Independence Day has always been one of my favorite
holidays. The past two years my sister
has been in Omaha to help me celebrate the fourth of July and this year I
finally had Sean with me. Sean was given
a 4 day weekend and I had the week of the fourth off, we decided to take
advantage of these precious days together before our baby arrives and take a
little trip for ourselves. The day
before we left for our trip we watched fireworks at the base lake with some
friends, and the following morning we woke up bright and early to head to
Nauvoo, Illinois. Our faith is very
important to us, in Nauvoo there is a rich history of my ancestors and of the
development of our faith, the Latter Day Saint religion. This is one reason why it is a popular visiting spot for tourists, it also happens to be really
beautiful and peaceful there. I had been
there three times as a child but Sean had never been there. It is fairly close to where we live, we have
had the intention of going since we moved here and decided it was next on our
travel list when the opportunity arose.
With it being 5 hours away, I was grateful we decided to
stop on the way there at a car show in Des Moines. We saw a series of old vintage cars on the
road and we were wondering if there was a car show nearby, we saw several of
them pulling into the fairgrounds so we followed and hoped it would be
something worth seeing.
It was quite
spectacular. I love anything
romanticized and vintage, I dream of owning a restored vintage car one
day, particularly that blue convertible I have pictured up top. Maybe Sean will get it as a 40th birthday present. Sean is much more knowledgeable
about cars in general than I am, I think they are beautiful, he has other reasons
he finds them fascinating. We don’t ever
deviate from the plan when traveling long distances, but being pregnant has
shown to have it’s advantages, I’m so glad we chose to do something out of the
ordinary to “take a break” from the road, because this was the biggest car show
we have ever been to.
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We were there a little over 2 hours and didn't even get to see all that there was to see. It was quite overwhelming. It really had the spirit of Independence Day there as well, there is something incredibly nostalgic about visiting these old cars and the stories behind them, reminiscing about how far they have come as well as our country, plus I have been craving fair food like crazy and there were several options to choose from.
It was really hard to pick, but the foot long corn dog won along with the coke soda pop that I allowed myself (hadn't had one since I became pregnant and I love them!) Sean ate a brat, it was already a great fourth and it wasn't even noon yet. I was already really grateful to have Sean with me on this day, last year he was deployed and the year before he was gone on TDY. It was fun stumbling in on something that we both really enjoyed, with it being so unexpected and we didn't even realize how big it was we were sort of thrown back and amazed with the whole event. If we ever go to Nauvoo again, I think we will break the trip up and plan on doing something in Des Moines, it definitely didn't feel like it took as long getting there as it did coming back.
Once we got back on the road, we made it to Nauvoo in about 3 hours. We first stopped at the visitors center to see what was going on in the area that weekend. We decided to go to old Nauvoo and tour the old buildings. We visited the cultural hall, the family living center where the Senior LDS missionaries are demonstrating old skills and crafts from the pioneer days, the Skoville bakery, the tinsmith, the gunsmith, and the brickyard. I had been in the cultural hall before to watch plays, but I had never been up to the top to see the dance area, from this place you can see a remarkable view of the temple through the windows.
There was also a quilt display in this building, a woman donated a family quilt that made it across the ocean from Europe and across the plains to Salt Lake. It was over a hundred years old and looked so good, it made me feel pretty bad about the one Sean's grandma gave us for our wedding, I don't think we have shown it the care it deserves, and definitely not quite that excellently to make it last a hundred years or more! I love visiting all of the re-enactment shops in old Nauvoo, it demonstrates how simply people once lived and how hard they had to work every single day, there simply were no lazy days if you wanted to eat. Once everything closed down, we got dinner at the Nauvoo Hotel. I'm not really big on buffets, I actually sort of really dislike them, I've come to make an exception during pregnancy. They are totally cool when pregnant. Usually we don't eat enough to make it worth the money and there is something so informal about them, but on this trip, during this particular point in my pregnant life, this buffet did appeal to me. It was pretty good, would I ever eat there not pregnant? Probably not, but the point is I am, and I'm particularly good at eating abundantly right now and I enjoyed it.
Following dinner made it to our camp site at Camp Nauvoo. You can camp in Nauvoo for $5 dollars a night per person in a tent. The cheapest hotel we could find was for $80 dollars a night, we were all over the camping idea! I've been wanting to go camping for quite some time, and even though this wasn't the camping I was use to, it was something. I don't think camping counts unless it's in the wilderness, but considering my size, I was sort of glad we got our fill of camping for the summer in a not so wild place. There was a nice clean, shower house, and an electrical box by our tent (so convenient for charging cell phones)! We were pretty spoiled and I thought it was funny.
We weren't allowed to have a fire unless it was elevated off of the ground in a fire pit. I thought the whole ordeal was funny and "easy" in comparison to what we usually do, until it was time to go to bed and sleep on the ground. This was one of those times I shouldn't have been trying to make a point to the universe that camping doesn't count unless you sleep on the ground. An air mattress would have been a great idea, a cot an even better one, what we have are these really thin little foam mattresses that fill slightly with air. We slept on rocky ground about 2 summers ago and I thought they were the coolest mattresses ever because I slept fine that night. Well our first night camping was quite miserable for me. Parts of me are just heavier than they were two summers ago camping. My hip bones and shoulder bones dug into the ground and I woke up several times throughout the night trying to get comfortable. I woke up so sore the next morning, talk about a humbling experience and trying to connect with the pioneers. I don't know how those women did it! I can't stand it when people whine on camping trips, so I felt like the biggest loser telling my husband that this was a "never again!" situation. However, the following night we had an extra sleeping bag Sean layered over the mattress and it saved my life. I slept fine our second night and I didn't wake up a million times and I wasn't really sore in the morning! So that was a win! You can camp when pregnant, or at least five months pregnant!
I'm not sure if I'm brave enough to attempt it again past that point, but I go back on my "never again" statement. It was so much more fun than staying in a hotel. You have the best conversations around slowly burning embers before officially calling it a night. We think camp Nauvoo would be the coolest place to have a family reunion, there is a big indoor lodge for big gatherings, cabins that are $11 a night per person, a big field for games, a play ground, and a volleyball court. They even provide fire wood and the customer service was awesome.
Day 2, we woke up to a cloudy morning with rain on the forecast. It was super humid outside. We started out our morning at the temple. We decided that next time we go to Nauvoo, we want to start off the vacation with a trip to temple first. It sets such a positive tone for the day and week. I love this temple, the architecture is so beautiful and even though the spirit is the same in all temples, this one has something special about it. There had to have been something special about this day, because it seems like the weather always acts up on days that happen to be very special for us, like our wedding day and various anniversaries. We came out of the temple and it was raining. Sean went to go get the car, while he did I was able to enjoy the beautiful view of the Mississippi and enjoy standing in this little nook.
Following the temple we went to visit Carthage Jail, where Joseph Smith was held prisoner and was martyred. Even though the weather was crazy, our car was blowing back and forth on the road, we were at such peace with this day. The spirit just carried on to this visit. There is such a special spirit in Nauvoo and at Carthage. When we arrived it was raining, we watched a video on Joseph Smith, his life and what he has done for humanity. Following the video we toured the jail, it still had fairly authentic architecture from the time when it held him there, the old wavy windows, keys, and even bars. I'm grateful we had the opportunity to make it to Carthage, I definitely think it was good to supplement it with our visit to the temple that morning.
The rain had stopped, we decided to get some pictures of the outside of the temple because we didn't have to opportunity to do so because the weather was so bad when we left the temple earlier. The weather was perfect when we came back to get pictures. While we were taking pictures we met another couple who had just left the temple, they were on a road trip across the United States, they were taking advantage of a move and taking their time getting to their new home. Wouldn't that be amazing? I think it would be so awesome to do something like that. I really would much rather fly, but you miss out on so many amazing things along the way to your destination when flying. If I had to move a long ways away, I think the best way to go about it would be to take your time, and enjoy what there was to see along the way.
They took this picture of Sean and I for us, we saw them a few other times around Nauvoo that day.
We spent the rest of the day looking in old shops for books and pictures for ourselves and our new baby. We purchased a cardboard book about the Savior for her, it really is a beautiful little book, there are paintings by Gregg Olsen inside and follows the primary song
If The Savior Stood Beside Me. We also got custard at the ice cream shop there, I don't know if it is the sugar rush or because she can taste what is in the amniotic fluid now, but she goes nuts for sweets, particularly ice cream. She moves so much after I eat something yummy. I think it is the cutest.
There were a few things in Old Nauvoo we wanted to see before we ate dinner, we went to a few more places, we visited the blacksmith where we got Prairie rings and we also had the opportunity to tour Brigham Young's home. Following this we visited the Smith family cemetery. I had never been there before, it was in a really beautiful location right along the Mississippi River.
After eating dinner at our camp site, we went to to the play Rendezvous, it is put on by the Senior Missionaries, I remember seeing it as a child and loved it. I was worried Sean would be bored, but he laughed quite a bit. Following Rendezvous we stopped to see the last half of the dress rehearsal for the Nauvoo British Pageant. One of the plays was outside and one was inside. I would like to see the pageant in it's entirety outside when there isn't lightning and thunder going on, from what we did see it was quite spectacular.
That evening we went back to our campsite and made s'mores with a fire made in our fire pit. We went to bed, and woke up early in hopes of figuring out what time church was. There was a group of LDS kids from Canada staying at our camp site and they were all getting ready in the shower house, I asked them what time church was and they let us know. Sean and I assumed that there would be several people there, but we did not expect this. There were over 1,500 people at sacrament meeting. It was bigger than stake conferences I have been to. The ward handled the sacrament with such reverence, especially with that many people there. Sean and I sat in the farthest row in the back, on the stage. It was the last thing we did in Nauvoo, we were filled with the spirit as we left to come home. On our way out we stopped to get one more picture with the temple. I love it there and hope we can make it back soon.
