Nauvoo and Branson: A Perfect Destination

Monday 12: Left for Phoenix at 7:30 AM, and stayed with Quentin=s family two nights.  Bought new walking shoes and a new sewing machine on the way into Phoenix (What every traveler should have?!  Actually, my machine broke, and I want to make a quilt for the upcoming wedding.)  Quincy, 1  yrs. seemed glad to see us.  She is such a smart little girl and knows so many words.  Stayed up late correcting EHS work. I have several students trying to finish up credits needed to graduate.

Tuesday 13: We took Quincy for a trip while Bev went to the Dr. Walked along a big canal near their home, and through their subdivision.  It=s easy to get lost in Phoenix, as all the homes look the same, but we made it back.   Bev & I went shopping for cloth, while Quincy and Steve took naps.  She is recovering an old dresser with different kinds of fabric.  It was like picking out patterns for a quilt, but we did actually get 4 of the drawers covered.  Went to Bev=s book group with her. She led the discussion on a parenting book by Gene Cook.  Stayed up correcting EHS assignments until about 1 AM.  Anna (my mission companion) got twin grandkids yesterday.  This is her 2^nd set.  (Son Jared, who Autumn knows.)

Wed. 14: Left about 6:15 with Quent, who took us to the airport.  Our plane was about 40 min. late, but we made up some of the time.  I have been very nervous about all the tornadoes that came through the Midwest last week; over 380 tornados.  When we arrived Dan Hansen, assistant tour guide was waiting for us, and one other lady from Yuma.  Brian Judd was our guide, and knew tons about the area, and especially Hannibal and Nauvoo.  He is from New Zealand.

!        In St. Louis, we visited the only Roman Catholic Basilica in the US, where the Pope officiated in 1999 There were over 70,000 mosaic scenes in the basilica.  It was beautiful and gigantic.

!        There are 27 people on our tour; most of them older than us, but a few in their 20's, and some our age. All 27 on the tour are LDS, so we had a great comradery in the group throughout the tour.  There was one grandma with her two 20 something granddaughters, but most of the rest were older than us.

!        Drove past Busch stadium and visited the Jefferson Nat=l Memorial and the St. Louis Arch.  It is a stainless steel memorial; whose designer was the winner of a contest.  Enjoyed learning a lot about the Lewis & Clark expedition, and Louisiana purchase. Stopped to take pictures at the St. Louis temple.

!        Went across the Mississippi River to St. Charles, which is where lots of the pioneers left from.  Ate dinner in an old fashioned diner, Mother-in-Laws House.  Stayed at the Hampton Inn.  Stayed up checking EHS assignments until 1 AM.  Hubwest had a free line there but the connection was really slow.  My friend Anne Bown and husband got a mission call to Singapore yesterday!

Thursday 15: It rained last night, so the day felt clean and crisp, but not too cold.  It was quite grey in the sky.  Visited Mark Twain Country; saw his home, levees around Hannibal, museum, etc. 

!        Took pix at Lovers Leap, Carthage, Mississippi River crossing, tornado damage at Lima, Warsaw & Nauvoo.  We were in the actual area where the miracle of the quails occurred and there is a plaque erected there.  The river is twice as wide now as it was in 1846, because of dams that have been built.

!        Visiting Carthage was very impressive and tender, and our guide told the story very well of the martyrdom.  There were many bullet holes and indentations in the door, as well as outside the window where the prophet fell.

!        The temple at Nauvoo is beautiful, much  more impressive than the photos.

Friday 16^th We attended the 9:00 temple session.  The paintings were beautiful, and we saw 4 different rooms.  The lone and dreary world had 4 seasons in the murals, each of them showing a different scene from Church history: It started with early spring in New York, then spring at the sacred grove, then to Kirtland, then Missouri, then Nauvoo, ending up with winter in the Salt Lake Valley.  It was a wonderful opportunity, and all the furnishings were authentic to that era.

After changing and having lunch, we visited a few antique shops then went down to the old Nauvoo restoration buildings.  Visited the Heber Kimball house, and the first person we met was Della's Aunt (Erickson). She also knew Barbara Groom.  Heber C. Kimball was in the process of building this house, most of the 6 years they were there, but kept getting called on missions.  His wife actually finished the home while he was gone.
!        Visited the Brickyard, and Elder Stoddard, a good friend of the Grovers was working there.  Also visited the Browning gun works.  I didn't realize he was a member of the Church and moved to Ogden area with the saints.

!        Found the Reynolds at the family living center, where Bufaye was doing candle making demo, and Lee demonstrated how to make barrels as a coopersmith.  They sound like they are really keeping busy.  After the visit, we went to the old Nauvoo Inn for a huge buffet, which was pretty good.  Then went back to the low lands for the Nauvoo rendezvous program.  It was wonderful, very entertaining with good music. All of the older missionaries also help with the programs, so they work early and late.

!        Finished reading Grisham's King of Torts.  It was good inside look at class action law suits. 

Sat. 17 Spent most of the day visiting sites at Old Nauvoo.  Went to the RLDS visitors Center and a very nice man took us on a tour of the Smith home, Mansion home, Smith mercantile and family cemetery. Walked down the Trail of Hope, that the pioneers used in the Nauvoo exodus.  Quotes from diaries lined the walk, and were very touching.  One woman, helped deliver 9 babies in one night after the saints left.

The cemetery and reburial of Hyrum and Joseph were the first activities which brought the RLDS and our church together.  The bodies were first buried in the mansion house, and then taken to the outdoor well shed where they were buried 8 feet deep.  There was fear that the mobs would mutilate the bodies.  They weren't found until in the 1900's when a team of archaeologists found the bodies, and reburied them in the current cemetery in 1939.  This was the first time the two churches came together to successfully work on a project.

Emma stayed in Nauvoo where 4 of her children, Joseph, Hyrum, and her in-laws were to be buried in the family plot.  Her 2^nd husband helped to locate family relics, though his character seems in question. Bidamon was his name.  Visited the Relief Society commemorate statue displays which were wonderful.  A church member, William Wood, was a key person in starting to accumulate property in Old Nauvoo.  The H.C. Kimball family was the first to restore one of the old homes. There were doing it to use as a summer home, but so many people stopped to visit it, that he had a hard time finishing the work, much less using it for a private home.  There are now 24 restored sites, that can be visited.  Kimball kept one of the rooms in its original state, unfinished, as he had promised the prior owner he would.  Visited the last original drainage canal, and original bridge built by the Saints.  Visited the Joseph Smith farm, where he had a manager working.  Stopped on Parley Street, where the road to Carthage intersected.  This is where the prophet traveled on his last journey, past his farm.  It is on the east side of Nauvoo.

Took a very interesting carriage ride; saw King Follett's home, and the well where he died, after property owners forced him to relocate the well.  He was inside working on the new well, when a rope broke sending rocks on top of him.  Joseph came to speak at his funeral, traveling back from far away, giving a 2  hr. sermon B hence the name, the King Follet sermons. Stayed at the Nauvoo Family Inn, a gigantic lodge run by Kay Walker from Idaho Falls.  Talked to him tonight, and they have moved here. Evidently the lodge has expanded and improved since first started. Used the in-house computer for 1 hr. at $5 per  hr.  Learned from e-mail that Nathan will be stationed in Alaska for the next assignment, and it rained in Blanding last Thursday.

  Sunday 18:   Traveled down to Branson, in ultra green landscape.  Slept a lot, but also watched film on the Nauvoo temple.  One of the sisters fell & hurt her back and was hospitalized the rest of the trip.  Perhaps it would be wise to have tour insurance for this reason, though we have never done it before. Could not get my computer to hook up to the outside line.  I think it is the remote computers fault.  Will call Wayne early in the morning.  (Found out later that it was the obsolete phone lines in the hotel.)

Passed by a yellow & white frame home called West Point, where Robert E. Lee lived while in Missouri, prior to appointment as general in charge of southern troops.

Monday 19:

Took a bus tour around Branson, a loop around the town, to the scenic overlook, and lake.  It is beautiful and green.  Did some shopping in old Branson, bought 5 quilts and paid to have them mailed to Blanding.  They were not high quality, but looked good.  Got a wedding ring in purples for Amy & Andrew. Ate lunch at a cute tea room: cold raspberry soup made with sour cream; sourdough bread, & salad and fresh greens.  They had wonderful antique blue and white china, I would have loved to get for Nancy, but they do not ship, and I do not trust my luggage to get it home safely.  Went to the afternoon program of Shoji Tabuchi.  It was spectacular, with special effects, and wonderful music.  He was a wonderful violinist, and had flashy dancers, good singers.

 Ate at Grand Country buffet.  It was a little nicer than the others we have been to, and I was more careful about what I ate.  Afterwards we went to the Baldknobbers program.  The salute to veterans at the end, and the rock & roll numbers were great, but I did not really like their bathroom humor jokes;  though looking through the family album was funny.  

Tuesday May 20

Chris called while we were gone, and Pam had Daniel on the 19^th about 2 PM.  They were worried about the low heart beat and decided to do an emergency C-section.  But by the time Chris got the kids picked up and to her moms, she was already in labor, and the delivery came quickly.  She didn't even have any anesthesia. There was no apparent health problems in the throat area.  We are so thankful that everything went well.  Steve & I walked down to Staples, with my laptop, but they did not have a rental computer to use but they let me use one on the copier desk, so I worked about 45 minutes, and then the bus picked us up there, on the way to the Hughes Bros. Concert at 10 AM.  

The Hughes did a wonderful performance, emphasizing country, family, gospel. They are LDS family from Taylorsville.  There are two other LDS family shows in Branson: The Lowes and Duttons.  When we came back to the motel, the driver dropped some off then, and then dropped me at an internet place and I worked for 2 hrs. on the web site.  They picked me up prior to going to the Ozark campground for barbeque. 

Saw Glen Campbell and Andy Williams concert.  Andy had a wonderful collection of antique Navajo rugs, and kimonos, and art.  It felt more like a gallery.  Both of them still sing strong, but not quite the same quality as 20 years ago.  Andy looks like he should be a temple worked, dressed in a white suit, with snowy white hair.

Wed. 21 Left early for Silver Dollar City, which was a really a fun place to visit.  Saw a great musical about a battle fought in that area.  Wonderful singers everywhere we go. Steve & I visited the Marvel Cave tour, which was about 700 steps, down into a drippy limestone cave. It was very moist and slippery in places.   It was big enough to put the Statue of Liberty inside.  At one time they launched 5 hot air balloons at a celebration in side the big chamber.  The young man who was our guide was wonderful, as have been most of the young people who have helped us.  I am impressed with the strong Christian traditions they seem to all have.

They mined guano for years from the cave, as it is a home for thousands of little bats.  It is used in fertilizer, makeup, etc.  Luckily, we didn't have to walk up hill very far, as they had a tram to take us most of the way back. Ate cream cheese filled pretzels, skillet potatoes, cinnamon roll, and cheese bread at the park for snacks.  Most all of the food we've seen is very high calorie, and not many veggies.  After we finished we drove to Table Rock reservoir, which has an 1800 mile shoreline.  At its deepest is 920 ft. deep, and is self cleaning, and a very clean man-made lake.  

We had a group picture before loading on the showboat. We had one of the best meals of the trip on board: tender beef, chicken in a pastry, fresh vegetables, herb mashed potatoes, whole wheat roles, and frozen peach ice cream w/ pound cake.  I was too full to enjoy the last part of the meal.  After walking the decks for about 40 min. we went back in for a wonderful program: good singers, dancers, adagio dancing, and ventriloquist w/ dogs.  It was really entertaining and high quality.  They ended on a patriotic note, as did all of the other programs, which also had the military veterans stand and be recognized.  We had 4 vets on our trip, and they also participated in a flag ceremony at Silver Dollar City.

It has been an absolutely wonderful trip, one we=d highly recommend.

Thursday, left at 8:00 AM for the airport.  Stopped for an hour at the Liberty jail, where the prophet received three of his revelations.  Saw quite a bit more tornado damage in the blocks right around the visitor center.

Our flight was about 1 hr. late, so Quentin had to wait a while for us.  Bev had a good lasagna fixed when we got home.  I stayed up til 2 AM trying to catch up with my classes.  I had 148 e-mail messages, since leaving Nauvoo on Sunday!  Got most of them answered.

Steve and Quent played golf early Friday morningB18 holes, and we left for home about 11 AM.  We picked up the sewing machine at Sears and headed out, really missing the beautiful green vistas of Missouri.  It was a wonderful trip, one we'd  highly recommend.  We really felt that we got our money=s worth in every way.  The cost was $1200, which included flights in and out of Mo. two meals each day (including the gratuity), and all motels costs for 9 days, plus 6 shows at Branson and guided tours to dozens of interesting places we did not even know existed. It was a perfect time of the year to go, not too hot and not too cold B just right says Mama Bear!   The Brian Judd tours also do a tour in the fall, plus lots of other destinations.  Many of those on the tour had been with Brian before.  He was a delightful guide, had great sense of humor, and really knew church history B even if he did talk funny! (Australian twang.)