One of my favorite quotes about Nauvoo is from Thomas L. Kane, a politician from Pennsylvania and friend of the Mormons who later served as a Colonel in the Civil War:
"I was ascending the last hillside upon my journey, when a landscape in delightful contrast broke upon my view. Half encircled by a bend of the river, a beautiful city lay glittering in the fresh morning sun; its bright new dwellings, set in cool green gardens, ranging up around a stately dome-shaped hill, which was crowned by a noble marble edifice, who high tapering spire was radiant with white and gold. . . . The unmistakable marks of industry, enterprise and educated wealth, everywhere, made the scene one of singular and most striking beauty."I love Nauvoo so very much, and I just returned from the
most wonderful trip to Nauvoo ever!!! My whole family, including Greg, was able to be there and I was able to go through the Nauvoo Temple, which was a very special experience. Here is an overview of some of our fun Nauvoo adventures:
On
Wednesday, June 4, Mom, Dad, Rich, Lindy, Nate, Camden, Riley, Sidney, and I flew from Salt Lake to St. Louis. This was the girls' first airplane ride, and they loved it! They especially loved singing "Meet me in St. Louie" as we approached the city. Sarah was not feeling very well, so she, Joel, and Eliza waited one more day to fly out, but I am so glad they were able to come join us as well. Camden, Riley, and Sidney loved staying at Motel Nauvoo (not to be confused with Hotel Nauvoo). In fact, Riley thought it was a "magical" place because elves made her bed every day.
On
Thursday, June 5, we began the day with some carriage rides which took us around the city. Sidney thought this was all very wonderful, and she especially loved all of the beautiful flowers at the visitor center. The girls also really enjoyed the "Remembering Nauvoo" video we watched.
Rich, Lindy, Sid, Camden, and Mom all posed in front of the original Nauvoo sunstone on display in front of the visitor center. Sidney tried her best to imitate the look on the sunstone's face:
Camden and Riley loved the model of the Nauvoo Temple at the visitor center. Their favorite part about the model was that there were some toy people standing on the temple stairs--including a group of beautifully-clad ladies in various colors of dresses.
I think one of the girls' favorite places was "Pioneer Pastimes," where they could dress in pioneer clothes and play pioneer games.
They look like they just got off the boat from England!
Sidney, the daredevil, rode one of the fake sheep. "Look, no hands!"
Sidney recognized that Nauvoo is a very reverent place:
Here are Lindy and Camden in the middle of a vicious stick-pull challenge. This was one of Joseph Smith's favorite games:
We then had lunch at the Nauvoo Bakery, then went on a tour of the blacksmith shop so that everyone could get a souvenir prairie diamond ring. Camden was the lucky one who got the miniature horse shoe that one of the missionaries made at the blacksmith shop. Then we took a walk down Parley Street and thought about the sacrifices of our pioneer ancestors as they left Nauvoo.
Here are Camden and Riley standing by another of my favorite Nauvoo quotes. This one is by Wilford Woodruff: "I looked upon the Temple and City of Nauvoo as I retired from it and felt to ask the Lord to preserve it as a monument of the sacrifice of his Saints." I will never forget the morning of February 4, 2003, when I had the opportunity to participate in the pioneer memorial service held there at the end of Parley Street. I have truly never been so cold in my entire life, and even though it was hot and muggy as we walked down Parley Street the other day, I could still vividly remember the cold ache in my hands that morning, the stinging cold on my face, and my throbbing feet. I cannot imagine how the Saints had the courage to leave their city and strike off into the cold, unknown future. I am grateful for their examples.
At the end of Parley Street is the Pioneer Memorial which contains the names of many of those who died while crossing the plains from Nauvoo to Utah. One of our ancestors, David Stoker, is listed on the wall. He died at Winter Quarters and is buried in the Stoker-Graybill family cemetery there, which I was able to find in 2005 when I was on a research trip to Omaha! Here are Camden and Riley learning about the importance of ancestors.
Sidney told us some stories about other pioneers:
That afternoon, Lindy, Mom, and I went to see the Sarah Granger Kimball home where the Nauvoo sisters began gathering to make shirts for men working on the temple--so it is basically the birthplace of the Relief Society. After our tour there, Greg arrived in town! It was wonderful to see him and to get to spend the weekend with him. I miss him very much already but am eagerly looking forward to the wedding in October!
Friday, June 6, was a very, very special day. I had the opportunity to receive my endowments at the Nauvoo Temple! It was a very special and spiritual experience--especially since my whole family (and Greg!) were able to be there. The Nauvoo Temple is beautiful inside and out, and I am grateful for the opportunity I had to be inside that sacred place.
That afternoon, Nate and Joel, who had been tending the little girls, were able to do a temple session with Sarah and Lindy while the rest of us stayed with the girlies. Camden, Greg, Rich, and I went on a little excursion to the Red Brick Store, the Smith Family Cemetery, and the Jonathan Browning Gunsmith Shop. Camden especially enjoyed getting some root beer at the Red Brick Store. She said, "Why did Joseph Smith sell so much root beer?" As we drove past the Sidney Rigdon home, Camden said, "Was that a boy or a girl?" I said, "He was a boy." She was quite concerned, thinking that Sidney is a girl's name, and said, "Why was he not a girl?" :-) She's so cute!
That evening, we all went and had the most delicious meal ever at the Hotel Nauvoo buffet. It was divine! The girls loved being able to eat whatever they wanted. I love the food there. Greg and I then went for a walk to the end of Parley Street as the sun was setting. We love this picture because it looks like I was photoshopped into a picture of a beautiful sunset--but I was really there!
Greg took this great picture of the moon over the river:
He also took this great picture of the Nauvoo Temple that evening:
On
Saturday, June 7, we had one of our delightful breakfast buffets at Grandpa John's. Then we walked over to Parley P. Pratt's house, which now belongs to the Catholic church, and Dad told us some stories about our great, great, great, great grandfather Parley P. Pratt and his family. He was another remarkable man! We then walked around the temple and headed to Carthage.
Carthage is a very neat place to visit, though its story is a tragic one. When I was in Nauvoo for the semester in 2003, one of our activities was to walk the 19 mile Martyrdom Trail from Nauvoo to Carthage. That was a bad idea (we got caught in a snow storm and nearly froze to death) and I will never do it again, but at least now I can say I have done it.
That evening we went to some more sites around Nauvoo, then we attended the "Sunset on the Mississippi" program that the missionaries put on. Greg and I were then able to go over to Susan Easton Black's house to visit with her and her husband Harvey. They are so nice and I miss working with Sister Black! Their house in Nauvoo was just finished last summer, and it is beautiful! I don't think that anyone in the world could ever love Nauvoo as much as Sister Black, so I am glad she has a house there now. She was in charge of a BYU Alumni tour while we were there, so she was not able to break away and come to the temple with us, but it was fun to run into her in town and then especially to stop by for a visit.
On
Sunday, June 8, we went to the early church meeting, had breakfast, and then took off for Hannibal, Missouri. It was very sad to say goodbye to Greg! My family and I love him very much. This trip was the first time that Sarah, Joel, and Eliza had been able to meet him, and he quickly became Eliza's new boyfriend. She loved having him hold her, sharing her binkies with him, and showing him her big, toothy smile.
We stopped in Hannibal on our way to the airport because Camden, Riley, and Sidney
love the story of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. They thought it was so much fun to be in the city that inspired those novels--where Mark Twain grew up. Here are Cam and Riley in front of THE whitewashed picket fence that Tom tricked his friends into painting:
And, of course, you can't leave without posing as Tom and Becky:
What a fun, wonderful trip we had! Thank you so much, Mom and Dad, for making it possible for all of us to go to Nauvoo. I know that we will always remember this trip as one of the best experiences of our lives.
I'd like to think that if I had lived in Civil War times, I would have been one of those independent-minded, musket-toting women who protected my home from the invading army with my rifle. I think I would have lost the hoop skirt though--you can't do anything in that without knocking somebody down or tripping yourself. Here is musket-toting, hoop skirt-wearing me this morning on Day #2 of the Boy Scout adventure camp. I am posing in front of the non-historic Kawasaki Mule with Sergeant Van--one of the volunteers. We are both holding authentic Italian reproduction 1857 Springfield rifles--pretty cool.
