5000 Miles of Fun: Church History on the Way Home

As much as we were dreading our actual return home where we would have to deal with everything that was awaiting us, we were looking forward to taking our time getting there. This leg of the trip we decided to break up over a few days and try to see some of the sights/sites along the way. Specifically we wanted to do a bit of a church history tour.

We spent the first night in Cheyenne, Wyoming and then headed out the next day, which happened to be my birthday. Spending hours in a car isn't the greatest way to spend a birthday but I was with family so that make it okay.

On our way out we had seen signs for a Pony Express museum in Gothenburg, Nebraska that looked like a fun place to see. So we went. First of all Gothenburg is a really cute little town with pretty little shops and neighborhoods to draw you in. We found the Pony Express station which was just a tiny little building that was basically a switching station for pony express riders way back when. There was also a cute little historical museum that we stopped in to see right across the street. The place was packed with all sorts of antique stuff that was just really cool. Kaya liked the old baby dolls but didn't like not being able to touch them.I thought this flag was so awesome. It was crocheted sometime in the 1940's.

We had to take a photo of one of our favorite drinks ever which sadly no longer exists.

And I thought these old pharmacy items were pretty neat. (Read the print on them.)

Spencer just LOVES anything to do with trains.

Right outside of the Pony Express station we found this Road to Zion sign that gave us the idea of getting off of the freeway after Omaha and taking the pioneer route all the way through Iowa and into Nauvoo.

Did you know that the Pony Express only ran for 18 months and that the owners of the company wound up losing all of their money because it was such an expensive enterprise to run? Some letters cost people $25 to send! Can you imagine??? I had no idea.

Oh yes. Earlier in the day we had stopped at Burger King for lunch. Can you tell?

That night we stayed in Lincoln, Nebraska. And the next morning we drove the short distance to Omaha and the site of Winter Quarters. It was Sunday so we were sure that the big visitor's center there would be closed. We had planned to take a few pictures of the temple and the grounds around the center. But we were delighted to find that they are open seven days a week! We were met at the door by an enthusiastic sister missionary who took us on a really fun tour.

The kids got to put on pioneer clothing for the experience. This tiny cabin was fascinating. It was about the size of my kitchen (which is tiny) but we were told that a cabin that size housed between 15-20 people at Winter Quarters!

The kids got to try pulling a handcart. It was fine until our guide put a couple of rocks under the wheel and had them try to pull it over then.

We also got to see how much space a family would have had on one of the ships carrying Saints over the water routes.

It was really fun and informative. And afterward we went downstairs to see an exhibit of Mark Mabry's Reflections of Christ. Beautiful.

Then we headed outdoors to the cemetery. It was a sobering experience to read some of the plaques and markers there.

And the temple grounds were lovely. I'd love to go inside someday.

Then with our pioneer map in hand we proceeded to take the back roads through Iowa. It pretty much looked like this the whole way:

But it made us think about how it would be to make that journey on trails and in wagons or pulling handcarts instead of the paved roads and comfortable air conditioned automobile we were taking.

We cracked up when we went through one tiny town and saw the Mormon Trail Cafe...

...and the attractive beer signs in the window!

At last we reached Nauvoo and met up with my mom and brother Timothy who had come down from Michigan to spend our last couple of days of vacation. Actually we stayed across the river in Keokuk because there were no rooms to be had in town.

The next morning the plan was to leave Taylor at the hotel with the kids while we all drove to the temple to do an early morning session. What happened instead was that Kalen woke up with a migraine that was making him so dizzy that he couldn't even sit up much less walk or drive. So we waited for a bit to see if it would clear up. It didn't. Finally, Kalen said we should go ahead without him. I didn't want to. This was the one thing he had been really anxious to do and now he wasn't going to be able to. But because there were so many people there for the busy summer season, they told me when I called that it was the 9:00 session or nothing! So we decided to go and hope that when we got back Kalen would be better.

The drive from Keokuk the Nauvoo was absolutely gorgeous! It was so green and we drove on this winding road right along the Mississippi River.

And the temple was even more beautiful. Breathtaking actually. The details are so intricate and amazing. I absolutely love the staircases and mouldings and the windows. We were able to do a session and each room was more beautiful than the last. And the temple workers were a special kind of nice. I mean, if you go to the temple, all temple workers are so happy and helpful, but these workers were even more so. There was always someone right there directing us and guiding us to wherever we were trying to get to. When we came out of the dressing room at the end, there was a worker there who I think just had the job of hugging everyone and thanking them for coming!

When we came out of the temple we found that it had stormed quite badly while we were inside. The sky was black and everything was soaked.

We weren't sure how well that boded for our day of sightseeing, but we pretty much only had one shot so we went back to the hotel to gather everyone to return to Nauvoo. Unfortunately Kalen was not better at all and we had to leave him behind again.

The weather cooperated some of the time. One minute the sky would be blue and we'd think we were in the clear and then it would cloud up and pour again. We did have a great time though.

We loved the tour of Heber C. Kimball's home.

The kids were enchanted with the temple too.

We enjoyed lunch at Zion's Mercantile and then shopped for souvenirs there and in the various other downtown shops. Then we headed over to the big visitor's center. The kids enjoyed looking at the womanhood statues in the courtyard. They probably weren't supposed to climb all over them, but we have many pictures that show them doing that.

We stuck around that evening hoping to see an outdoor performance that was scheduled but then the rain came back with thunder and lightning, so we had to give up on that idea. We headed back to the hotel to find Kalen doing much, much better but feeling badly about not being able to join us. We still had the next day though and decided to squeeze in as much as possible before the afternoon when we had planned on leaving.

We got up and packed up as quickly as we could and headed back to town. We parked on Parley street and made the walk down the Trail of Hope where the Saints all traveled to the river crossing during the exodus of Nauvoo. It was really something to come up to the water and imagine what it would look like in the winter when so many of them made that trip across. Unbelievable the sacrifices of those early Saints!

We stopped in at Joseph Smith's Red Brick Store and bought candy and root beer and then toured the upstairs where we saw the little meeting room where so many important events occurred back in those early days, including the organization of the Relief Society.

I would have loved to see inside the Mansion House but since it is owned by the Community of Christ Church, we would have had to pay for a tour so we just settled for a picture.We went back to the temple so that Kalen could at least see it on the outside. He was impressed enough to commit to a return trip sometime so that he can actually get inside.

We then headed over to the Family Living Center which was so much fun. There were so many demonstrations of pioneer activities like breadmaking (with samples!), wool spinning, rug weaving, ropemaking, etc. We only had time for the breadmaking and candlemaking before we had to go and catch our show that we had gotten tickets for.

We headed over to the cultural hall for a kids' production called "Just Plain Anna Amanda". The kids all got to sit on the front rows and they just had a ball. It was a really fun performance.

The kids enjoyed meeting the cast after it was over. Kendall was already thinking how much fun that would be to do during a summer vacation sometime.

As we were leaving town, Spencer spotted this river freight boat and yelled: "It's a trainboat!" That was a pretty apt description I thought. It was pretty enormous.

And finally, it was time to head back. The last leg of the trip was long and tiring. The kids were excited when we saw the "Welcome to Michigan" sign. And even more excited to see our house and their toys and all the familiar things they had left behind. And Kalen and I were glad too, in spite of the fact that we knew we had so much catching up to do and so many things to deal with. But it felt so great to sleep in our own bed again! And now that we've been back for a couple of weeks, things are settling down into a good routine again. Just in time to think about all the back to school stuff that is coming up in a couple of short weeks. Ugh!