Road Trip Revisited

We're back from our road trip to Nauvoo and surrounding areas.  Actually we've been back for a while but it has taken me this long to post pictures.  Even though I have some clever  and funny things to say, I'll just get on with the slide show.   It won't take long, I'll choose just a few of the hundreds taken:

Nebraska landscape.  Notice how I inserted myself in to the picture? Hitchcock would be proud!

Winter Quarters Temple in Iowa.

Got to Nauvoo late Sunday night and checked in to our old and cozy hotel.  This isn't our hotel, it's just an old cabin but I thought I'd try to trick you.

This is our hotel room.  How quaint is this? The hotel was built in 1840 as a residence. It seemed like not much had changed since it was first built!  Luckily indoor plumbing was added to the building.

I thought the ice dispenser was fun.  

The Magnolia trees were beautiful!

This is a sampling of the beautiful bronze statues in the Monument to Women Memorial Garden that's just outside the Visitor's Center.

In the Family Living Center, we were taught how to make candles, ash bread, pottery, barrels, and rope.  Andy's helping to make the rope here. 

Notice that no one else is in the building?  We timed our trip perfectly.  Not too many people were there and we had many of the sites to ourselves!

Here's a typical bed that uses rope to support the straw tick.  The rope would loosen after several nights, so it needed to be tightened. This is where the term "sleep tight" comes from. 

This Bee Box is in Wilford Woodruff's home. This is a device to help lead you to find a beehive. Children would take half of this box, go out and catch a bee, return home and attach the rest of the box filled with flour, coat the bee in flour, and release the bee. The flour slowed down the bee and it was easy to follow it to its hive.

This is one of the missionaries making a miniature horseshoe in the blacksmith shop.

 The Nauvoo Temple is a beacon on the hill.  It's beautiful inside and out.

On the temple grounds is this statue of Joseph and Hyrum Smith on their way to Carthage.

This is the room in the Carthage Jail where Joseph and Hyrum were martyred by the mob.

This is the upstairs dungeon where Willard Richard placed John Taylor, who had been shot, to protect him from the mob. 

The Carthage Jail was a very spiritual place.   

We left Nauvoo and traveled through Missouri to see Liberty Jail and the Visitors Center in Independence.  Our final place to visit was Adam-Ondi-Ahman.  What a beautiful place. I was told that there's nothing here but a plaque...but there's more.

And it's not just Andy.

Taking this trip has helped me appreciate the spirit of the early Saints.  Their faith, dedication, obedience, commitment and strength is truly inspirational.

Are you still here?  You can wake up now.  Thanks for visiting.