Our Cross Country Adventure -- Part Two

Carthage Jail in the rain.
The Nauvoo Temple.
The Nauvoo Temple.
The Nauvoo Temple. None of our pictures of the temple turned out very well. It was raining really hard and so most of the pictures were taken from the van. Also I had some rain drops on my lens -- oh well!
The statue of Joseph and Hyrum with Historic Nauvoo and the Mississippi River below. I made Jer and Z stand out in the rain.

Tuesday morning, April 8th, we left Des Moines and made our way to Nauvoo. Most of the drive was not on a freeway, but on smaller roads. We decided to go straight to Carthage and see the visitors center there so that we would have a full day in Nauvoo on Wednesday. It was really rainy, but we were so grateful to be there and to see Carthage Jail. The jail is the original building and has been restored to how it was when Joseph, Hyrum and the other men were there. Such emotions flood through you as you listen to the story of Joseph and Hyrum Smith's martyrdom. What righteous and brave men they were! To sit in the room where they were killed is such a sacred experience. We left and traveled down "The Great River Road" to Nauvoo. The road is nestled next to the Mississippi River and it is gorgeous -- it was not very green yet, but still pretty. We checked into our hotel and then ate at the buffet at Hotel Nauvoo. That evening my parents came. They were guiding a church history tour to Nauvoo and were staying in the same place as us. We were able to spend time with them which was so wonderful. On Wednesday we went to quite a few houses and buildings in Historic Nauvoo such as: the Browning Gun Shop, the Print Shop, John Taylor's home, the Pendleton School, Brigham Young's home, Lyon Drug, Sarah Granger Kimball's home, the Blacksmith and Wainwright shop, Scovil Bakery, and the Seventies Hall (in the Seventies Hall Jer found records of a relative who had lived in Nauvoo). It was fun to hear about the people who lived in Nauvoo and to learn a little about what their lives were like. I really appreciate all of the early saints and the sacrifices they went through. We also visited the graves of Joseph, Emma and Hyrum. Jer's cousin lives in Keokuk, Iowa just across the Mississippi River. We ate dinner with her and her family. It was fun to visit with them. That evening we went to a play put on by the missionary couples called "Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo" in the Cultural Hall. That was fun. A sister missionary that gave us the tour of Brigham Young's home watched for Z after the play and came up to speak with him. He had made quite an impression on her. April is a nice time to visit Nauvoo. It wasn't hot and it wasn't crowded -- we wished that we had had one more day to see more. The Nauvoo Temple is so pretty and a statue of Joseph and Hyrum on horses by the temple as you look out across Historic Nauvoo and the Mississippi River is one of my favorite sites. The next morning we said our tearful goodbyes again to my parents and left to travel to Kentucky.