Nauvoo

Okay, so I know that the events that happened in these pictures took place awhile ago, but hey, you still want to know what we did in Nauvoo, right?

We first drove in to the Carthage Jail, where we met my parents.  They had flown in to see this leg of the trip with us, and it was fun to have them there! We took in a lot of sites in the general Illinois/Missouri area in a few days.  It was fun to be in Nauvoo while the pageant was going on. Also, if you ever go to Nauvoo, make sure you see the show Sunset on the Mississippi.  It was super hilarious.

Here are some pictures (I know you want more):

Carthage Jail.  This is where Joseph and Hyrum were martyred.  It was a very humbling place to be.

The second story window and the well 

The Mississippi River driving into Nauvoo.  It was gorgeous! 

The burial site of Joseph, Emma, and Hyrum 

The Mansion House.  This is actually not owned by the LDS church. 

If you drive north out of Nauvoo and take a little walk into the woods, you find this old Nauvoo cemetery.  When Greg and I took a church history class from Susan Easton Black at BYU, she said she feels like this is one of the most sacred place in Nauvoo because so many faithful Saints were buried there, and this is where temple work was revealed. 

One of Greg's favorite tour sites in Nauvoo was the Browning gunsmith home/store.  Lots of guns. 

The ballroom on top of the Assembly Hall (or I think that's what it was called).  This was one of my favorite places.  The Senior Missionary lady said 5 prophets would have been in this room at one time (Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow) 

Rocking chair made by Brigham Young 

I dragged my family to Sarah Granger Kimball's home outside of town.  This is where the Relief Society was formed! 

Nauvoo Temple.  We did a session here one of the mornings and that was really nice. 

Where the Saints would have left Nauvoo to go West.  This is also probably where a lot of the first baptisms for the dead were done. 

After we left Nauvoo, we went to Adam-ondi-Ahman. It was such a beautiful and peaceful place. 

This is where the cornerstones of the temple still stand in Far West. 

Haun's Mill.  There is not much here, but the church has just bought this site and is trying to locate where things would have been so that they can commemorate it better.  We had to drive through some seriously rough farm roads to get here.  I'm talking dirt paths with overgrown grass through someone's field.  But hey, Greg's GPS still found it. 

The temple site in Independence.  That curly building in the background belongs to the Church of Christ (RLDS) 

Liberty Jail.  They have rebuilt this jail from the original materials inside of another building.  This was a very powerful place to be. 

The loose rocks on the side made it so no one could tunnel out and escape. 

The Memorial at Richmond Cemetery.  This is where Oliver Cowdery is buried, but the grave site is not marked. 

And...looks like I finally took a picture of my parents.  I promise they were there the whole time! 

Anyways, after the trip ended, we drove to Idaho Falls by way of Kansas, Colorado and Wyoming.  And now we have less than a week until we can move back into our own apartment!  Yay!  This probably sounds silly but I'm excited to see our own furniture again!