Church history trip

Prepare your scrolling finger, because this is going to be a long post.

We had been hoping to take the family on a church history road trip. We wanted to do it (#1) while Bekah was still at home, (#2) when Winnie was old enough to understand and appreciate it, and (#3) while the church sites were actually open (thanks, COVID). As an added bonus, we're studying Doctrine and Covenants this year in the church curriculum (and I'm currently serving as the adult Sunday School teacher, so I've been studying harder than ever before), so when the Church announced that sites would start opening back up in May, we jumped at the chance to go on our trip.

We looked at our summer calendar and found a two-week span where we had no plans. It was the only two-week span of the entire summer when nobody had softball, work trips, band camps, Young Women camps, reunions or anything else. We booked the flights, rental van, hotels and tours. We loaded up our Kindles and devices with books, shows and movies. We packed clothes, toiletries and cameras. We spent hours researching pioneer ancestors, writing reports on them and compiling it all into a book. And then we set off on a one-of-a-kind road trip.

Sunday, August 1

Drive to Salt Lake City, Utah

It was Fast Sunday, so we attended our meetings, put everything in the van and headed south. We stopped at the Malad summit rest stop to eat chicken salad sandwiches and switch drivers. We finished the drive, stopping at the Springhill Suites near the Salt Lake airport. After a few showers and some Olympics, we tucked everyone in for a short night's sleep.

Breaking our fast and eating dinner (chicken salad sandwiches and cinnamon rolls from Grandma) at the Malad rest stop.

Miriam's sleeping situation. We spent many nights in hotels with sleeper sofas, so the girls devised a way to trade off who would sleep where and with whom. Bekah and Miriam were on the sofa this night, but Miriam decided she could fit on the chaise next to the bed. 

Watching Olympics before bed.

Monday, August 2

Fly from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Detroit, Michigan; fly from Detroit to Buffalo, New York

After a fitful night's sleep for some, we woke up bright and early at 4 a.m. We had been debating between the hotel's 4:30 and 5 a.m. shuttles to the airport, but it's a good thing we erred on the side of caution. The line for security was much longer than I expected at such an early hour (and included an "I'm not amused" TSA agent and a search through Seth's bag due to his gallon Ziploc bag full of poker chips that we use to track stats in our tabletop roleplaying game of Numenera), but we made it through in time to board our flight. 

We knew we were leaving before the hotel's breakfast was available, so we brought cartons of muffins for breakfast. As we boarded our first flight, the pilot saw Ana holding a four-pack of muffins and told her that outside food wasn't allowed on the flight. Poor Ana was confused and despondent for a split second before she realized the pilot was joking. 

Bekah, Andrea, Winnie, Miriam, Ana and some of our muffins at the Salt Lake airport in the wee hours of the morning.

The first flight was long (4.5 hours), but the plane had built-in screens for each passenger, and we had come prepared with all sorts of distractions. We landed in Detroit without a hitch, then spent some time playing Numenera while we waited for our connection to Buffalo.

Winnie (and her unicorn) and Miriam on the first flight.

Seth, Ana and Bekah in the Detroit airport waiting for our connecting flight. We packed breakfast (muffins and grapes) and lunch (granola bars, dehydrated fruit, etc.) for that day.

Winnie and Miriam in the Detroit airport. Federal regulations state that you must wear a mask in airports and on planes at all times unless eating. 

Winnie (and her gummy ... frog?) and the others playing Numenera.

We boarded our second flight, waited while personnel tested and retested some systems, then deboarded the flight because it's easier for said personnel to test systems when the plane isn't chock full of people and luggage. After several minutes, it was announced that we would have to board a completely different plane located on the other side of the airport. We hoofed it over there, boarded that plane, then had to wait even longer because the defibrillator on this plane had a dead battery and somebody had to bring the plane a new one. You can imagine the temperaments of some of the people on this flight. In the end, however, we all made it to Buffalo safe and sound, albeit hours later than intended.

Waiting (again) at the Detroit airport, but this time in a different location after boarding and deboarding the plane. We had to wait for the announcement telling us where the new plane would be. 

Patient girls waiting in the lobby at the car rental agency. It was a long day.

Our original plan included a stop at Niagara Falls on the way to the hotel, but it was so late and we were so tired that we scrapped that, checked in to another Springhill Suites, and Seth and I ran out to pick up dinner for everyone.

Guess who had the sofa sleeper this night? ;-) Winnie being silly and Bekah reading on her phone.

In order to really experience the local flavor, we had told the girls that whenever we ate out on this trip (about once a day), we were not going to any restaurants that are available to us in Idaho Falls. We relied on Google and Trip Advisor to help us find local eateries, and our first one was Charlie the Butcher's kitchen. We ordered our sandwiches over the phone, and after the girls got settled in to the hotel, we ran out to pick up our order, ate it together in the hotel room while watching more Olympics, and got everyone ready for bed.

Tuesday, August 3

Drive to Palmyra, New York; Aquaduct Park; Smith Farm and Sacred Grove; grocery shopping; Hill Cumorah; E.B. Grandin Book Shop; Whitmer farm in Fayette

We had booked tours at the four Church sites of the day, but I think we only made it to one of them at the right time. There weren't enough visitors at the sites to require tours, though, so everything turned out fine.

Prior to the trip, everyone was assigned to write a report about one of our ancestor pioneer couples. Seth wrote about Thomas and Caroline Grover; I wrote about Jacob and Alice Strong; Rebekah wrote about Warren and Amanda Smith; Analee wrote about James and Drusilla Hendricks; Miriam wrote about Henry and Nancy Grow; Winnie wrote about Homer and Asenath Duncan. We got the reports printed out and bound into a booklet, and we referred to it often throughout our trip so that we could connect places and events to our ancestors. 

Breakfast at the hotel in Buffalo.

Our first stop in Palmyra was the Aqueduct Park. Thomas Grover was a captain on the Erie Canal, and the park borders the canal. We walked along a little trail and looked over the canal and a lock before turning back and going to the Smith Farm and Sacred Grove.

Walking along the path at the Aquaduct Park. 

We stopped at the Welcome Center, then took a tour that included the Smith family log home, the Smith family frame home, the threshing barn and the cooper shop before bidding the sister missionaries adieu and going on a self-guided tour of the Sacred Grove.

After wandering through the Sacred Grove for a few minutes and taking some pictures, we found a couple of benches and sat down together as a family to read the account of the First Vision in Joseph Smith History and sing "Oh, How Lovely Was the Morning." Instead of hearing bees buzzing and sweet birds singing, we heard the incessant buzzing of mosquitos as we were eaten alive. Our spiritual moment was cut a little short by the nasty bugs, but it was still a sacred experience.

Inside the Smith log home where Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith.

Outside the Smith log home.

Between the old Smith home and the new one (the frame house), you walk along the path and see the Palmyra Temple. 

Seth outside the frame home.

In the Smith frame home

A black locust tree outside the Smith frame home. Researchers think this tree may have been planted in memory of Alvin. Most black locust trees live to be 100 years old; this one is 200.

The threshing barn at the Smith farm.

A deer munching on apples in the orchard at the Smith farm while Winnie watches.

Walking to the Sacred Grove.

Miriam, Winnie, Bekah and Ana in the sacred grove.

Winnie in the sacred grove.

. 

Andrea and Seth in the Sacred Grove.

Our next stop was at a grocery store where we bought a few days' worth of groceries (and a much-needed can of bug spray). We went back to the Aqueduct Park for a picnic lunch of seafood salad, crackers, cheese and bologna and then drove to the Hill Cumorah.

Eating lunch at the Aqueduct Park.

The sisters at the visitors' center included a girl from Richland, Washington, whose cousin had attended prom with our nephew Mason, so that was a fun bit of trivia to discover. 

By the Hill Cumorah visitors' center Christus. We loved that the background for this Christus looks like the surrounding area so that you can imagine what it may have looked like for Joseph Smith to see the Father and Son.

Andrea and Bekah headed up the hill.

Seth recording Winnie rolling down the hill at the top of the Hill Cumorah. Rebekah had just finished rolling down the hill herself.

Bekah pretending to pry back a rock that may have hidden the golden plates.

Family selfie at the memorial on top of the Hill Cumorah.

Then we went back into Palmyra to tour the E.B. Grandin Book Shop where the first edition of the Book of Mormon was printed. We made a quick stop at a secondhand store on the same street, then drove to the Whitmer Farm in Fayette.

Seth and Winnie crossing the street to go to the Grandin Book Shop. The missionaries had given us "passports" of the New York and Pennsylvania church history sites, and you could get a stamp at each site. Winnie had forgotten hers in the van, so Seth went back with her to get it.

Ana, Bekah, Andrea and Miriam sitting on a bench in Palmyra waiting for the others to get back with Winnie's passport.

On the site tour.

Learning about the printing process of the Book of Mormon.

A look from the visitors' center to the original back of the building. The Erie Canal used to come up right behind the Grandin building, but it was moved farther away. The canal is what made the printing possible; Grandin received his new press via canal boat.

Learning about the binding and covering of the book.

Learning how most books were covered with white paper, but the Book of Mormon and other important books were covered in leather.

Finishing up our tour of the book shop.

The Whitmer farm (where the first meeting of the restored church was held) had a visitors' center attached to a church. We went through the center, toured the Whitmer home, then went back in the church to watch a church video. In the video we saw a photo that included Henry Grow, Miriam's assigned ancestor. We also learned that, besides the corn we could identify in many fields, the area grows lots and lots of soybeans. (I asked the sister missionary what was growing in a nearby field, and that confirmed our suspicions.)

Touring upstairs at the Whitmer home.

Inside the Whitmer home.

Learning from the sister missionary at the Whitmer home.

Family photo in front of the Whitmer home.

The photo included in the church video that has Henry Grow (front and center). This photo includes men who worked on the building of the Salt Lake Tabernacle.

On the drive back from Fayette to our hotel in Palmyra (Best Western), we stopped at Ciccino's for dinner and introduced the girls to fried calamari before feasting on pizza. We made a quick drive-by past the Palmyra Temple before hitting the hay.

Wednesday, August 4

Ice cream at Sauder's; drive to Harmony, Pennsylvania; Priesthood Restoration site; drive to Painesville, Ohio

We had heard from more than one person (including our Relief Society president, so you know you can trust her) that there is a Mennonite store near Fayette where you HAVE to stop for ice cream. We were leaving Palmyra that morning and headed to Pennsylvania, so we had breakfast at the hotel, loaded up and went straight to Sauder's for a huge bowl of ice cream for breakfast dessert. 

Winnie with her enormous ice cream cone. (That's a single!)

Miriam with cookie dough.

Seth with toasted coconut; Andrea with black raspberry and toasted coconut.

We took the ice cream with us on the road and drove 2.5 hours to Harmony, Pennsylvania, where we went to the visitors' center, then toured the Isaac and Elizabeth Hale home, the Joseph and Emma Smith home, the cemetery, the sugar bush and the Susquehanna River.

The family with Sister Bruneel, one of the sisters who led our tour. Seth was making small talk with the sisters and noticed Sister Bruneel's name tag. He asked where she is from, then mentioned that he had an uncle with family that includes that last name. She asked him his uncle's name, and when Seth said, "Jim Papworth," Sister Bruneel said, "Jim Papworth is my uncle!" Jim is married to Seth's mom's sister; he was previously married to a Bruneel (she passed away). 

Inside the Isaac and Elizabeth Hale home.

Outside the Hale home.

Winnie attempting to lift a box that simulates the weight of the gold plates. Joseph would take the plates up a hill to hide them every day after translating.

At the priesthood restoration memorial.

Family photo at the memorial.

Everyone shaking hands like they do in church history videos. Those guys were vigorous.

At the nearby cemetery where Joseph and Emma's firstborn is buried.

At the statue outside the visitors' center.

Family selfie in the sugar bush, the maple grove where the priesthood was restored. We read the section of Joseph Smith History where he talked about this experience. There were fewer mosquitos here.

Walking down to the bank of the Susquehanna River where Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were baptized.

Winnie at the river.

Bekah at the river.

The girls headed this way along the bank while Seth stayed in one location.

Where he found an arrowhead.

Family selfie at the Susquehanna.

After our visit at the Pennsylvania sites, it was a 5.5-hour drive to our next hotel in Painesville, Ohio. We ate Uncrustables for lunch in the car (it was a small and a late lunch, given how much ice cream we had already eaten that day) and powered through the drive, stopping for dinner at a Waffle House right next to our hotel. After dinner, we got the girls settled into the hotel (a Holiday Inn and Express Suites) and did some more grocery shopping for our picnic lunches before retiring for the night.

On the 5.5-hour drive to Ohio.

Eating at Waffle House.

Sitting at the bar was a new experience for our family.

Thursday, August 5

Drive to Kirtland; quarry loop; temple; cemetery; Historic Kirtland; Isaac Morley farm; John Johnson farm in Hiram.

Painesville is just a 20-minute drive from Kirtland, so we got breakfast at the hotel and headed over for another day of site-seeing. The Church's sites didn't open until 10, and the Community of Christ sites aren't open at all (still closed due to COVID), so we started at a city park that includes a little boardwalk loop to see where stone for the temple was quarried. Besides listening to cicadas and seeing the drill marks on stone, Winnie the warrior also made a game of it by checking for booby traps and spearing imaginary bats.

Overlooking the stream and the stones that were cut. You can see the drills marks on the stone on the right.

Ana taking pictures from the boardwalk.

Winnie the warrior running down the trail.

Seth showing the girls that they could swing (a few feet) on this vine. Winnie and Ana tried it out.

By the very green pond that the stream feeds into.

After the quarry, we went to the Kirtland temple and walked around outside, taking pictures and spending some time reading the dedicatory prayer and restoration of keys before singing "The Spirit of God." We finished our loop around the temple and walked across the street to the cemetery.

Group photo in front of the temple. A nice couple (including a lady from Idaho Falls) took the picture for us.

Seth and the girls on the side of the temple. After taking these pictures, Seth and I conversed with a 90-year-old man sitting on a bench. He told us that he was married in the temple 50 years prior. 

Sitting on benches on the temple grounds and reading the dedicatory prayer.

Seth touching the temple.

Headed back to the temple after checking out the cemetery.

Family selfie at the temple.

At that point, the Church sites were open, so we went to Historic Kirtland to tour the Newell Whitney home and store, the ashery, mill and Johnson Inn.

Inside the Whitney home.

Touring the home.

Walking from the Whitney home to the Whitney store on our tour.

Inside the Whitney store.

Inside the store.

Inside the Whitney store.

In kitchen used by Emma Smith in the Whitney store.

Upstairs in the Whitney store: the translation room. The room used as the School of the Prophets is also upstairs in the store.

Outside the store.

In the ashery where they would bring ash gathered from homes and concert it to potash and pearlash.

The sister missionary showing Winnie the process.

Winnie in the ashery.

At the sawmill. When President Hinckley dedicated it and the other newly renovated buildings at Historic Kirtland in 2003, he actually flipped the switch and sawed a log.

The exterior of the Johnson Inn has been restored, and the inside serves as another visitors' center. This painting depicts a time when heavenly hosts appeared to the prophet and the high council. Thomas Grover was among the high council at the time.

We had lunch in the picnic area next to the visitors' center, then drove out to see the nearby Isaac Morley Farm, took a little Kirtland detour to find the land owned by Thomas Grover, then hopped in the car for a 50-minute drive to Hiram, Ohio, to see the John Johnson Farm.

Bekah sporting two pairs of glasses during our picnic lunch at the Kirtland Historic Village picnic area.

Seth and the girls near the land owned by Thomas Grover in Kirtland.

Winnie and Seth at the hippo rock at the Johnson Farm in Hiram. We had to wait a few minutes for the previous tour, so the senior missionary suggested we check out the rock. He told us that the rock had been cleared from the parking lot, but the tractor moving it died, so the rock hasn't been moved any farther.

Inside the Johnson kitchen. Elsa had an oven that allowed her to bake 12 loaves of bread at one time. She also had a lame arm for most of her adult life (her miraculous healing is the first instance of priesthood healing in the restored church), so her husband had built various implements to assist her in the kitchen, including the arm over the oven that allowed her to move pots to and from the fire.

Looking in the bread oven. Also check out the fancy painting on the trim. When the Church started sanding down the layers of paint on the woodwork, they found evidence of this fancy painting.

Seth and Bekah in the front room of the Johnson home where Joseph was dragged the night the mob tarred and feathered him.

Outside the Johnson home.

After touring the farm, we turned back to Painesville for the second night in our hotel. We gave ourselves a little bit of downtime; Ana and Winnie swam in the pool, Bekah and Miri hung out in the room, I did laundry, and Seth ordered a bunch of Chinese takeout. We watched more Olympics as we feasted on fried rice, boxed up the rest of it for later, and called it a day.

Friday, August 6

Drive to Nauvoo.

This was our long day of driving. We ate breakfast at the hotel, packed everything up and loaded it into the car, and drove about 10 hours from Painesville, Ohio, to Nauvoo, Illinois. We were avoiding tolls and (attempting to) avoid big cities (e.g. Chicago), so we drove ride through the middle of Indiana and saw the skyscrapers of Indianapolis. We stopped as a rest stop in Indiana to eat tuna and crackers for lunch.

It was while on the drive that I received six emails informing us that one of our Nauvoo tours had been canceled due to a missionary testing positive for the Delta strain of COVID. I panicked and thought that all of our tours had been canceled, but it was only the Frontier Trades Tour; I had received six emails because there were six of us going on the tour. We wondered how our Nauvoo experience would be adversely affected given the resurgence of COVID.

After a long day of switching off drivers early 2-3 hours, we pulled in to our vacation rental home in Nauvoo, got everyone settled and heated up our leftover Chinese food for dinner. Seth and I walked across the street to buy food from the Dollar General for the next few days, and we all retired to our beds for the night.

An enormous dragonfly on the outside of the home we stayed at in Nauvoo. The girls (and the parents) were amazed at the different bugs we saw on this trip. And the massiveness of some of those bugs. 

Reading scriptures on the floor of the rental home master bedroom. It was a beautiful old home, and it had obviously been added on to and remodeled more than once. My biggest concern was the obvious bowing of the upstairs floors. That first night I didn't sleep very soundly because I was sure we were all going to be crashing down on the ground level sometime during the night.

Saturday, August 7

Nauvoo: Wagon ride, Temple City Tour, Land and Records Building, Sarah Granger Kimball home, Main Street Trades Tour, Sunset on the Mississippi

We woke up in our home, ate cereal for breakfast (a meal we would repeat all four mornings we stayed in that house), and headed west to see historic Nauvoo and start our tours. At all our previous church history site stops, COVID protocols were fairly relaxed. You can see from the pictures above that we weren't overly concerned with wearing masks; usually only Miriam and Winnie would wear them because they are still unvaccinated. (The vaccine hasn't yet been approved for anyone under the age of 12.) But due to the positive test in Nauvoo, protocols were in place and enforced in Nauvoo. We all wore masks every time we entered a building and any time we weren't socially distanced outside. 

Seth working on the laptop in the living room of our rental house.

Ana and Bekah in the bed/bedroom they shared the first two nights. Halfway through our stay there, they switched rooms with the younger girls.

Winnie showing me the giraffe she drew in the room she and Miriam stayed in for the first two nights.

I knew the demand for tours in Nauvoo would be much higher than other places, so I had scheduled them well in advance. However, as I worked and reworked our schedule, I sometimes would reschedule the same tour more than once. I didn't realize until we were already in Nauvoo that I wouldn't always select the right number of people for the rescheduled tour; sometimes we would arrive and give them my name only to find that I had scheduled that tour for one person instead of six. Despite my mistakes, the missionaries always allowed all six of us to go on the tours. That was the case with our first tour: the wagon ride.

Bekah, Ana and Miriam checking out our noble steeds for the wagon ride.

Winnie petting a horse.

Bekah watching the Nauvoo Brass Band ride past in their wagon as we wait for our wagon ride.

Seth, Ana and Bekah on the wagon ride through Nauvoo.

Miri and Andrea on the wagon ride.

After meeting the horses and getting the tour, we met up for the Temple City Tour and got to walk through the Gheen home, the Weeks home, the Jones Pavilion and the Hunter home. Due to COVID, the missionaries had received instructions to do all the talking outside the buildings before leading everyone through quickly so as to minimize our time inside together. 

Touring the Weeks home. William Weeks was the architect of the Nauvoo Temple.

Outside the Weeks home on our tour.

The Jones Pavilion with the temple on the hill.

Walking on the Temple City Tour.

Inside the Hunter home. They had purple pineapples stenciled on wallpaper in their front room. We thought that was interesting.

We headed back to the rental house to drop off the girls and talk to the missionaries at the Land and Records Office. Seth and I gave them a list of about 20 ancestors of ours who spent time in Nauvoo, and they gave us maps of where many of them had owned property either in the city or the surrounding county. We thanked them profusely, then went back to the house for the cheapest meal of our trip: five packages of beef ramen noodles. 

After lunch we had a little time to kill (hello, canceled tour), so we checked out the visitors' center and listened to the Nauvoo Brass Band perform before the girls went on a visual scavenger hunt and earned a Nauvoo brick apiece. We tried looking at the Monument to Women Memorial Garden (it had caution tape all around it), then drove out to the Sarah Granger Kimball home for an unscheduled tour before coming back to go on our Main Street Trades tour where we got to tour the Scovil Bakery, Stoddard Tin Shop and Browning Gun Shop. 

Outside the Scovil Bakery on our Main Street Trades Tour.

Outside the tinsmith.

Heading in to the tinsmith. Bekah is a posing hoser. ;-)

Outside the Browning Gun Shop.

Inside the gun shop.

Family photo outside the gun shop. Jonathan Browning is a great uncle of Seth's.

At the end of the tour, I finally placed the older couple who were there with their kid and grandkids (the gentleman went to school with my dad, and the couple were serving as missionaries at Darby when I was there as stake camp director), so we said hello. They recommended we check out the garden behind the Lyons Drug building, so we did and were not disappointed. The gourd arch was amazing.

The hanging gourds of various sizes and shapes at Lyons Drug.

Seth showing how big the gourd is compared to Winnie.

Seth wanted to check out the outhouse in historic Nauvoo, so we took some pictures.

For dinner we ate frozen pizza at the house, then tried to get custard at Annie's for dessert, but the waffle/custard restaurant was closed. We made a quick stop at a shop for some souvenirs, then assuaged our need for a cold treat by buying ice cream at the Dollar General across the Street.

Miriam eating a slice of frozen pizza with extra pepperoni.

We drove back into historic Nauvoo for the Young Performing Missionaries and Nauvoo Brass Band's performance of Sunset on the Mississippi, and it certainly did not disappoint. After the performance, we went back to the house to sleep.

Waiting for Sunset on the Mississippi to start.

Sunday, August 8

Nauvoo: finding city ancestral lands, quarry, church, temple, cemetery, finding county ancestral lands, Carthage, Community of Christ sites, Trail of Hope

Church didn't start until 10, so we spent the morning driving to all of our ancestors' land holdings in Nauvoo to see them and take pictures. To do that, Seth had taken all the maps the missionaries had given us at the Land and Records Office and compiled everything into one master Google map. Seth drove and I navigated. While we were out, we saw signs for the temple quarry, so we dropped in there as well. We found the land of Warren and Amanda Smith (4 plots), Henry Grow, Thomas and Caroline Grover, Stillman Pond, Freeman and Huldah Nickerson (3 plots), Jacob Strong, Jonathan Hoopes, and James and Drusilla Hendricks (2 plots). The only original house still standing is James and Drusilla's, and Seth had a nice conversation with the lady living there when he asked if we could take a picture. 

An example of the pictures we shot at our ancestor's plots. This was Henry Grow's land in Nauvoo.

At the Nauvoo temple quarry.

Ana thought the trumpets looked like Shrek ears.

Outside James and Drusilla's house in Nauvoo. The part on the right was added later.

We made it to sacrament meeting on time, then spent some time at the temple walking around the grounds. 

Walking around the temple.

Family selfie at the temple.

On the west steps.

Headed out to the sculpture of Joseph and Hyrum leaving Nauvoo for the last time.

Picture by the sculpture.

Family picture at the temple.

The stone that the sculpture rests on was very warm in the sun. They were having a contest to see who could keep his hand there the longest.

Following the temple, we went to the Old Nauvoo Burial Grounds to walk around. We found several toads there.

The memorial at the Old Nauvoo Burial Grounds.

One of the caught toads.

The tiny strawberry we found at the cemetery.

Checking out an old headstone.

Next was lunch at the house (scrambled eggs) followed by an invitation to drive outside of the city to find a cemetery and more land owned by ancestors. The girls all chose to chill at the house, so Seth and I embarked on a hunt. First we went to the Lima cemetery where my ancestor Francis Beckstead is supposedly buried. We searched the entire cemetery and couldn't find a headstone for him. I assume he either didn't have a marker or he had a temporary marker that is no longer standing. After the cemetery, we found the land of Enos and Ruth Curtis, John and Susannah Egbert, Jacob Strong, and Jonathan and Rebecca Hoopes.

At the Lima Cemetery. There was a pile of headstones in the corner, so we searched through them to see if we could find one for Francis Beckstead. We found many bugs, but no headstone.

The land of Jonathan and Rebecca Hoopes in Hancock County.

We got back to the house in time to pick up the girls and drive the half hour to Carthage for our scheduled tour of the jail. When we got to the visitors' center, two other patrons informed us that the missionaries were all in a meeting (they were on a conference call ... we could see through the office window) and they'd be finished and out soon. We started the tour in the building (unlike any of our other tours which all, if you'll recall, took place outside the buildings followed by a quick walkthrough) and went through it masked and socially distanced. Near the end of the tour, the missionary couple told us that we were the only tour that day to be able to tour Carthage in that way; they had been trying to follow the mission president's protocol of doing all the talking outside followed by the walkthrough, but it just wasn't working at Carthage. They had been on the phone with the mission president when we got there, and that's when he had given them the okay to do the tour as normal. We felt extremely blessed to be able to get the regular tour as Carthage turned out to be one of the most emotional and spiritually touching sites for us.

Outside Carthage before the tour.

Getting the tour inside the building.

The room where Joseph and Hyrum were shot. While we were in this room on our tour, it started to thunderstorm outside. It increased the drama.

Seth outside Carthage.

Sculpture of Joseph and Hyrum outside Carthage Jail. Because it started storming, it looked like Joseph was crying.

After Carthage, we went back to the house to play some Apples to Apples followed by a spaghetti dinner and fudge we had bought from the Fudge Factory the day before. (Strawberries and cream was the favorite.) We went back into historic Nauvoo to walk around the Community of Christ properties (again, they were all closed, but we were able to see the outside of buildings and read plaques): the Mansion House, the Smith family cemetery, the Red Brick Store, the Nauvoo House. 

Playing Apples to Apples.

Seth and Winnie reading scriptures. Seth was tucking the hair behind Winnie's ear. I thought it was a tender moment and had to capture it on camera.

Rebekah and Ana being silly with a wet nap at the house during dinner.

Winnie at the Smith family cemetery.

At the Red Brick Store.

Then we watched the Young Performing Missionaries act out vignettes of pioneers who left Nauvoo at the Trail of Hope. Along the way we were mesmerized by the scores of fireflies dotting the night sky. We ended where Parley Street meets the Mississippi River and found the names of several ancestors on the Pioneer Memorial that commemorates those who died before they could reach the Salt Lake valley: Freeman and Huldah Nickerson, several of Stillman Pond's children, Alice Strong's first husband and oldest son. Then it was back to the house for another night's sleep.

Listening to the Young Performing Missionaries as they act out vignettes of saints leaving Nauvoo.

Monday, August 9

Nauvoo: Carriage experience; Homes of the Apostles Tour; Pioneer Trail Tour; drive to Denmark, Iowa; drive to Hamilton

We had a scheduled tour at 10:30, so we tried to squeeze in a couple of experiences before the tour: the Mississippi River, the Lucy Mack Smith home and the Family Living Center. We waded around the river at the end of Parley Street for a while. We had seen the river at night, but the girls hadn't got the chance to see it and be in it during the day. We couldn't get in to the Lucy home since we hadn't scheduled a tour, and the Family Living Center was closed, so instead we walked around Nauvoo for a bit and learned about wheel bugs when Winnie picked one up and decided it was her pet.

Saying hello to the oxen on our way to the end of Parley Street.

Wading in the Mississippi.

Rebekah found a little dead fish and wanted to give it a kiss.

Seth trying to figure out what kind of bug Winnie had found.

It's a wheel bug!

The Carriage Experience took us through the north part of Nauvoo, and then we met at the starting place for our Homes of the Apostles Tour. Monday was the hottest and most humid day of any we spent in Nauvoo. The Homes tour had us walking about a half mile total, stopping at the houses of Orson Hyde, Heber C. Kimball and Wilford Woodruff. COVID protocol was still in place, so we were listening to all the information outside (hopefully in some shade), then getting a quick reprieve in the air conditioned buildings before trekking to the next one. Winnie languished on this tour; the rest of us were hot and sticky. Seth and I had actually met the sister who led this tour two nights before at the Dollar General.

On the carriage ride.

Waiting outside the Wilford Woodruff home for the rest of our Homes tour.

We had planned to eat a picnic lunch in historic Nauvoo after our Homes tour, but we decided to forgo that and head back to the house to cool down inside. We again tried to get custard from Annie's (the sign in the window said they'd be open that day, but no one was there), so we bought more ice cream from the Dollar General.

After lunch we had our Pioneer Trail Tour. Due to the heat index, the mission president gave everyone permission to go back inside the buildings for the tours ... as long as we were masked and socially distanced. We were grateful for the opportunity to get out of the heat, and we were additionally grateful that we could see the indoor demonstration at the blacksmith shop.

Inside Brigham Young's house during the Pioneer Trail Tour.

In the wainwright's shop.

Ana, Miriam and Bekah listening to the missionary at the wainwright shop.

Blacksmithing demonstration. The missionary showed us how to make a tiny horseshoe. Then we each received one to bring home.

We stopped again at the Lucy Mack Smith home to see if we could squeeze in, but another group was touring, so we called our historic Nauvoo experience good. Seth had an ancestor buried half an hour away in Denmark, Iowa, so we drove across the river and found her headstone. Seth promised that the first person to find her headstone would receive our last piece of caramel from the Fudge Factory, so the girls exuberantly searched. Ana found it and won the caramel.

Next to Eliza's headstone.

Seth next to his Eliza Darrow's grave in Denmark, Iowa.

After the cemetery, we went south to Keokuk and crossed the river again into Illinois to eat dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Hamilton. We stuffed ourselves full of tacos, nachos, rice and beans, then went back to the house for our final night's sleep there.

The sun over the Mississippi on our way back to Nauvoo after dinner.

A smiley face drawn by one of our girls on the sliding glass door at our vacation rental. This just goes to show how humid it was outside.

Tuesday, August 10

Drive to Missouri; Adam-ondi-Ahman; Far West; Hawn's Mill; Liberty Jail

After eating one more breakfast at the house and loading up the van, we took off from Nauvoo and drove the 3.5 hours to church sites in Missouri. Things are a little more spread out here, so our first stop was at Adam-ondi-Ahman. I drove the last leg of the journey and parked the rental van at the top of Spring Hill. There is no parking lot there and it's not even a paved road, so I left the key in the van. Then Seth locked the doors, and we all shut them. It wasn't until Winnie went back to the van to look for something that we realized what had happened. There is not a whole lot in the way of civilization around this site, so we did our best to find someone who could come unlock it. Seth thought of calling a towing company rather than a locksmith (there were no listed locksmiths for many miles), so we got to spend more time at Spring Hill than we anticipated as we waited for our heroes to show up and jimmy the lock. 

As Seth was talking to the tow company office assistant on the phone, he tried to describe where we where. He told her we were at Spring Hill, since that it was shows up on Google Maps at that location. The lady had never heard of it. He tried telling her the names of the two unpaved roads that intersect at the hill. Then she said, "Wait. Are you at Adam-ondi-Ahman?" "Yes," Seth told her. "Well, why didn't you say so!" she exclaimed. "I figured you wouldn't know the secret Mormon code," Seth jokingly told her. She thought that was hilarious and had to put the phone down while she laughed uproariously.

We paid the guys who came the cash we had. (I had thought I had $50 in my wallet, but we must have broken the $10 somewhere. The girls added a few ones and we ended up paying them $47.) Then we drove the rest of the way to Tower Overlook.

Checking out the signage at Spring Hill before we realized the keys were locked in the van.

Sitting outside the locked van at Spring Hill.

We listened to thunder as we headed down to the overlook and then took a trail farther away so we could make a small detour around a cornfield and see the Grand River. Home Duncan, my ancestor, was baptized in the Grand River at Adam-ondi-Ahman. It started to rain on us by the time we got back to the van, so instead of eating outside at the picnic tables, we ate hardboiled eggs in the car as the heavens dumped on us.

Family photo at Adam-ondi-Ahman.

Walking along the road to get to the river.

Andrea and Winnie at the Grand River. Winnie was sad because she had just gotten poked by thorns getting through the underbrush to the river. 

Our next stop was Far West where we took time to look around the temple site before driving to Hawn's Mill. The rain stopped before we got there, but it had left its mark on the unpaved roads, so we stopped the van before the parking area and walked the rest of the way. (We figured it wouldn't be wise to need to call a tow company twice in one day.) 

At Far West.

One of the Far West Temple cornerstones.

Walking through the field at Hawn's Mill. Rebekah's assigned ancestors were here during the massacre. Warren Smith died in the blacksmith shop.

At Hawn's Mill.

The rental van parked in the road on the way to Hawn's Mill. We saw many frogs here. Seth dubbed them "eep frogs" because when surprised, they would say, "Eep!" and jump into the water.

After Hawn's Mill, we went to the Liberty Jail and had a tour there. 

Winnie looking at the front side of the Liberty Jail.

Family photo at Liberty Jail.

I had assumed we would have time to see the Independence temple site and visitors' center this day as well, but our delay at Adam-ondi-Ahman caused us to reevaluate our plans. Instead we checked in to our hotel (a Comfort Inn in Kansas City and our least favorite hotel of the trip), realized that a mistake had been made and we only had two queen beds in our room instead of the three we had booked, found out that the mistake was Alaska Air's and that they could find us a replacement room in Kansas City in 2-4 hours, decided we'd keep the room and have them redeem us some of our miles, and found a place to eat. This time we decided to try Creole, and it was the favorite of the trip. Our po boys (some with catfish, some with shrimp, some with tamer meats) were delicious.

We made up a bed on the floor for Miriam and Winnie, and settled down for the night. (The next morning we found ants crawling all through our empty takeout boxes. Another reason we disliked this hotel.)

Ana on the bed and Miriam and Winnie on the floor at the hotel.

Wednesday, August 11

Cemetery; Independence temple site, visitors' center; drive to Council Bluffs, Iowa; Kanesville Tabernacle; drive to Winter Quarters; visitors' center, cemetery and temple

Since we hadn't seen all there is to see in Missouri the day before and since our next stop outside of Missouri didn't open until noon, we were able to squeeze in several sites before leaving the state. Our first stop: the Mound Grove cemetery. At the cemetery is a memorial for those who died at Zion's Camp, and Seth has an ancestor who did such. We tracked the memorial down and then went to Independence.

Zion's Camp memorial.

The Zion's Camp memorial with Ana pointing to their ancestor's name.

At Independence we parked the car at the visitors' center, then went across the street to walk around the Community of Christ temple. Then we crossed another street to see the Independence temple site. Then we crossed two more streets to be back at the visitors' center for a tour there.

Across the street from the Community of Christ temple.

The girls thought the spire looked a lot like a unicorn horn.

Seth outside the Community of Christ temple.

At the Independence temple site.

At the Independence visitors' center.

We jumped back in the van and headed north toward Council Bluffs, Iowa. On the way we stopped in Thurmon, Iowa, for a picnic lunch at the tiny city park, then we hunted for Seth's ancestor in the cemetery. Despite our very best efforts (an hour of searching in high heat and humidity), we were again unable to find a headstone, and we determined that John William Spidel must have either not had a grave marker or had a temporary grave marker that no longer stands. 

We continued to the Kanesville Tabernacle and went on a tour there. The building has been declared unsafe, so we stood just barely inside the doors and then watched a video in the visitors' center. We saw the name of William Doris Hendricks, Seth's ancestor who served in the Mormon Battalion, and many great-uncles names who also served, on a plaque. 

Walking to the tabernacle.

Outside the Kanesville Tabernacle.

William Hendricks' name on a Mormon Battalion roster.

Winnie making shadow puppets during the video we watched in the visitors' center.

Our last church site stop was the Winter Quarters visitors' center, cemetery and temple. The sister who led the tour did a tremendous job, and we had our run of the place because we were the only visitors there until almost the very end. 

"Sleeping" in the allocated berths for a family on a voyage from England to America during the late 1800s.

Sister Richardson leading us through the visitors' center while Winnie looks for items on her scavenger hunt.

Thomas Grover's name on Brigham Young's vanguard company register.

Miriam pushing a handcart in the visitors' center.

Winnie looking at the baby lying in his grave at the Winter Quarters cemetery memorial.

Walking around the temple.

We finally found a live cicada! It was outside the Winter Quarters Temple.

Outside the temple. (Winnie is holding the cicada.)

We walked through the cemetery and around the temple, then picked up some falafel and kabob at a Greek restaurant before going to our hotel (Hampton Inn and Suites in Omaha and our favorite hotel). After dinner Miriam, Ana, Winnie and I swam in the hotel pool while Seth took the car out to give it a wash (remember the unpaved roads in Missouri?) and gas it up and Bekah chilled in the room. We retired for the night looking forward to being in our own beds the next day.

Thursday, August 12

Fly to Salt Lake City, Utah; cemeteries in Farmington and Kaysville; drive home

We woke up early (although not as early as we had in Salt Lake), packed our bags for the last time and left the hotel in time to drop off the rental van and go through security at the Omaha airport. Our security experience was worlds apart from Salt Lake. Rather than one checkpoint for everyone to pass through, they have checkpoints at various points. We didn't have to wait in line at all and the personnel was kinder, although Seth's bag got checked again (poker chips) and mine was checked and the bug spray confiscated.

The sunrise at the Omaha aiport.

Waiting to board our flight.

Boarding was fine, takeoff was fine, landing was fine. We had a bit of a struggle contacting our Salt Lake hotel to get the shuttle to come and transport us back to our van, but after a few tries, we managed.

We stopped three times on the way home: once in Farmington to see Thomas Grover's grave, once in Kaysville to see Emma and William Strong's grave, and once in Layton to eat lunch at Mo Bettah's. 

Looking at Thomas' headstone in Farmington.

Posing next to Thomas.

Posing next to Emma and William's headstones in Kaysville. They were both born in Utah, but I'd never been to their cemetery, so we made a stop anyway.

We came home to find everything in its place and well cared for. The girls were excited to see Peach again, and all of us were excited to see our own beds and bedrooms again.