Nauvoo, IL

Our greatest weekend of the summer was the last weekend of our summer.  As we realized that Alan hadn't taken a single vacation day all summer, and looked towards the start of another school year, we were both struck by the feeling that we needed one last escape.  We left Friday evening and spent the weekend in Nauvoo, Illinois.  Nauvoo is a place full of history... Church history, American history, and personal history for our family.  We had an amazing vacation, even if it only lasted the weekend.

In 1839, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints settled along the banks of the Mississippi, in Nauvoo, IL.  They were fleeing persecution and mobs from Ohio to Missouri, when they drained the swamp and built themselves a city on the edge of the United States frontier.  Unfortunately, the persecution reached Nauvoo, too, and after the leader of their church, Joseph Smith, was murdered, and an assassination order was issued by the state of Illinois against all Mormons, they were forced to flee their beautiful city again.

Much of old Nauvoo has been restored.  Some homes and buildings are originals, still standing today.  Others were rebuilt based upon maps, journal entries, and newpapers, to resemble their originals as closely as possible.  There is a blacksmith, bakery, shoemaker, printing press, cultural hall, drug store (and more), all filled with authentic artifacts to recreate life of the early settlers of Nauvoo.  We finally finished all nine of the Little House on the Prairie books, and our kids are enamored with anything "old fashioned."  They loved the history, loved seeing what life would have been like for Laura and her family.  If you get the chance, Mormon or not, Nauvoo is a truly amazing place to visit.

Here are some pictures from our trip:

One of the most wonderful things about Nauvoo is that it is staffed with missionaries (mostly older retired couples), who not only dress in clothing from the original Nauvoo era, but also work in the buildings.  They run the brick shop, work as blacksmiths, and hand out cookies in the bakery (among many other things!).  They are extremely knowledgeable about the history of Nauvoo and the way that life was lived there.

From the printing press:

This rocking horse was number one on Abbie's list of things to see.  We read an article in a church magazine for kids a few months ago all about this rocking horse.  (You can read the article here.)  A man named John Taylor was forced to flee Nauvoo with his family.  They weren't able to take anything with them on their trek west except for bare essentials.  His son, Joseph, had to leave his favorite rocking horse, which had been hand-carved by his father.  On the first night of their journey, Joseph began to cry, and when his father asked him what was wrong, he said, "I miss my horse.  I love him so much, and I'll never see him again."  His father held him close and said, "I understand.  You shouldn't feel ashamed for missing something you love."  The next day, Joseph didn't see his father, but thought he had gone to help other families in need. That night, he finally spotted his father coming back into camp.  Tied to his father's back was Joseph's wooden rocking horse.  John Taylor had ridden all the way back to Nauvoo, across the frozen Mississippi River, and risked being caught by angry mobs, just to retrieve his son's rocking horse.  What an incredible expression of a father's love.  The horse was brought back to Nauvoo, from Salt Lake City, to place in the Taylor's old home.

How genius is this?  Mom sits and rocks, knits, sews, etc., while baby sleeps next to her!  I want one of these!

My favorite part of our trip was our handcart trek.  Handcarts were much cheaper than wagons for pioneers, so many of the Saints made the journey from Nauvoo to Utah using handcarts.  They loaded their handcarts with up to 500 pounds and traveled in groups, with anybody over the age of three or four walking the entire way.  Our handcart, while the same as those used by the pioneers, was only filled with water bottles, bug spray, and sometimes Nate and Abbie.  This experience gave me a newfound respect for the pioneers, especially those who traveled thousands of miles on foot, pulling (or pushing) a handcart.  It was hard work, messy work--The journey we took was only a couple of miles, but we did cross a stream three times, Nate lost his shoe in the mud, and there was quite a bit of rough terrain.  It was a unique experience for which I am truly grateful; I think that it made a strong impression on the kids, too.  Now when they sing, "Pioneer children sang as they walked, and walked, and walked," they'll actually have a memory to match.

Look at the ground--It was not easy to get over.

We learned quickly not stand in front of the cart while going downhill.  The momentum of the handcart was too great and would easily have run us over.

Yes, I wore flip flops.  Don't judge.  We hadn't planned on doing this beforehand, so they were the only shoes I had.  One of my shoes broke after my foot sunk in the mud in a stream--It was a much more difficult walk for me after that.  Coupled with my back pain, I feel like I was granted a small (miniscule!) glimpse into what the pioneers may have suffered.

We counted our blessings that the only animal we ran into was a cow wading in the stream.

I liked that there wasn't a paved road or cleared area for the handcart experience.  We were warned before leaving to look out for poison oak, poison ivy, and all sorts of sharp plants.  These thorns were all over the trees.

It was about 95 degrees during the couple of hours we were out.

We decided that these would have made a good dinner one night:

Back to historic Nauvoo with Alan's requisite bathroom picture:

Abbie was given a mini-horseshoe because her birthday was closer to the day we were there than anybody else in the blacksmith shop during the demonstration.

These sculptures are in a garden dedicated to women:

Is there really a better way to show a mother's love for her son than to give him a wedgie?

During the time that the original members of the LDS church were in Nauvoo, they built a temple to the Lord.  It was burned and destroyed completely after they left for the west, but was rebuilt just a few years ago.  Mormons believe that the temple is a House of God, a place to be close to him.  It's also a place where we get married, or sealed, not just for our time on earth, but we believe that we're united for eternity in the temple.  Alan and I were sealed in the Nauvoo temple seven years ago--I'll always love this temple.