Roadtrip across America: Day Five

Starting Point: Ft. Madison, Iowa
Final Destination: Ft. Madison, Iowa

Finally, a lazy day--and so needed!  Here are a few things we did today:

1: We went to the Ft. Madison branch for church today.  I've never been to a branch before.  Tiny!  And, half the people there were visitors!  The talks were quite good, though.  They were both on service.  I need to do better at that.  I forget how horrible I am at things until I hear how much other people do every day.

2: Went to the visitors center in Nauvoo and watched a video there.  Jax wigged THE WHOLE TIME.  Up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down.  JD and I were worn out by the end.  But we did muster up the energy to walk around to a few of the shops.  Here are a few things we did today:

3:  Got a free cookie from the Scovil Bakery.  Sweeet!  I learned a neat fact there: The big cultural hall in Nauvoo (at least the bottom 2 floors) are original-not rebuilt.  And when the church was going through the top floor, they found a newspaper that had an ad for the bakery next door.  "Wait.. what bakery next door?" So the church went digging around next door, and found the foundation of the scovil bakery!  So they rebuilt it, and *ka-BAM!* Cute little bakery with free cookies.  My favorite.

A Picture for the road:  I told JD we should  hang this picture in his office someday and beneath it, write "Dr. Reimschiissel is "Out Standing in his Field." Ha ha-get it?

Roadtrip across America: Day Four

Nauvoo!  We got up and headed out--we heard about some carriage/wagon rides.  We thought that would be nice in the morning.  Well, apparently all the tickets go by about 8 am, which was a little before we got there.  So no carriage rides.  So we decided we'd go to one of the shows instead.  We find out that all those tickets are pretty much gone, too.  I do snag some of the last few.  I ask about the Nauvoo pageant, and what time it is exactly and where it is.  The lady says "What?  You haven't saved your seats yet? You are going to be way in the back if you haven't gotten your seats by now."  I'm thinking 'now'?  It is only 9 am!  So we go over and get seats (good ones at that).  Anyway, we did have a fun day.  We relaxed a lot of it--which was a good thing after all the long days we've had.  Here are some of the things we did today:

1: Family Living Center: We learned how the families made candles, rugs, bread, and even rope.  JD was the only one in the group who knew how to "whip" a rope, so he got to tie it off.











2: Carriage ride (not!): Although we didn't get to go on a carriage ride, we went up to see the horses.  Jax hated them.  He cried.  Hard.  He really doesn't like big things that move like that.  Funny.

3: Lunch by the Mississippi River:  There is a nice new monument down by the Mississippi river.  We ate our lunch there on a bench and it was so nice.  There were thousands of names all listed of pioneers who lost their lives throughout the ordeals the church went through.  There are really a lot more than I imagined.  I learned today that over 11,000 people lived in Nauvoo. That's really big compared to the po-dunk towns we've been staying in.  But seriously.  Nauvoo was the 2nd biggest city in the state, and the temple there was the 2nd biggest in the country.  No wonder everyone was scared they'd take over.

4: Nauvoo Temple:  I love this place.  The temple is so beautiful, and how great it is that Nauvoo has one again after so long.

More to come tomorrow hopefully, Adios!

Roadtrip across America: Day Three

Starting Point: Hamburg, Iowa

Final Destination: Ft. Madison, Iowa

Today seemed like a wasted day when we looked at our map, but really was quite a fun day.  We started at the bottom of Iowa, drove clear down past Kansas City, Missouri, a ways East, then all the way back up to where we started.  Here are a few things we saw today:

1: Independence, Missouri visitors center: Not a lot here, but neat to hear a little of the history that happened here.  It is crazy to hear about all the things that occurred here, and how there are nearly no remains of any of it. There were so many struggles and heartache here, but also so much happiness and joy.  One thing I learned here is that although sad things happen in the church, we choose to remember these historic sites as sacred places rather than places of sorrow.  How wonderful it is to be a member of this wonderful church!

2: Richmond, Missouri pioneer cemetery:  In this small town is a memorial dedicated to the three witnesses of the book of Mormon.  Buried here is Oliver Cowdrey, and also most of the Whitmer family.  It was a very nice little pioneer cemetery with a strong feeling of the spirit there.

3: Liberty Jail, Missouri:  We went to the visitor center and watched the re-enactment of things that occurred here.  Again, another place we remember as sacred even though sad things happened here as well.  It was nice to remember all the wonderful things we received by revelation from this location.

4: Adam-Ondi-Ahman: Wow, it was hot and humid here.  We walked down to the lookout, took a quick look at the view, took a quick picture of the plaque, and then booked it to the car to read the sign from the picture we took.  What an incredible place.  This place makes me really excited for the future of the church.

5:  A sweet hotel with a pool.  We will be here for a few nights and let me tell you--I am excited about it.

Roadtrip across America: Day Two

Starting Point: Kearney, Nebraska
Final Destination: Hamburg, Iowa

After getting in late the night before, we got another late start since we didn't change our clocks for the time-change.  But we got on the road, and drove to Omaha, Nebraska.  Here are a few things we saw today:

1: Winter Quarters Temple:  The temple grounds were actually closed, but we could look at it from outside the gates.  What a beautiful temple.  Too bad we have such a cute baby and can't go inside. ;)

2: Pioneer Cemetery: I'm not gonna lie, it was really hot, so we didn't look too long here.  There was a nice statue and marker.  There were so many who sacrificed and lost their lives here.  What a sacred place.

3: Tabernacle at Council Bluffs: This is where Brigham Young was sustained a prophet of God, and also the rest of the first presidency.  Little known fact: about 3 years passed between when Joseph Smith was killed and Brigham Young was put in as President of the Church.  I watched a video on the Mormon Battalion and learned a lot about it.  I didn't know they accomplished so much.  They started the Gold Rush in CA, basically put San Francisco on the map, built the first roads across mountainous areas for the miners, and so many other things.  Although the men leaving was a big trial for the wagon train, they accomplished so many things for the western side of the US.

4: More water towers (told you there were more)...

5: Lots and lots of corn!  Oh gosh did we see corn.  FOR-EV-ER.  Neat, though.  We even stayed in a hotel in the middle of nowhere that was basically in a corn field.  What an adventure this is!

Roadtrip across America: Day One

Starting point: Manila, Utah  
Final Destination: Kearney, Nebraska
   Today was our big driving day!  We got an early start after a night of a terrible thunderstorm.  Scared me to death.  It's been a long time since I've been scared during a thunderstorm... anyway, we drove as far as we could the first night, and got about 3 hours further than expected.  This was great news, though, because it cut down on driving time for Day 2.  Hooray!  Jax was such a good traveler.  He slept nearly the whole time.  What a champ.  We drove for about 10 hours.  What a day! Here are some things we saw:

     1:  Lots and lots of windmills.  These things are AWESOME!  Huge for one, and stunning by their size and number.  Hundreds of these things in a single group, and groups all over Wyoming.



  2:  A big head of Abe Lincoln.  We drove along Lincoln highway for a good portion of the day.  This was the first highway to reach from the East Coast to the West Coast.  Pretty cool.  (P.S.  A good memory: when Kaden was little we pointed to a picture of Abraham Lincoln and asked who it was.  He said "JD.")

    





3:  Pony Express Station:  We stopped in Gothenburg, Nebraska to see this little place and got a neat postcard.  Sad fact: After all the money that was put into the Pony Express, it only ran for 18 months total.  Many men were killed, but letters could get across the country in about 11 days. Strange little town, though.

    4: Water Towers:  Today was the first of many interesting water towers we saw.  I am starting a collection.  You'll see later.  It is growing quickly.


Stay tuned for Day 2!