(Warning: lots of pictures)

Being in Desmoines has been a great experience so far. The people here are very nice and friendly and the scenery is beautiful. Caleb only has a total of two days off this summer, aside from Sundays, so I knew we had to do something special on them. One of those days off was Memorial Day, which has always been a favorite holiday of mine. My family’s tradition for the day is to go to members of our families graves and give them flowers. Since we couldn’t be with our family, what better way to spend the holiday than honoring our ancestors. So, we drove three hours south to Nauvoo to spend the weekend. We pulled in to town and were quickly amazed. It wasn’t what we were expecting at all, then again, I’m not sure what we were expecting to begin with. We had a reservation at Hotel Nauvoo, which was right across the street from the temple. Our room wasn’t quite ready, so we took a walk and explored a little.

We went straight to the temple, and I was so mesmerized. I’ve always been a history buff and have loved reading historical fiction. I read almost all of the Work and the Glory books, and fell in love with the history of the pioneers. Upon seeing the temple, I was instantly hit with awe. I could only imagine the amount of sweat, blood and tears that went into that. What faith that those people had to build such an amazing building under the direction of the Lord.

This statue was directly across from the temple. It is a portrayal of Joseph and Hyrum Smith leaving for Carthage. Joseph Smith knew he would likely not come back, and took one last look at the temple and this city that he loved.

This grove was a meeting place for the saints. It was like a chapel for them when the weather was good.

I can’t imagine going to church, hearing the speakers, and seeing this view. This view of them temple came from standing in the grove.

After the Grove we went to Carthage. It was such a spiritual and educational place. They gave us a tour of the jail. This is the room that Joseph and Hyrum were martyred in.

So, here’s a funny story that could only happen to Caleb and me. We had heard that there is a great buffet at Hotel Nauvoo that we were really excited for. The desk girl told us that lunch was served till 2:30, so we decided to go look around, get really hungry, and then go get dinner at the buffet. We waited and waited and when we got back from Carthage we went to the hotel to have dinner at the buffet. Unfortunately, when the girl mentioned that they served lunch till 2:30, she meant that they stopped serving food altogether at 2:30. While it was definitely a bummer, we reorganized our food schedule (which was the only thing we had truly figured out and planned) and made sure that we’d hit the buffet the next day. However, the buffet wasn’t open on Monday. Thoroughly disappointed, we went across the street to “Grandpa John’s” which we heard was a close second to the buffet. What do you know? Closed. Rita’s Restaurant: Closed. The only thing open in town was the gas station. While I do love a good gas station hot dog, I wasn’t in the mood. The only option was to head to Keokuk to find a restaurant there. The only upside to this was that we were going to pass this group of mailboxes that I had seen on the way back from Carthage but had neglected to take a picture of. So, there you have it, the only picture from the trip to Keokuk.

We found a little pizza place called Angelini’s Pizza. It was pretty good, just not a buffet.

Back in Nauvoo, we knew we needed to walk off the large pizza we had just inhaled, so we decided to do the Trail of Hope. This was the trail that the pioneers took as they were forced to leave Nauvoo. On the walk from the town all the way out to the Mississippi River I was so consumed with gratitude for these people. I can’t imagine packing up the things I deemed the most important and loading them into a wagon and walking toward the river. At one point on the walk you could look back and see the beautiful temple on the hill. (We read that at the time, Nauvoo was the second biggest city in Illinois next to Chicago) They had spent all this time building this amazing city, building a temple and establishing a life only to be forced out.

When we got to the river, the sun was setting and it was magnificent. We sat and talked and enjoyed each other’s company. I kept asking Caleb, can you imagine, just leaving everything?

The next morning we started off by heading to the temple. It was such an amazing experience to be able to attend the temple there. We asked a gentleman that was coming out if we would take our picture for us. (This was after I had cropped it and zoomed in) he managed to get the whole road, the sidewalk in front of him, and the whole temple. If you squint, you can see Caleb and me as well.

After the temple we went to the Joseph Smith historical site, which is owned by the Community of Christ Church (RLDS). They give a tour of the all of the historical sites with a guide. Our guide’s name was Sergey, definitely from Russia. At times it was a little weird, and I had a hard time not giggling.

This is the Riverhouse that Joseph Smith built to use as a hotel for River Travelers and incoming saints.

The Log Cabin. The part on the right is the original part that Joseph and Emma and their children lived in.

The Mansion House that Joseph and Emma lived in right up until the martyrdom.

We had a really quick trip and it was a great experience. This was one of those things that I had always wanted to do, and I now we can cross it off the list. Sorry this was kind of a long post, I just wanted to share my experience. I love Nauvoo and got an even greater appreciation for these amazing saints.

Next day off: July 4th. Better start brainstorming for trip ideas for those days. Any suggestions?