Church History 2021, Week 2

I've waited too long to write this post, and the days are running together in my mind. Let's just pretend that I got this all in the right order!

Day 8

Today we drove a lot and stopped in Kirkland, Ohio, on our way. We visited several sites including the Newel K Whitney store- my favorite! Upstairs in the store is the room where the School of the Prophets was held, and where sections 88 and 89 of the D&C were revealed, among others. Spent the night at Campfire RV Park in Grand Rapids, Ohio. We enjoyed orange cream bars in celebration of Joziah turning 11 (we had a real birthday party before we left on the trip), and watched an amazing thunderstorm.

Day 9-11

A mere eight-ish hour drive took us to Nauvoo, Illinois! We spent the nights at Camp Nauvoo, which was a pretty nice campground and where we learned about chiggers! (Lesson- grass in this part of the country is not meant to be sat on.) Nauvoo was amazing. The actual town is pretty much nothing, but the Church has entirely recreated a section to be line it was in the 1800's. The missionaries all wear period clothing, and there were tons of historic tours and pioneer games. Everyone especially enjoyed the blacksmith shop where they got a homemade mini horse shoe. The Sunset on the Mississippi play was a highlight for me!

During our Nauvoo stay we took the short trip to Carthage to tour the jail where Joseph and Hyrum were martyred. That was pretty amazing. Our tour missionary played A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief on his harmonica!

Day 12

Heading back home now, we stopped at the Independence Visitors Center, the Far West temple site and Adam-ondi-ahman. (I took practically no pictures there, evidently. Also the younger kids plus Jesse and I skipped Adam-ondi-ahman entirely since the littles were totally burnt out on tours!) Spent the night at Pony Express RV Park in Marysville, Missouri where we had the most epic, drenching storm ever! The RV park had a petting zoo, which the kids enjoyed. Lily and Sara had bought the dads Fathers Day t-shirts in Nauvoo.

Day 13

We drove what should have been 3.5 hours but actually turned into about 7 due to road closures from the epic storm. We visited the Winter Quarters Visitors Center and Temple for our very last tour of the trip. I saw my great-great-great-?-grandpa's name on a memorial dedicated to those who died at Winter Quarters. Stopped for a break at a splash pad in Omaha, and spent the night again in Leland & Lindsey's home! We missed Lindsey this time, but still loved our time there.

Day 14

Woke up early, drove all day and stayed the night again in Restway Travel Park in Cheyenne, Wyoming. We love this campground because it has a nice, warm pool (that we always had to ourselves) and bunnies hopping around.

Day 15

For the last time- woke up around 6 and drove a l l  d a y!! Stopped in Sublett to switch trailers and say our goodbyes (the saddest part of the whole trip!) We got home by early evening and prepared to return to real life. Lily had made us these awesome commemorative stickers, which we displayed on our trailer window to show our journey. It was epic and worth every minute!