Trip to Nauvoo

 As you all know, we moved to South Carolina for the summer months.  We had to drive SO FAR so we thought, What the heck, we might as well make it a road trip and go see Nauvoo!   We have both been wanting to go really bad, so we DID!....and we ended up staying a lot longer than planned because we didn't want to leave!  And it was so neat.  Very humbling.  We left early Friday morning and drove 16 hours to Des Moines, Iowa where we stayed the night.  We got up Saturday morning and drove to Nauvoo, Illinois (about 3 more hours).  We crossed the Mississippi river and came into Nauvoo the back way.  When we saw the temple, we were both so excited!  It is BEAUTIFUL! It rests on a hill overlooking the beautiful Mississippi river.  A stunning scene to behold! We parked the car and walked across the street to the grassy hill in front of the temple.  From where we stood we could look up and see the temple in front of us, or we could look out and see the Mississippi out just below us.  As I looked up at the temple and then out at the Mississippi river, tears came to my eyes.  The spirit was so strong there on that hill you could just feel it.  I could feel that we were on sacred grounds.  I looked over at Kade and he had tears in his eyes too and we hadn't said a word to each other.  I hugged him and told him what an awesome experience it was to share with him.

 We were able to attend a session while there in Nauvoo and it was very nice.  Just calming and peacful.  I love the inside of this temple!

After our session, we took some time to walk around the temple and just think back on the great heritage of our church, the people who worked so hard to build this temple, and who sacrificed so much to then leave it, to go to the Salt Lake valley.  The sky was really pretty that night.  

 back side of the temple.

 Front steps

 I absolutely LOVED this statue.  It is placed directly in front of the temple. It is of Joseph and Hyrum, depicting "The Last Ride", and on the front, there is some words said by Joseph to Hyrum as they left Nauvoo for the final time in this life. They stopped on this hill and he said to Hyrum, "This is the loveliest place and the best people under the heavens; little do they know the trials that await them". 

 Front view of the temple.

 Statue in front of the temple

 We stopped in the gift shop and looked around a bit, and I had to try on this pioneer bonet! :)  ....Sometimes I wish we could step back in time, so I could wear it.....on my horse!.....in a dresss!.....riding side saddle! :)

 We went on a wagon ride, pulled by Tim and Tom.  They were our big Percheron team.  They did a great job and so did the teamsters (our missionaries).  The teamsters took us out in the country of Nauvoo and talked about the local members that lived in the area way back then, and about some of their relationships with the Prophet Joseph. One of the people that they talked about was Dan Jones.  We stopped in "Dan's Hollow" which was down in a little ravine.  It was quiet and peaceful there.  The missionaries asked us all to sing, 'I am a child of God'.  It was neat being out in the trees in a wagon singing one of my favorite primary songs! 

 I loved touring all of the differnt buildings that they have preserved there in Nauvoo.  And these quilts were in the Culteral Hall upstairs and get me way too excited!  I LOVE THEM!!!  There were lots and lots of them. I'm kind of obsessed with old quilting, and how they did it, and how they didn't waste anything that they had....they USED IT!  A little different from our generation! 

 This was one of my favorite places.  This was were Joseph Smith lived first here in Nauvoo.  It was so pretty!  It literally sat right on the bank of the Mississippi River!  The feeling here was very calm and peaceful.  I just imagined their families all gathered here to spend time together.  This is also where the bodies of Joseph, Emma, Hyrum, Lucy Mack, Joseph Smith Sr and a whole bunch of their kids were burried. 

 It was a really cool feeling to look upon the graves of such life changing people who will forever be exaples to the world.  And what a perfect place for them to rest, in their own yard, where they were at the happiest times in life. There was a humility and reverence there.  The birds were chirping and there was a light breeze. 

 Sitting by Joseph's house (pictured above) by the Mississippi River.

 The trail of hope was very eye opening for me.  This was the very route that the saints were driven out of Nauvoo.  There were many plaques along the way, of actual journal entries of people who walked this path to the Salt Lake Valley.  The temple is in view (looking back) almost the whole way along the trail.  I can only imagine the emotions that were felt as they looked back at the beautiful temple that they had to leave behind.

 This was at the waters edge, the end of the trail of hope before they had to cross the Mississippi River. 

 This was a statue of Joseph and Brigham Young at the rivers edge.  I love it, because it makes me think of Joseph, turning over the responsibility to Brigham, and what Brigham must have felt like with this new responsibility placed on his shoulders.

 I took a lot of pictures of different journal enties on the trial of hope, but this one stood out to me a lot.

 View looking back from the trail of hope.

 This was in the black smith shop, where I got a diamond ring (a horseshoe nail, shapped into a ring).

 The back of the Brigham Young home, one of the original structures in Nauvoo.

 Carthage jail.....very humbling experience.  It was definitely a different feeling here than in Nauvoo, you could still feel the spirit, but it was more of a spirit of testimony, that this is where he was in fact martyered, also a spirit of reverence and respect for him and the men that were with him.  

It was awesome going on the tour because we got to hear the facts about Carthage jail and more of the detail of what happened.  They also said that the door inside with the bullet hole in it, was the original door from back then.  They played, on an old radio(maybe a phonograph) a naration with the song that was sung by John Taylor(a poor wafering man of grief) as we sat in that room.  I'm so grateful that I have been able to have this experience, and I know Kade feels the same.  It has built my testimony stronger of the prophet Joseph Smith and it makes him more real to me.  We hear so much about him and never doubt that he was a prophet, the prophet of the restoration,  but to visit his 'place', where he lived and where he died, to see where his body rests and to have glimpses of his world, was very humbling for me.