6 days on the road

Driving to Florida sounded torturous but ending up being super fun.  From the very beginning Gerrit thought I was crazy for wanting to do a road trip to our new place of residence.  I told him he had no choice and that we were going to make family memories in a car. That's what I did when I was young.  Ever since I can remember my family has been driving everywhere, with the Suman family of course.  So we decided to have a car tour of 9 out of 50 states.

Adios Utah!

Hello Wyoming

I really can't believe people live in Wyoming.  We saw literally almost nothing all the way through this state.  I remember going to Cody WY on one of our road trips as a kid.  We stayed in this cool log cabin hotel, and I'm pretty sure that's where Dana's quote came into play....."Is my hair parted in the middle?"

We drove through Cheyenne to get some food and stopped at Los Amigos Fine Mexican Food.  We also took a little walk over the freeway on a cool bridge.

Holla Nebraska

The sun was setting when we passed into Nebraska.  We stayed in Northe Platte Nebraska at the Oak Tree Inn.  This place was pretty cute and it came with a free breakfast in the Diner. 

In the morning we headed to Winter Quarters (North Omaha) for some church history sites.  We ate lunch and toured the area for about 2 hours.

We dressed up as pioneers and learned lots of new things.

I always new the pioneers were smart but this was a wheel they constructed with a odometer connected to it.  I guess the turn of the wagon wheel 360 times equals 1 mile.  Walking 2 miles an hour is about a 30 minute mile.

Here are the girls trying to fit all the necessities (flour, grain, tools) in their wagons.

The pioneer company lists

Across the street is the Mormon Pioneer Cemetery. The graves here are so old they are almost impossible to read.  About 300 saints died here before they moved to Nauvoo IL.

This was a cool monument in the cemetery with every ones name

Right next to the Cemetery is the Temple.  The doors on the front are big and brass.  Pretty cool.

This is what the rest of the drive through Nebraska looked like.

They even named one after Gerrit Stuart Miller.

Iowa

(I cheated with this sign.  The area we entered in didn't have a sign, so I grabbed this one off the web.)

We rolled into Illinois pretty late at night.  It was kind of a strange entrance really.  We drive onto this shady bridge super late at night right by the state penitentiary.  Then we realize we were crossing the Mississippi River and it cost $1 for the toll.  The girl was in the booth all alone, late at night, by a prison.  I'm sorry but if my daughter had that job, I would match whatever she was making.

We spent the night in the Motel Nauvoo.  It was a pretty random setup, but cool at the same time.  It was the most we paid for a hotel and it was decorated from the 70's grandma theme.  We spent the whole next day exploring Nauvoo.

 

We went to the bakery for some breakfast

Then started site seeing.  We started at the LDS Nauvoo Visitors Center and got a feel for what was around.  Out side they had one of the original Sun stones from the Nauvoo Temple after it was destroyed.

This was the ballot box used in the Nauvoo elections

One of the original sketches of the Nauvoo Temple

We decided to go on the Joseph Smith History Tour.  This tour is owned by the Community of Christ Church (formerly the Reorganized LDS church).  They don't allow pictures inside the buildings so they can preserve the original items.  It was so amazing to be in a place with so much history.

This is were Joseph's brick stable used to stand.  It was 2 stories high.

The Nauvoo House

The early Mormons never finished this house.  It was supposed to be twice the size.  After the pioneers left Emma Smith and her second husband cut back the scale and finished the building.  They used it as a hotel.  Now it's used for large groups as a dormitory.

This cornerstone of the Nauvoo House held a stone box that housed the original Golden Plates and Book of Mormon transcripts.  I couldn't take pictures of the original stone inside the building, but it was really cool.

To the side of the house is the Mississippi River.  Many settlers came by boat right up to this spot. 

The cabin looking part of this home was the original home for Joseph & Emma and their children.  The white part was built by Joseph III later to expand the home after his father had died.  The inside was amazing.  It was pretty much all original.  The wood work has been preserved really well.  A few things in the home belonged to Emma.  They also had a summer kitchen in the back.  A summer kitchen in where they cooked in the summer so their actual house wouldn't get extra hot.

The cemetery is to the left of this home.  Joseph, Hyrum and Emma along with many others are buried there in that cemetery.  When Joseph and Hyrum died Emma hid their bodies from everyone so they wouldn't be disrespected even more.  She was afraid someone would possibly steal their bodies.  After Emma died no one knew where to look to find them to put them in their final resting place.  When they finally found them they were buried right under the little cabin outside the house.  Emma was buried under the tree right next to them.

Joseph's parents

Cold root beer from the Red brick store on Joseph's porch

This is the Red Brick Store.  The original store was destroyed so the Community of Christ rebuilt it exactly how it would have looked.  As if Joseph didn't do enough already, he opened a store too.  The walls are painted red inside which was originally painted with oxen blood.  The store gets its name from the red walls inside and the outside being made of brick.  Upstairs was used to hold many church meetings.  The Relief Society was formed here and also the Twelve Apostles were ordained here.  The girls were enjoying the homemade candy from the Red Brick Store.

The Mansion House

In 1842 Joseph Smith built house just across the street from the original home.  Just after its construction a hotel wing was added to accommodate the many visitors to Nauvoo while the Nauvoo House was under construction. It was in this house that Joseph and Emma Smith lived when he left for Carthage, where he was killed.

Next we went on an Oxen ride.  It was so weird because the whole time I kept thinking they were going to speed up.  They never did.  2 miles an hour can get pretty frustrating.

This is the Scovil Bakery.  The Scovil's made all kinds of treats for the city of Nauvoo and Joseph baptized them.  Some special plates were made with a picture of the Nauvoo Temple on them.  Only a few are known to exist today and one is in the bakery.  They also give out yummy gingerbread men after the tour.

This was the pioneer pastimes area.  The kids could play all kinds of games the pioneers would have played then.  The bummer part was they closed early that day and the girls didn't get to do much.

This shop and home was run by Johnathan Browning and his family.  He was a very distinguished blacksmith and gunsmith.  Jonathan Browning is a big name in guns these days.  I guess he invented one of the first repeating rifles and his descendants revolutionized the art of gunsmithing by inventing automatic shotguns, rifles and machine guns. Obviously Gerrit was really into this site.

We visited the Tin Shop

The Brickyard

(Where they gave us a small brick with a printed picture on it)

The Blacksmith Shop

(Where they give you a prairie diamond ring.  It's made of a nail bent with the head as the diamond)

They also make a horse shoe while they are talking and Chloe got the horse shoe!

After some time spent in Nauvoo we headed over to Carthage IL to visit Carthage Jail.  This was an amazing experience.  I couldn't believe we were visiting the place Joseph Smith was shot and killed with his brother.  Very strong feelings in this place.  It almost felt weird to take pictures.

Downstairs is where the jail keeper and his family lived.  After this operated as a jail.  A family bought it and lived in it for 30 years.  Then it was auctioned off for around 1,500 bucks I think.  The church restored it in 1938.

At the top of the stairs is the Dungeon, where the men were first put.  It was about 120 degrees in that room, and pitch black.  They had little slits in the wall, but it didn't give much light.  The jail keeper realized they weren't going to be a problem and moved them downstairs.

Downstairs is the holding room that the men stayed in. When the mobs came, the jail keeper moved them upstairs afraid they would shoot them through the window.  When they moved back upstairs to a different room the mob stormed the jail.  This is the room Joseph and Hyrum were killed in.  The original door is still there.  The bullet hole that killed Hyrum is still there.  I couldn't believe the family that lived here all that time didn't replace the door.  They must have known how important these events were to many people.

This is the window Joseph feel out of after he was shot.

Out side they have some stone from the original Nauvoo Temple.

That night we were overcome with feelings.  We weren't ready to leave Nauvoo yet.  So we decided to change our trip and stay another day.  We got some rest and did more tours in the morning.

This is how Delilah ate her cereal in the morning

We started the day at the Nauvoo Temple

Chloe took this picture

I thought these lights were really cool.  They would never do that in modern day architecture.

This is the main street downtown

This is the Hotel Nauvoo.  Apparently they have a world famous buffet.  The food was decent, but not worth 15 bucks a person.

We ate lunch in a little diner.  The food was actually pretty good.  I guess Nauvoo only has Bud Light cups.

Next we toured the Cultural Hall (I love that it was called that in the 1800's also.  The word just reminds me of the Irvine building I used to attend church in)

The Cultural Hall had many uses.  It was used for theater, music, meetings, court and many other things.  I guess Brigham performed in his first play here.  On the 3rd floor on the building was the room Joseph actually drew out the map to the Salt Lake Valley.  He drew it in chalk on the wood floor.  The wood floor is the original floor and has been untouched.  Awesome.

Out the window is a beautiful view of the Temple

In the Family Living Center they teach you all the things the pioneers would have done in their daily life.  How to make thread, candles, make rope, pottery, how to bake and much more. 

Here is Gerrit winding the rope.  Chloe was lucky and got to take the rope home with us.  It made many appearances on the rest of our road trip.

The Wine Festival was going on while we were there.  They had a carnival, a million old cars and even a parade.  We wanted to do those things too, but just couldn't fit it all in.  We enjoyed some of the parade while walking through the Nauvoo homes.

Wilford Woodruff's Home

Heber C. Kimball's home

Lucy Mack Smith's Home

Pretty sure when she lived there Harley's weren't parked outside.

This was Lucy's dish set.  It was in perfect condition and only one piece was missing.  Keep in mind she was born in 1775. 

John Taylor's Home

We also were able to visit the Post Office and Printing shop.  Man life sure wasn't easy then.

I didn't know that when the Saints moved to Nauvoo it was a swamp.  They had to drain the land and make it usable for them.  They first envisioned each family having about an acre of land.  After all the settlers came they had about 1200 cabins in this small area.  They built a system to drain all the water and the stone bridge arch is still there.   

 

Nauvoo was rivaling Chicago as the biggest city.  After all there hard work they had to pick up and leave. I can't image leaving every thing I love and possessions behind.  Crossing the Mississippi River, which was frozen. I truly discovered so much while visiting Nauvoo.  My love for the people of this time has grown incredibly.  Joseph Smith is an amazing man.

Hey Missouri
We stayed the night in St. Louis and did some swimming in the hotel.  The ST. Louis Zoo is free and we decided to go see what it was like.  Except we forgot it was Labor Day, and that's what everyone was doing.  Once we got in it wasn't bad.  It was a pretty cool zoo.

Asian Elephants.  Of course Chloe was stoked.

We took a train ride around the park.  Delilah was a little nervous, so Chloe comforted her.

The famous arch

Kentucky Fried Chicken

Tennessee Anyone?

Nashville's hotel was freakin scary.  We were trying to save money.  Don't recommend that in Nashville.

Hotlanta Georgia

We stopped and ate at this place called the Varsity.  It's a really old hamburger/hot dog place.  Apparently the world's largest drive in.  The food wasn't good.  I was kinda bummed.

Cute truck on the road

This was a great sign to see.  We were so happy to be so close.  I can't believe we drove across the country in 6 days.  Good luck to us!