Church History Adventure

To start, Josh and I drove to Idaho and helped the girls move out of their apartments; Hannah and Keaton to Rexburg and Brynne to come home to prep for her mission.

it was so nice to see them again after four long months!!

Day 1:  Hopped a shuttle to the SLC airport from Pocatello and flew to Rochester NY, rented a car and drove to Palmyra.  Stay at the Best Western - it's about the only place in town worth staying.

Day 2:  Drove out to the Peter Whitmer Farm.  Had a fantastic tour there with a great missionary.

Peter Whitmer farm kitchen - so cute!

As we were leaving Brynne got a text that her mission call was available to be read online.  Drove the 40 minutes back to Palmyra and went straight to the Joseph Smith Farm.   This is where Brynne opened her mission call.  It was so exciting to be in the Sacred Grove where it ALL began for this dispensation.

However - it definitely made the rest of the day a blur for us.  Brynne was fielding tons of phone calls so our tour of the farm was short.  We enjoyed chatting with all the sister missionaries though.  We went to the Hill Cumorah and took a little walk to where Alvin Smith is buried.

Had a great pizza dinner downtown and the biggest, least expensive ice cream cone I've ever had.  Check out the Grill and Chill - you won't be disappointed.  That was lunch.  And honestly should have been dinner but we wanted to try the pizza.  :-)

original Joseph Smith, Sr. home where Joseph lived during the time of the First Vision

Joseph Smith home just 1/4 mile down the road in the next town over (Manchester) where they moved later.

Day 3:  Left early and drive the 4 hours to Kirtland.  We took a short break at Lake Erie at the Barcelona Light House and beach.  That was a lucky find.  I really wanted an up close and personal visit with one of the Great Lakes and this spot happened to be where the freeway would be closest and it was perfect.  Those lakes are HUGE!!!
When we got to Kirtland we went straight to the church history site and got a tour.

This is a little village and you go in several buildings and hear about the Saints' early experiences.  One of the missionaries recommended a place for lunch.  It's called the Kirtland City Tavern and he said "don't let the outside scare you - it's great".  So we went and if he hadn't said that we would have skipped it.

We scarfed our food down and hurried to the Kirtland Temple which is own by the Community of Christ church (formerly RLDS) and managed to catch their last tour of the day.

Then we took a drive out to the Johnston Farm which is about 45 minutes away.  That place is SO worth the drive.  It was beautiful to drive out there and the farm was amazing to learn about.

This room is where a lot of D&C revelations were received.

One the way back we took an alternate route and enjoyed Amish country a bit.  LOVED seeing those people driving by in their buggies!
We spent the night at the Best Western in Mentor - just across the freeway from Kirtland.

by the way - all freeways back east are toll roads.  I still don't know how much that cost me overall.

Day 4:  LONGEST drive ever - 9 hours to Nauvoo.  It wasn't the time or the distance... it was the incredibly strong rain, the Chicago traffic, and the constant toll booths and slow freeway speeds.  I swear - no one speeds!  Definitely not west coast driving.

Anyway, we made it to Nauvoo about 5pm.  I had read online that restaurants in Nauvoo were limited to non-existent and that is not an understatement.  There are two places that serve breakfast and lunch and one place that does dinner but it is a nicer steakhouse attached to an inn, and we weren't in the mood for a slow meal.  We ended up driving across the river (25 minutes each way) into Iowa to get food at a grocery store.  The nearest grocery store!!!!  Keokuk is where the locals go.  We stayed at Nauvoo Villas, which has basic kitchenette facilities so we were able to stock up a bit.

Day 5:  Breakfast at Grandpa John's cafe, which was a structure buffet and FULL of missionaries.  We did that two mornings because it was pretty decent.
Then we hit Nauvoo for the day and toured the buildings.  It's seriously incredible.

Nauvoo Sunstone

Cooper class

cute old things everywhere!

We drove the 30 minutes to Carthage Jail and did their tour toward the end of the day,

then returned to Nauvoo and took pictures outside the temple

and walked the Trail of Hope down to the Mississippi River as the sun was setting.  

We had Annie's Frozen Custard for an early dinner - and popcorn for a late dinner.  Yeah, we're pretty health-conscious.

Day 6:  Drove to St. Louis airport.  The drive takes less than 4 hours.  We had a flight to Medford with a layover in Denver.