We left Sean's early Tuesday morning and drove south to Nauvoo where we met Aunt Sue. Sue loves Nauvoo and flew over from California to be our personal tour guide of the city and then stay with us for the remainder of our road trip. How nice (and brave) is that?!
Sue arrived in Nauvoo a few days before us and had a few surprises up her sleeve by the time we arrived. After meeting up at the temple (a gorgeous building), our first stop was at the Red Brick Store. Most of the historical parks of Nauvoo are owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but a small section (mostly the parts specifically related to Joseph Smith and his family) are owned by the Community of Christ. The Red Brick Store falls in this latter category.
The main floor has been turned into a store/gift shop, but we were able to explore the upstairs and the basement. The upstairs seems like it's still being used for church meetings, but is extra meaningful because it's where the Relief Society was established.
The basement is currently being used as an archeology headquarters. The Community of Christ church has been excavating a number of nearby sites (you can even sign up to be a digger for a day!), and they gather their finds in this room.
On our way out of the store came Sue's first surprise - she bought us cold, homemade rootbeer! Aubree says that the coolest part was that the sodas were in glass bottles.
Next we made our way over to "Pioneer Past-times," an outdoor area where kids (and kids at heart) can play games and do activities similar to what kids in Nauvoo would have done in the 1840s. This was a favorite spot for all of us. Aubree and Nellie immediately geared themselves in pioneer garb.
When I was a kid, we had a couple of these wooden, rope-climbing bears. I enjoyed getting to introduce my kids to the concept. In addition to the bears, we played with whirligigs, Jacob's ladders, dolls, and other toys and tools.
We didn't stay there as long as the kids wanted, because it was time for surprise #2 - a wagon ride tour through historical Nauvoo.
That was a great way to get familiar with the layout of the area and learning more of the history. In my head, I'd imagined everything close together, but the buildings and activities are spread out over significant distances.
If one wagon ride wasn't enough of a surprise, soon we were heading over to wagon ride number 2. This trip took us to a different part of Old Nauvoo. One of the most amazing things about Nauvoo is that everything the LDS church owns and operates is free for visitors. Sue had gotten up early and stood in line to get tickets for both wagon rides, but the tickets were free. We were also super impressed with the missionaries, both young and old. All of them sacrificed their own time and money to come to Nauvoo, share their love and testimonies, and make sure we had a great visit.
As we were leaving our second wagon ride, we passed the ox-cart area and decided to stop for ride #3. This area didn't require tickets, and the ride was short, slow, and bumpy! It's no wonder no one would willingly ride in an ox cart. We learned that "ox" is not a breed but rather a job. Any type of cattle can be an ox as long as it meets certain criterion (such as, they must have horns because otherwise the yoke can fall off).
We were able to check in early to our suuuuper cute little cabin. Though the outside is rustic, thankfully the inside was much more modern.
After getting our stuff settled, we made our way 30 miles to Carthage, IL and visited Carthage Jail. I thought I knew the story of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum pretty well, but visiting Carthage made me realize how much I'd missed. It was a sobering experience.
Seeing the bullet hole in the door was especially powerful.
There are very limited food options in Nauvoo, so we stopped for dinner at Dairy Queen in Carthage before heading back. We wanted to be back for the 7pm "Sunset by the Mississippi" show. We had a little extra time, so we visited a few of the restored shops. Each shop and/or home is staffed by two missionaries who briefly explain the history of the building and its occupants and give short, kid-approved tours.
At 7 we were in our seats for the evening show. The Nauvoo Brass Band played dance songs and invited audience members up to boogie on stage. Graham convinced Sue to go up with him.
Before the main program began, all kids were invited to decorate hats in preparation for a Children's Parade. Once their hats were done, they grabbed instruments and wove their way through the audience and back on stage.
So fun!
The program itself was a highlight of the trip. There was singing and dancing and even fiddle tunes! The senior missionaries and the young missionaries put on a phenomenal show. Aubree kept leaning over to exclaim, "This would be so much fun!" When three violinists started playing "Orange Blossom Special," she was ready to run to the car for her own violin to join in.
After the program, all the missionaries headed directly into the crowd to interact with the audience. Aubree tracked down a couple of the violinists to find out how they got to be singing/dancing/playing missionaries in Nauvoo. She learned that they apply and audition for spots as 4-month "Young Performing Missionaries." They suggested she take clogging lessons. She's pretty gung-ho about the idea currently.
It was late when the program ended. I took Thane, Graham, and Nellie back to the cabin, while Sue took Aubree and Bryce to walk the Trail of Hope. Thane was not pleased to be grouped with the younger kids, but he fell asleep quickly regardless. Sue and crew found a snapping turtle on their walk. Sue, not knowing it was a snapping turtle, attempted to help it move out of the road and almost got her fingers chomped off!
The next morning Sue left extra early to get us performance tickets. The kids had a rough start loading into the car (I told them, "We have a full day of fun things to do today, but we can sit right here in the car as long as we need until you can figure out how to get along and speak kindly"), but we made it to the Family Living Center in time to be the first guests in attendance.
We really loved the Family Living Center! There are about 8 different stations inside, each staffed by missionaries, where you can learn all kinds of things about life in the 1800s like candle making, bread baking, rope making, and barrel making.
The kids were extra excited to make their own rope and get to keep it. They also really enjoyed getting samples of fresh-baked bread.
We stayed in the Family Living Center until it was time to watch a performance of "Just Plain Ann Amanda." During the pre-show, one of the Young Performing Missionaries invited kids from the audience up to sing songs and participate in activities. Graham volunteered to go up and choose an action for "Do As I'm Doing." It took him a while, but he eventually chose winking. It was pretty hilarious.
After the performance, we hit a few more shops/spots in Nauvoo before we had to leave. The Blacksmith's shop was fascinating. It was interesting to hear the information about the craft mingled with information about life in the city. For example, I didn't know that oxen needed shoes just like horses need shoes, and they needed their shoes changed every 6 weeks or so, even while on the trail west.
We also stopped at the brick-makers shop. This area wasn't as hands-on as some areas, but was still quite interesting to learn about the brick making process. In the end, Bryce got to choose a small brick for our family as a keepsake.
In the end, I can now say personally that Nauvoo was worth all the hype. Two days there was just barely enough. We all consider it one of our favorite stops on our trip.
We left with enough time to drop Sue's rental car off and check in at our hotel in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. We wanted to make it to our Residence Inn in time for the "Evening Mix" (dinner). We made good enough time that we even had a little bit of time to swim.
We should have let the kids swim longer. The dinner menu consisted of hotdogs and hamburgers, but the hamburger patties took an extra 40 minutes to cook, so we ended up sitting in the dining room twiddling our thumbs for a long time. Oye. Still beats having to find our own dinner.
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