Missouri/Nauvoo Church History Tour
The Nauvoo Temple
View our Google Photo Album from this Trip
Day 1 - Sunday
We had stake conference this weekend so I had very few meetings. It was also Father's Day. We had a nice stake dinner and apple pie ala mode. We then left Gehrig home and took the other boys to meet Leslie in Salt Lake so they could spend the week with them. We then went to the airport and got there 2 hours early.
Rachel was having a bad day. She got flagged for a pat-down and felt pretty violated by TSA. Our flight was delayed by over an hour. It was pretty stormy wether. It provided for some cool lightning shows in the sky. We landed in St. Louis around 2 AM. It was raining cats and dogs. We got a lyft ride to our hotel and checked in around 2:30 AM. I had trouble sleeping, but I got enough sleep to function I guess.
Day 2 - Monday
I woke up around 9 AM and finally decided to get up and get ready so I could go pick up the rental car. I walked the rental car place. It took about 20 minutes. It was a nice stroll, but in hindsight, I would have picked a closer hotel, or a closer car rental. I picked the two that were the farthest apart! We rended a Jeep Compass. It is a small SUV - sufficient for our trip I believe.
We drove towards the St. Louis zoo and decided to try to find a place to eat around there. We find a nice little pancake house. I think it was called Chris's Pancake House or something. After we were done eating we made our way to the Zoo. That was a really cool area. It was surrounded by a huge park. We parked near the art museum. Rachel said she would rather go in there, but it is closed on Mondays unfortunately.
The zoo was actually pretty cool. The only reason I had heard of it was because a returned missionary in our ward served in St. Louis and he said they went to the zoo frequently because it was free. I think it was bigger than Hogle Zoo in Utah and it was pretty impressive considering admission was free. I guess they make money on the train rides and snacks, etc.
As far as weather goes, it was perfect. It had stopped raining by the time we were done eating and it was just cool and overcast all day.
We left the Zoo around 3:30 or so and hit the road for Independence, MO. I love road trips. It was a nice 3 1/2 hour drive. It was different than the road trips I am used to. First of all, there are no mountains in sight the whole way. I did't think much of it because there are rolling hills the whole way and everything is covered in green vegetation and trees. I love green and the scenery was beautiful the whole way.
By the time we arrived in Independence area, there was not a cloud in the sky. I think it will be much warmer tomorrow and perhaps for the rest of the week.
When we checked in to our hotel, the employee was super friendly. When he saw that we were from Utah he got especially excited. He said he had family in St. George and Orem. We told him we were here to see the church history sites. He said he was in the Independence stake. He kept calling me "Brother Davis". It was so great!
We found a nice local place called Corner Cafe for dinner. It seemed to be quite popular. I would say the food is similar to Cracker Barrel, but with more local flavors. The serving sizes were huge. I had a nice strawberry pie for dessert and regretted it because I ate so much that I was physically hurting! I haven't overeaten like that in a very long time!
After dinner we found a Walgreens to get some medications we needed and some snacks for tomorrow's road trips.
One think I wanted to mention is when we passed the sign that said, "Entering Jackson County", I got unusually excited. Rachel and Gracie were sleeping. I woke Rachel up to tell her we were now in Jackson county. I don't think she appreciated being woken up just to know that. But for me it was somehow moving.
Later, as we were driving, Rachel said, remind me what happened in this area. I told her Joseph ws kept in Liberty Jail - which we will see tomorrow. Some of my favorite sections in the Doctrine & Covenants came from that jail. I also explained that this is where Zion, the new Jerusalem will be built! I said, "and so we will be living here in a future day and will be helping to build Zion!"
OK, I don't have a sure knowledge of that last part. But I have a sure HOPE for it. I desire to help build Zion. The thought of it all thrills me.
We took the backroads back to our hotel from Walgreens so we could see different areas. We saw a lot of fireflies which was really cool since Rachel had never seen them before.
Day 3 - Tuesday
Independence Visitor' Center
We woke up pretty late and just had enough time to get some breakfast at the hotel. There were not a lot of options. We basically had the options of scrambled eggs and sausage - which was fine and great for my keto diet.
We got to the Independence Visitors Center just before it opened. There wa a pretty large group there. There was not a whole lot to do and see there. The sister missionaries did a short tour and gave information on the early saints there. I think the most moving part of it was sitting in a replica of a small cabin in that time period. We are so fortunate today. I can't imagine cramming our whole family into one of those cabins. The missionaries said that families were often sharing cabins and had as many as 10 families living in one cabin!
After our tour of the visitors center, we walked around outside and saw the temple lot. Again, there wasn't much to see and do there so after a short walk around the block we left and headed toward Liberty Jail.