So, for the first day, we drove five hours up to where we used to live and visited some friends, and then we picked up my friend Grace, dropped off my two older siblings (who were going to take the youth conference buses), and drove three and half more hours to my grandparents'. We spent the night at my grandparents'(not the youth conference kids. they drove through the night), and then we left
early in the morning. We drove all day.
I have never seen more corn in my entire life.
Buuuut, I did see the St. Louis Arch! We didn't drive straight past it, but we saw it fairly closely. Here is an incredibly crappy photo I took on my iPad mini. ;D
It was pretty cool! :D
So, after long hours of killing our behinds in the car, we finally reached Nauvoo, Illinois!
It took us a while to find our cabin, but we did, and then we cooked dinner (which was chicken, mashed potatoes, and broccoli. Yes, I remember exactly. Oh yeah! There was also cantaloupe, I think :D )
For those who don't know why Nauvoo was an important stop, I shall explain. Some of you may know I'm LDS, more commonly known as Mormon (ring a bell, eh?). Anyways, a lot of LDS church history was placed in Nauvoo, as well as other surrounding areas.
After dinner, we went to one of the Nauvoo pageants! It was explaining Nauvoo's history, and the actors were really good! I loved it.
After the pageant we went to see the Nauvoo Temple! I took a really bad picture on my iPad, but the temple's beauty makes up for it. ;D
Isn't it gorgeous? It was so cool to actually touch it in person.
After we saw the temple, we went back to our cabin and called it a night ;) .
(btw, the Youth Conference kids had a completely different schedule and stayed in different cabins)
The next day we had breakfast (cereal and cinnamon rolls), went to church, and began to tour Nauvoo. Because I think y'all would find it very boring for me to explain every place needed, I will just put a bunch of photos of the houses and stores we went to and caption occasionally.
(the photos aren't the greatest quality because they were all taken on my mom's phone)
THIS WREATH IS MADE OF REAL HUMAN HAIR LIKE WHAT THE HECK
I don't think the barrels are actually from the 18 hundreds, but the tin objects are.
Most of the furniture above is actually from the 18 hundreds, so that's why it's roped off.
(actual printing press)
(actual time period shoes)
So after we went touring, we went and just walked on the main road and glimpsed at the stores (like actual running stores that people can buy stuff from). Then my parents dropped my little brother, Grace and me at the cabin, and they went to a riverside walk thing. We didn't want to go. Instead we showered and played a card game (because the wifi sucked). Then we went to bed. :D
The next morning, we ate breakfast (cereal again) and headed out for the town of Carthage. It was only a thirty minute drive, and we went to see Carthage Jail. Carthage Jail is where our first prophet, Joseph Smith, was murdered.
(the room Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum Smith were killed. They shared it with two other friends)
(actual bullet hole of the bullet that killed Hyrum Smith)
After Carthage Jail, we went back to Nauvoo to finish touring the time period houses and shops.
At the brick yard, each family was given a small brick that the missionaries made. :D
After a few more houses, we went on a buggy ride through the country of Nauvoo. This is one of the horses. :D
After the buggy ride, we saw more houses, and then we went back to our cabin to eat dinner. Sometime during the day, we saw a play the younger missionaries put on called, "The Promise." It was pretty good! But a lot of the girls in the crowd gained crushes on this guy in the play afterwards. XD
After dinner and a rest, we went and saw a dress rehearsal for the British Pageant. It was really good too! It was about British members of our church in the eighteen hundreds.
(you can see the temple in the background of this one!)
Then, we grabbed my two older siblings from the Youth Conference and went back to our cabin.
The next morning we woke up around 7:00 or 8:00, took pictures at the temple, and hit the road. We drove for a couple of hours to Far West, Missouri (another church historic site). Far West is where they laid down cornerstones for a temple, but they never built it.
Then we went to see Liberty Jail (another jail Joseph Smith was put in.) That was pretty cool because they had built a replica of the jail, but it was on the exact place the jail had been. The replica was also inside of a building.
(they put mannequins inside it)
After Liberty Jail, we drove to Independence, Missouri. There, we just saw the visitors center, but we learned a lot of church history.
After Independence, we drove to Selena, Kansas, where we spent the night in a hotel.
And that was the first five of our trip! Sorry it took so long to get this up. Also, sorry if I bored you. In my next post, you will learn of our Death Hike (unoficial name, but it suits it). Dun dun dun!
Toodles, Hoodians!
