Last Day on Tour

 Today was our last day on tour, we were able to spend a little more time in Nauvoo which gave us the opportunity to do a tour through the Sarah Grainger House. I took very few photos, so most of these are Bindi's photos.

On the bus for our last day on tour

I really connected with Sarah Grainger, as I mentioned previously, it was in her home that idea of the Relief Society was sparked, also she was married to a good man who was not a member of the church and supported her in all her church work, so that reminded me of my situation and how supportive Bill has always been of my involvement in my church, also having been recently released as serving as the Stake Relief Society President for 7 years.

It actually moved me to tears, I had the opportunity to mention this to Hank Smith our tour guide, and then 6 weeks later when I was home, he mentioned this on his Follow Him podcast when they were talking about D&C 74:1- it was a lovely moment.

The flowers in the garden were just lovely- Bindi had a great time taking photos of the garden.

The sister missionaries took us through the house and explained Sarah's story.

We then went down to the Smith Family Cemetery and Bindi, Kim and I had the chance to duck down to the Red Brick Store and had a mini tour, we missed out on yesterday.

When we got back to the bus, Hank Smith was talking to his friend Anthony Sweat and his wife who was also guiding a tour. Bindi and I have both listened to him on different podcasts and he is also great.

Then we had a last minute stop in present day Nauvoo, I ducked in and got another "Turkey Wing" from the Fudge Shop. I got one yesterday and they were yummy- chocolate covered caramel and nuts on a pretzel stick.

Then it was time for a few photos outside Nauvoo Temple, this one with Hank Smith. He was such and awesome guide and such a lovely man. We could not have had a better guide.

This was our group outside the Nauvoo Temple

We then headed to St Louis, stopped for a lunch at a BBQ place before heading to the airport. It was a bit of a panic getting to the airport on time, our flight had originally been delayed and then put back to the original time, there had been a tornado in St Louis the day before that had caused delays, but fortunately we managed to get our flights back to Salt Lake City. It was all a bit of rush so it was a quick good bye to those not on the plane with us. 

We checked into our airport hotel ( not the best but it was a place to sleep and a chance to spread out to organise ourselves for our trip home.

Sorting out all my stuff- fortunately I had an extra suitcase to take home with me.

This was Saturday night, I was flying home Monday morning and Bindi was leaving Tuesday morning.

Had a bit of time to do some last minute shopping to fill those last few spots in my suitcase

Sunday morning we went to church with the McSwain's- then had a lovely dinner with them,  Bindi had showed She how to make pavlova and they had invited their family over to have dessert with us, a lovely way to end our time in the States.

Suitcases packed and ready to head home.

I caught the  6am  shuttle bus to the airport  Monday morning, to get my 9am flight to Los Angeles, I had a 10 hour layover so had a day stay at a nearby hotel which gave me a chance to just chill out, have a nap and shower before catching my 10pm flight back home. Bill picked me up at Canberra Airport, was lovely to be back home.

It was a wonderful holiday, so many wonderful memories. A fantastic experience and an awesome travel buddy- my sister in law Bindi.

Nauvoo and Carthage

 Today we had time to visit the Nauvoo Temple, visit Old Nauvoo and then modern day Nauvoo. Old Nauvoo is set down on the banks of the Mississippi River with the original temple up on the bluff overlooking Nauvoo. Originally it was a bustling town, one of the biggest around at the time. Today just some of the buildings remain, which have been restored. They have Senior missionaries and Sister Missionaries, dressed in pioneer costumes that take  you on tours through the various places.

First of though,  Bindi and I were booked to do an Initiatory Session at the Nauvoo Temple at 10am, it was decided that the bus would take people who needed to be there for the early session and then come back for those who were just visiting the town. We could have gone in on the later bus ( had a sleep in) but once the early bus was called the Celestial Bus- my travel buddy Bindi, needed to be on that bus so there went my sleep in! It actually worked out really well, we were able to get in to an earlier session so that meant we had more time to explore Old Nauvoo.

The original Nauvoo Temple was destroyed by fire and a tornado, the new temple was rebuilt and dedicated in 2002. The temple was rebuilt exactly the same as the original, they found the blueprints of the temple in California. 

It was rather overwhelming to go into such a special place, it was a really lovely experience. The temple workers were lovely and told us what we could see and visit. So glad we had this opportunity.

Our bus was doing a shuttle circuit around Nauvoo, so we were able to catch it down to Old Nauvoo and visit some of the various buildings.

First we went through the John Taylor home

 

These were the Sister Missionaries that took us for the tour, we loved their outfits, turns out they have sisters called as sewing missionaries- they sew all the outfits. They also have missionaries called to look after horses and oxen they are called Teamster Missionaries.

Then we visited the Gun Shop- Samuel Browning a famous gun maker was a member of the church.

The missionaries were great and so friendly

This was one of their early machine guns, weird seeing it in the living room!

They gave us a brief run down of the gun making process

You could see the temple from many places around old Nauvoo

We went into the pioneer centre while we were waiting for our horse and cart ride. I loved the simple ways of weaving and looming they had, nothing was wasted.

Then we went for a ride around the streets in the horse and wagon and learnt a bit more about Old Nauvoo. The weather was lovely.

This was our friend Kim, from South Carolina, from the bus tour- she was great company

Old Nauvoo would have been filled with log cabins, shops, all sorts of buildings. We only had the one day here, it would have been great to spend more time, but felt so grateful to be here and have this experience.

Then we walked down to where Joseph and Emma lived when the moved to Nauvoo. This was the original log cabin that went up first then other rooms were added.

It was a real gathering place for the early saints, there would have been many amazing conversation had here.

Next to the house was the Smith Family Cemetery, this is where Joseph and Hyrum were eventually buried after their martyrdom  Emma Smith is also buried here, next to her husband.

Up from here was the Nauvoo Mansion, Joseph and Emma moved into here, part of the building was used as a hotel for the many visitors that came to see Nauvoo.

The view from the cemetery of the Mississippi River

We then headed up to present day Nauvoo where Bindi finally got to go shopping. We had some lunch then headed back to meet up with the rest of the group. Then we headed to Carthage Jail, this is where Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed.

 

This is Carthage Jail

Joseph and Hyrum were with others in the upper room, some of the members of the mob came up the stairs, while others were down outside.

This is the bullet hole left from the bullet that led to Joseph's Smith death 

It was a sombre place.

 

We headed back to Nauvoo, stopping off at the Old Nauvoo Cemetery, Edward Partridge, the first bishop of the church was buried here. He was such a faithful and humble man, it is said he wore himself out serving in the church.

There were so many young infants buried in this cemetery

We then headed back to Nauvoo and had a buffet dinner here

After dinner we then walked down the Trail of Hope, which was the road where the Saints lined up in their wagons  when they were being driven out of Nauvoo, this beautiful city they had left. Nearly 14,000 left, they had to be ferried across the river, eventually making their way to the Salt Lake Valley. There were interpretative signs along the road telling stories of their leaving. 

Being here helped me begin to grasp the sacrifice, faith and dedication of these wonderful people.