Nauvoo

On our way to Nauvoo, we stopped at Carthage, some 20 miles down the road. For Mormons, Carthage evokes strong emotions.

We saw the thick-walled building where Joseph Smith was held captive, the stairs the mobsters charged up to kill him, and the bullet hole left in the door.

We saw the window through which Joseph Smith crashed to his death. I look at the photos of all our family smiling for the camera, and that doesn't exactly evoke the feeling of the jail! We were a bit more solemn until the camera appeared....

We also checked out the jailer's quarters, garnished with homemade bread and kitchen utensils!

It was early evening when we reached Nauvoo. We spent an hour in the pioneer cemetery, looking up family names on the register...

and then just soaking in the melancholy of the pioneers who had to leave their loved ones behind.

It was also a lovely setting for portraits.

Next morning, July 3, we were at the Nauvoo Visitor Center at 7:30 a.m. to get the first tickets of the day for the covered wagon tour. We rumbled all around the town, choosing the sights we wanted to examine more closely.

One animal ride was not enough. We also needed to be pulled around in a big circle by a team of oxen!

We stopped at the Community of Christ bookstore, where we checked out the latest works on Parley B. Pratt and Joseph Smith III, and where the kids posed with a paper cut-out of Joseph.

Dave and I then took the older children, Michael, Spencer, Grant, and Kirsten, on a guided tour of the sites owned by the Community of Christ. They included the Mansion House, the graves of Joseph and Hyrum, and varous homes in which Joseph and Emma lived.

We listened to the Nauvoo Brass Band and then bought each child a treat at Joseph's Red Brick Store...

including a flute that Grant adored, caps for Michael and Spencer, and a tiny model covered wagon for Kirsten.

Dave and I, the older kids, and Lisa and the little kids all went our separate ways. Lisa, Alyssa, and Bryce hit the children's shows, the games, the dispensers of root beer, and the dress-up areas.

The older kids collected miniature horseshoes, bricks, cookies, and other products from the shops and traders.

Dave and I checked out some spots we'd never visited before, such as the quarry with its trenches and sunstone...

the statue of Brigham and Joseph looking west over the Mississippi...

and the Sarah Kimball home.

Part of the fun was seeing all the missionaries in period dress.

As a family group, we attended several variety programs staged by the senior and junior missionaries.

Jonny, Jenny, and Michael arrived from Chicago in the early afternoon, in time to do baptisms for the dead in the Nauvoo Temple with Lisa, Michael, Spencer, Grant, Kirsten, and me. It was the highlight of our trip.

We watched the sunset over the Mississippi as we left Nauvoo for our hotel.

We unwound at a Mexican restaurant in Keokuk. Dave booked Marriott Fairfield Inns all across the country, and Keokuk was the closest town to Nauvoo with a Fairfield Inn!