Rendezvous at Old Nauvoo

Right after graduation, I set off on a week-long vacation with my sister, L, who had also recently graduated. In past posts, I have referred to this vacation as the Great Graduation Vacation of '09, and it certainly was that. We packed a lot into six days, so I'm separating our trip into two posts: the church history post, and the Chicago post.

On Sunday we dropped our parents and our other sister, A, off at the airport, and started our seven hour drive across half of Indiana and all of Illinois. We only made brief stops here and there (if you ride with me, you have to take your picture at every state line along the way), so we made fairly good time. You know how people say that driving through the Midwest is boring because it's made up of cornfields as far as the eye can see? They're right.

There was one thing that made the drive interesting. Here's a little shout-out to my mom: Do you know the way to San Jose? Lalala lalala lalala!


We actually stayed in Keokuk, Iowa, while we were in Nauvoo, Illinois, but you'll just have to believe me on that one because there was no "Welcome to Iowa" sign. L and I were not amused.

The next day we got up bright and early. We didn't want to miss the continental breakfast, or much of the day. We hit the road at about 9:00, but we quickly stopped and had a photographic moment when we got our first proper look at the Mississippi River. We had seen it the night before, but it was dark. I also had seen it on the original drive out the Indiana for school, but it was raining cats and dogs at the time, and it was hard to see the car in front of me, much less the river.


The first thing we did in Nauvoo (after looking in at the Visitor's Center to get a map) was go visit the pride and joy of Nauvoo, the Nauvoo temple. This obviously isn't the original Nauvoo temple, but it's built a lot like it.


Minute-by-minute accounts of other people's trips are not fun, so here are a few other highlights.

• We went on a wagon ride around town, and learned more about the history of the place. At one point in the ride we were chased by two cute tiny little ponies.


• We visited a lot of the various buildings at the site, but I was surprised at how spread out they were. Nauvoo today is basically a large grassy field with brick houses dotted here and there. I didn't expect that.


• It was confirmed that I was a bookworm when I got uber excited about everything in the old time print shop.


• We bought bonnets at the souvenir shop, and had a little too much fun trying to get a decent picture wearing them when we got back to our hotel that night.


• The highlight of the trip occurred when we attended Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo, a musical put on my the senior missionaries who run the site. I knew we were in for a treat when the first musical number included the men doing high kicks. I didn't get a picture of that, but I did get a picture of the men singing about how it was better to leave Nauvoo than it was to stay and fight.

Here's the whole cast, getting ready to leave Nauvoo.


The next day we visited Carthage Jail, where Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed.

(**Aside: For those who don't know, Joseph was the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He's the one who lead his people to settle in Nauvoo. It was his murder that made his people realize it wasn't safe to stay in Nauvoo any more, so they headed West and settled in Utah. I should also note here that we do not worship Joseph Smith, but we revere him for founding the church. Like all Christian churches, we worship Jesus Christ. End of Aside**)

One interesting thing about visiting the jail was that it hadn't occurred to me that the jailer's family would be staying in the jail too. They were attacked too when the mob came after Joseph, Hyrum, and the others. Also, this place was used as a jail for 25 years after the incident, then it was used as a private residence until the Church bought it and restored it.

My camera batteries died when we got to Carthage, so this is the only picture I have of visiting there. I think it says it all, though. The window in the upper left of the jail is the one Joseph fell out of.


Stay tuned for phase two of the Great Graduation Vacation of '09, coming to a blog near you soon.