrum Smith were wrongfully imprisoned and martyred. We spent the rest of the day in Nauvoo, riding in an oxen drawn wagon, exploring the workings of the brick maker, blacksmith, and finding where various ancestors owned land in the city. We even saw friends we knew from Texas. (They were on their way to Pennsylvania from South Dakota.)
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| Our oxen ride |
The Spirit there was beautiful. I love learning about how our ancestors lived and the faith they had even amidst so many trials. The kids enjoyed the activities and the musical theater things we saw. I look forward to going back again when they can really appreciate all that happened there and the spiritual history.
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| Nauvoo Temple |
2 comments:
You guys are so brave and adventurous! We have yet to make such a long road trip. I loved the picture of you all in the van because that's the exact seating arrangement we have too! Miss you!
We loved Nauvoo! I'm so glad you guys went! I am loving catching up on your blog.
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