memories of our trip to Nauvoo last year - because Nicole is thinking about taking one.

This is a hopefully short narrative on our vacation to Nauvoo that we took with Ryan, Amanda and 5-6 week old Holden during June of 2013. Ryan and Amanda needed to go to Nauvoo to meet his family for a small reunion there. It was only a 3 day get together with his brother, sister, mom and dad and nieces and nephews. Patty and I had been to Nauvoo briefly about 5 years earlier with Latter Day Tours when we went on our 2 week bus tour of many of early church history sites, we always wanted to go back, so we took the time and agreed to help rent a RV to drive us. We believed that Holden would be difficult at times being locked up for all day so we planned about what we thought he could handle, as it turned out, he handled pretty well, it was the rest of us that were ready to get out of the box at the end of each day. We also decided that we would see Mt. Rushmore on our trip because we planned on going through Omaha, Scotts Bluff and Martins Cove which put us about as close as we ever thought we might be again. So because of our timeline, we decided to start at the Salt Lake end and end up in Nauvoo with the Mt. Rushmore detour and then come back through Missouri and across I-70 and home to Vegas. We started in Vegas, so we went north along I-15 to Provo, up Provo Canyon to I-80 and spent the first night in Evanston. I should probably add that we didn’t stay any nights in the RV, it was only for ease of travel and to carry all the stuff that a newborn needs carrying whenever you go more than to the grocery store. We took naps on the bed between driving, and used the cooking, cooling and hygiene facilities so it was very nice to have, but Patty and I weren’t up to “roughing it”. Getting back to the story, we got up the next morning and drove I-80 to Rawlins, we turned north out of Rawlins and then turned east on route 220 to go to Martin’s Cove, Devils Gate, the Mormon Handcart Museum and Independence Rock. We weren’t able to take the walk to Martin’s Cove because of the baby, but we parked at an overlook and saw up into it from across the valley. At the end of day two we ended up in Casper WY to spend the night. Day three started out in Casper and then we went east and north, northeast to make it to Mt. Rushmore. It was a beautiful day there with large fluffy clouds and we got some pretty good pictures, but again we couldn’t really take any of the hikes and weren’t there very long. The movie was interesting to see how everything was transferred to such large sizes. There are actually a few other things to do and see in the near area but we needed to get back in the RV and make out way to Scotts Bluff NE to stay the night. That got us back to the Mormon/Oregon trail area for our next day of travel east to Omaha to visit Council Bluffs visitor center and the pioneer cemetery that is across the street next to the temple. I did make us take a small detour from the Oregon Trail to go through the small town of Dalton NE, we had to stop and get a picture of their water tower to add to my screen shots. So at the end of Day 4 we were in Omaha. The morning of Day 5 we got up and made our way to the Council Bluffs Visitor’s Center and Cemetery. It was very well presented and we are very glad we made it there. After going through things, we hit the road and decided to make a little better time than taking the trail to Nauvoo ,so we stayed north through the center of Iowa, we went through Des Moines and then made our way southeasterly to the corner of Iowa and Patty and I stayed at a nice Holiday Inn Express at Keokuk, IA that we had stayed at before. It is a short drive from Keokuk to Montrose to the North where you can look across the Mississippi at Nauvoo. I suggest going before dusk as the sun really shines off the temple across the river. The next morning we went over to Nauvoo and did a few things that we weren’t able to do on the bus tour. I don’t think you have to spend more than about 2-3 days there to really see and do most things, make sure you allow time to make it to Carthage, the Visitors Center there has a great presentation and go can go up into the rooms and understand better what happened there. There are lots of things to do and see in Nauvoo, there are programs and plays and live demonstrations all day and into the evenings, make sure you catch the trail of tears, trail of hope presentation that is a walking tour that gives insight into some the of thoughts and feelings of the pioneers as they are being kick out of their beautiful city, including Dr. Priddy Meeks. When you are ready to leave, you have a couple of options for travel, you can take Iowa highway 2 to the northwest for a while to follow the original pioneer trail, or go in a southwest, west direction on surface highways to get to Adam ondi Ahman. It is really a beautiful place, there aren’t really any structures to see, but the valley is very pretty and the missionary/workers take great care of it while they do a little here and a little there to get it ready for the important work that is in front of it. While you are this close, drop into Jamesport Missouri to visit a great little Dutch Bakery and buy some cookies, cake or a pie from them to enjoy when you get to Far West which isn’t too far away from there. You will also see evidence of a pretty large Amish community in this area, they have some great looking carriages and horses that are usually parked around town and if it’s auction day, they will be at the auction on the east end of town. Then leaving town we went west and south to make it to Far West. The church owns the temple site and has an open air visit area to look at the 4 cornerstones that were placed before all the Apostles set out on their mission that was prophesied. From there it’s not too far into the Kansas City / Independence Area where you can spend the night before hitting the Liberty Jail and Independence Visitor’s Center the next day. It is one of my favorite Visitor’s Centers. The area around the visitor’s center is owned by other off shoots of the church, most notably the Community of Christ. We don’t own the temple site yet, but eventually the owner’s will want / need some money and we’ll get it. The next morning we left Missouri and traveled to Goodland Kansas, near the Colorado border to spend the night, it was just a place to sleep. We got up the next morning and went all the way to Grand Junction to spend our last night on the road. I had never driven I-70 through Colorado, now I can say I did and hopefully never have to again. The next morning we got up drove to Richfield to visit Ryan’s family there and then headed for Vegas and home. It was a long tiring trip, but we are all very grateful we were able to make it. We all learned a great deal and the spirit is very strong in many of the places we were able to visit. It was a long drive, but a fairly easy drive and nothing too tricky ever. I wrote this to remember the trip, but also because Nicole and Rance are thinking about taking a vacation this summer and maybe ending up in Nauvoo. Of course the trip could easily be taken in the reverse order as Nicole’s friend did last year, this way worked for us, but there are many ways to make it just as good or better. The Latter Day’s Tour I talked about flies you into Kansas City then you go on a bus to Nauvoo, Kirtland OH, Gettysburg, Washington DC, Philadelphia, NY City, Susquehanna PA, Vermont, Palmyra NY, Niagara Falls and a few other places along the way for about 2 weeks then you fly home from Cleveland Ohio, it was a great trip and you get a very nice book full of stories and facts about the early saints. Ginger has been doing the trip for years and puts a lot of effort into making it a special trip for everyone. Hope you can put up with something like this every now and again. It’s nicer to remember some good times rather than dwell on a not so great week end around here.