This drive was to be our shortest of the trip. We wanted to be able to spend some good time in Nauvoo seeing the sites. I wanted to get up early, Justin didn't. But because it wasn't a long drive, we slept in and left when we were ready. I can't say it didn't feel fabulous.
However a drive that was supposed to take 3 hours ended up taking at least 4 and a half. There had been a terrible fatal car accident on the freeway that closed down our side of the interstate for 5 hours. We got stuck in traffic and had time to look at the pretty scenery. My it had changed since Wyoming
So by the time we slept in, got stuck in traffic, got rerouted through a detour and got back on track...we were way behind schedule. We got to the Nauvoo visitor's center, but by the time we made it out to any of the buildings, they were closed. We admired them all from the outside, read the signage, and just took a walk around the historic "neighborhood." The humidity was the worst I had ever experienced (even August in North Carolina couldn't compare) but we toughed through it. One of the strangest things to me was that many of the historic houses were being lived in. You obviously couldn't take a tour of the inside of their house, "Private Residences," but how weird would it be to live in a house that dated back so far. (I guess on the East coast it wouldn't be as weird, but for me, growing up on the west coast, it was just bizarre.) Anyway, after we had seen all we wanted to see, I wanted to buy a little something to remember the trip, but by the time we got up to the shops, they were closed. Seriously, this was only at 6 o'clock and everything had shut down.
The Nauvoo Temple is beautiful. You can't even see it from the direction we drive in until you're right on it. But on the other side, down from where the original Nauvoo was, you can see it right on the hill. It would have been fun to be able to stop for a session. Maybe someday.
We returned to the visitor's center, since it was air conditioned (if I was not already a member of the church the AC was enough for me to join up at that point.) We cooled off and convinced one of the sister missionaries there to take a picture of all three of us. Please be kind...we were hot and sweaty and tired...and I don't know what is up with my stray hair...
The last thing before we left was to walk through the "Monument to Women." It recognizes the role that women play and the beginning of the Relief Society which was organized in Nauvoo before the exodus West. It's a gorgeous little garden spot, and Ashlyn got some time out of the stroller and running around.
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| Just like her daddy |
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| Wanting to play too |
So while I was very disappointed and discouraged that we missed seeing anything from the inside, there were a few good things that came out of it. While I wish we would've left earlier, we couldn't have known the interstate would close, and had we left earlier, it would have put us right near the spot that the terrible accident happened. So maybe it was coincidence, maybe it wouldn't have put us anywhere near that accident, but maybe we were blessed. Also, despite the humidity being a huge distraction, walking around at our own pace gave each of us time to reflect back on what it would have been like back in the day. How much they had to give up to go West, and how amazing it would have been to know the prophet Joseph Smith and to hear his testimony from his mouth instead of reading it from a book. It was weird looking at the houses thinking that they were the same houses that Joseph Smith and other early saints lived and played around.
After Nauvoo we took a short drive over to Keokuk, passing a huge mansion of a house that I wasn't fast enough to take a picture of, eating dinner at a Pizza Hut with the absolute worst service I have ever had in a restaurant, and then topping it off with a stay at a hotel that stunk like cigarette smoke and warned you to lock your door 5 billion different ways. That night was the worst night of our trip. The hotel room wasn't great, but it was doable. But poor little Ashlyn got sick. She threw up 3 times during the night. Once in her crib, and the other two times on her mom. The last one finally got it out of her system, and she slept great. But it was pretty sad. We only had one king bed (which I thought would be fine) but by the end of the night all three of us were sleeping on one half of it (vomit sleeping on the other.) Between the towels and sheets covered in vomit, and Ashlyn's traditional morning diaper...housekeeping had their work cut out for them! Yuck!
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