Not only are family members allowed to visit Nauvoo and see their young performing missionaries, but they are encouraged to do so. Knowing this, we planned a road trip around those intentions and mixed in some American history and more Church history.
Thursday, July 4
I woke up at 5:30 to take my parents to the airport who were leaving on their own church history trip the same day we left town. After coming back home, we all made sandwiches for lunch and then Seth and I returned to the airport to pick up our rental van: a Chrysler Pacifica. We would have just driven our own van to Jackson for our flight, but the cost of parking there was ridiculous; it would have cost more for us to drive our van and park it there than it did for us to rent a van to drive from I.F. to Jackson. We finished packing, loading, eating breakfast with the girls, then left home. We quickly learned that we had to be stopped to pair phones to the van and got to drive over the temporary road in the Jackson Pass (the old road had been washed out by a mudslide about a month earlier), but otherwise the drive was uneventful. Since it was July 4th, there was a ton of traffic and people in downtown Jackson heading for a parade. Once we got out of the downtown, the traffic cleared.
The airport was smaller than a huge international airport; it had only one restaurant and about 10 gates. We waited to board, checked our bags when they asked for some, then quickly got on the plane to stay on schedule. The flight was uneventful; the three girls sat together and watched their shows.
We arrived in Chicago, got our bags and our rental, which turned out to be a Dodge Durango with less room for bags. We had to put down part of the backseat for luggage. Driving out of Chicago was stressful due to the crazy interchanges and amount of traffic, but as we got farther away from the big city, things settled down. We drove to Bloomington, two hours from Chicago, and ate a family bundle of chicken tenders and sides (Cajun fries, Mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, biscuits) at Popeyes. Then we drove another hour to our hotel, Comfort Inn and Suites in Springfield with two queens and a sofa bed in separate rooms and went to sleep for the night. The lady at the front desk told us we might be able to see the fireworks from our room, but we didn't even try.
We discovered that our Pacifica had cameras in the cabin so you could check on your kids. Ana took advantage of the overhead camera.
Winnie hiding in the front seat of the van in Jackson as we stop to gas up. She was playing a trick on Seth.
Waiting for our flight in the Jackson airport.
Three girls on a plane.
Ana and her senior project (the top part of her crocheted prom dress inspired by Van Gogh's "Starry Night") on the plane. She had lots of time to crochet on the flight and our car rides.
On the train at the Chicago airport headed to our rental pickup.
In the Durango on our way to Springfield.
Eating dinner at Popeyes.
Friday, July 5
I woke up at 5:30 and did Wordle and Duolingo until about 7:30. Then the rest of the family got up, dressed and ate breakfast at the hotel. We left about 8:40 and drove to the Lincoln House visitor center. I thought the visitor center opened at 8:30 to get tickets for the tour, but it actually didn't open until 9. We walked around the Lincoln neighborhood until after 9, then went into the visitor center and got tickets for the 9:20 tour. We looked around in the visitor center and the gift shop for a few minutes, and I bought some peppermint gibraltars to share with the family and Miriam bought a Route 66 pocket watch. My purchases almost made us late to the start of the tour, but Ranger Matt was patient. First we went into the theater and got some instructions, then we walked over to the original Lincoln home. It's not a reproduction, it's the original home and a lot of the original furniture and walls, so we were told not to lean against any walls or door frames. After the tour, we walked through a couple of the other houses that had displays about Lincoln and his neighbors. Then we got back in the car and drove to the parking garage outside the Lincoln Museum and Library.
First we watched the movie about Lincoln's eyes. We were expecting just a short documentary, but this was an amazing experience with shaking seats, multiple screens and protectors, etc. Then we walked through a couple of galleries, one on the Poor People's Campaign during the Civil Rights Movement and one on Lincoln. Then we watched a video about library ghosts that totally blew us away. We couldn't tell if the character in the presentation was a live actor lip syncing to the dialogue and hitting every mark for the special effects or a prerecorded video (the internet says it's an actor), then went through journey one about Lincoln's time before the presidency and journey two about his time in the White House and his death. The museum was an incredible experience.
We walked a couple blocks to a pizza shop that was closed. We walked completely around the block to find three other restaurants that were closed (maybe because of the Fourth of July weekend?). We finally settled for sandwiches at Jimmy John's. Then we walked back to the library to see the couple of exhibits there (a few sculptures and some info about Lincoln's letters) before driving to Lincoln's tomb. We listened to a "porch talk" about the restoration of Lincoln's tomb, viewed the tomb, then drove around the big, old cemetery before going back to the hotel.
The girls swam in the pool (we told Ana that if anyone asks, she's 18 instead of 17 and therefore a supervising adult) while Seth and I drove three minutes to Walmart to buy groceries. We came back, the girls finished swimming, we all ate dinner (Hot Pockets, bagged salad and a bad fruit tray ... more on that in a minute). The girls and I started watching Help, a corny Beatles movie (Ana's current obsession is the Beatles) while Seth returned the fruit.
Here's the story of the bad fruit: The best buy date wasn't until July 11, but the fruit was starting to ferment; it was fizzy. Seth read the package that said you only needed the package to return the product, so he dumped the fruit on the garbage and drove to the store. They refused to refund him the money because of the missing fruit. He came back, dug some of the fruit out of the garbage and returned. They still weren't going to refund him, but he held his ground until the manager's manager came, tore and sniffed the fruit and told them to give him his money. We were baffled by the trouble he had to go to. The person working at customer service had such a bad attitude.
After getting our $8 back for the bad fruit, we finished watched the Beatles and went to bed at our Springfield hotel for the second and last night.
Seth, Ana and Miriam touching some of the artifacts on display at the Lincoln Home visitors' center. (The sign said to touch them.)
Inside the Lincoln home.
Winnie and Miriam holding hands and walking through the Lincoln neighborhood.
Looking at a Lincoln mask at the Lincoln Museum.
Ana and I made sure to wear our cool Lincoln shirts and get a good photo at the museum.
Getting ready to see the second video presentation at the museum.
Lunch at Jimmy John's.
Outside the Lincoln tomb.
Inside the Lincoln tomb.
The girls playing in the pool.
Saturday, July 6
We woke up, ate breakfast, packed up and left the hotel, driving 2.5 hours to Nauvoo. As we pulled into Historic Nauvoo, we spotted the bandwagon and the band playing at the Singing Tree. Seth hurriedly parked the car (and accidentally left it running in our rush), and we all ran over to see Rebekah. She wasn't expecting to see us that morning, so it was quite the surprise. She almost missed her cue to play more tuba. As soon as the song was over, she dropped the tuba and ran over to hug us, then ran back to play more. They played her arrangement of the Muppet theme song, with the special guest of "your mom." I took that to be a your mom joke, but it was supposed to be "your (Rebekah's) mom," so that was quite the honor. We saw Olivia Bird Whitmore (her parents live in our ward) and her two kids and husband there as well. Her daughter was very interested in one of the French horns, so that horn player was letting her push the buttons and check out the instrument. It was very cute.
We stayed until the end of the concert, said goodbye to Rebekah and hurried over to the carriage ride I had scheduled on the way down. Then we looked through the visitors' center and Women's Garden before eating a picnic lunch (Nutella Uncrustables, apples and snap peas) before playing games at Pioneer Pastimes and touring the gun shop, tin smith and post office. While at the last tour, I got a text from my parents on their church history trip. They were supposed to leave Palmyra and drive to Harmony, Pennsylvania, that day to see the Priesthood Restoration site. Instead, they spent the day driving to a different Harmony, Pennsylvania, texted me about where they were supposed to be going, then found out they were 4 hours away. So instead they spent the entire day driving and didn't see any sites.
We had scheduled an appointment to do baptisms for the dead at the Nauvoo Temple months prior, so we did that and then got to go up the spiral staircase to see the assembly hall. After leaving the building, we saw a giant frog on the temple grounds that Seth named Iris, then we went to our Airbnb. The host was there still furiously cleaning the place. She lives 6-7 hours away and totaled her car hitting a deer on the way to prep it for us. It was a little weird and awkward running into her there because most of our other experiences with Airbnbs we haven't ever met the host. But we changed clothes, went to dinner with Rebekah and her companion at the Red Front (hamburgers, tots, soft serve ice cream), then did some shopping at the Dollar General. After buying food for the next few days, we dropped off the groceries (the host was still there cleaning), then went to the Sunset on the Mississippi pre-show, which is the big, fun concert the band puts on before the main show with the stage missionaries, then we saw the actual Sunset on the Mississippi show and then headed over to the Trail of Hope to see Rebekah's quintet playing. After a good long day of seeing the sights, we said goodnight, went back to Airbnb (the host was finished and gone), and went to bed.
Winnie, Ana and Miriam eating breakfast at the hotel.
Rebekah on the bandwagon.
On our carriage ride.
Saying hello to our trusty steeds.
The Women's Garden outside the visitors' center.
Seth eating his string cheese like a maniac.
Pioneer pasttimes.
You pulled on the ropes to get the wooden bear to climb.
Playing with sticks and hoops.
And stilts.
Outside the gunsmith. Seth's great uncle is Jonathan Browning.
Outside the temple after doing baptisms.
Iris the frog.
Family selfie + Iris.
Picture outside the Red Front after eating lunch with Rebekah and Sister Frei.
Rebekah performing during Sunset on the Mississippi.
Seth swaying to the music at Sunset with Ana.
Talking to Rebekah and her tuba.
Dancing during Sunset.
Winnie and Seth dancing.
Rebekah on stage at the end of Sunset.
Seth listening to Rebekah's quintet during Trail of Hope.
Playing with her quintet at Trail of Hope.
Sunday, July 7
We woke up at 6:30 so we could get ready and go to church with Rebekah at 8 a.m. We had thought that families were not allowed to attend church with the missionaries, but apparently that rule has changed because we were invited not only by Rebekah but also by her band director. We attended church in one of the visitors' center theaters. It was fast and testimony meeting, and a lot of missionaries wanted to share their testimony so we ended about 10 minutes late. Rebekah's companion Sister Frei was the pianist for sacrament meeting, and she chose one of the brand new hymns for us to sing: "It Is Well with My Soul." It's the first time that we were able to sing one of the new hymns in church and it was lovely.
We talked about maybe going to the old Pioneer cemetery or driving around to see ancestors' property in Nauvoo, but it was rainy so instead we went back to the Airbnb and chilled for a while and then packed a picnic lunch and drove to Carthage to be there when the tour opened at noon. We got to tour the jail and then ate our tuna fish and crackers in a corner of the lawn before driving back to Nauvoo.
At that point we parked down by the newly acquired properties and toured the Joseph and Emma home and the Mansion House and then went over to the Red Brick Store. But while we were in the Joseph and Emma house, there was a cloudburst. The sisters weren't sure what to do because we were supposed to go to the Mansion House when we were finished with the home as per the tour, but it was pouring rain. In the end, our group collectively decided to chance it in the rain, so we bolted across the road and got soaked in the process. The sister that was leading us had to fumble with the keys for a while, so a few people were huddled on the porch while she worked on getting the home unlocked. We felt bad for dripping on the wood floors, but what else could we do? The rain had stopped by the time we were done in that building, so we walked over to the Red Brick Store for that tour. When we were finished there, it had started raining again but not nearly as hard, so we walked back to the car getting a little wetter and then went back to the Airbnb so we could all change out of our wet things before going back to the visitors' center.
We had gotten tickets that morning to go to the young performing missionaries' Sunday concert, "Love of the Savior," at 3:45. We got to listen to that concert and see Rebekah play trombone and euphonium and sing with the entire group. It was a very sweet and touching concert. My favorite song was "By the Riverside" because it featured a beautiful euphonium part.
At that point all the tours were closed for the day, so we went back to the house and had grilled cheese sandwiches and canned soup for dinner while doing some laundry so that our wet clothes didn't sit and get stinky. We had planed on going to Trail of Hope so Rebekah could be our tour guide that evening, but they moved Trail of Hope inside due to the weather. When Trail is inside, you don't have tour guides, so we wouldn't have been able to spend time with Rebekah anyway. So instead we stayed at the Airbnb and had a chill night watching the rest of the Beatles movie help and an episode of The Chosen.
Miriam and Ana talking to Rebekah in the visitors' center theater after church.
Listening inside Carthage.
Outside Carthage.
Eating lunch on the lawn outside the jail.
Heading into the Joseph and Emma Smith home.
Soggy people in the Mansion House.
Rebekah singing during "Love of the Savior."
Watching the Beatles movie in our Airbnb.
Ana taking a picture of the sunset from the front window of the Airbnb.
Monday, July 8
We set our alarm for 6:45 so we could be a Nauvoo in time to watch them bring the horses in for their morning feed and for half of them to get harnessed. It was pretty amazing how they all came in a line and would come when they were called so they could go to their specific stalls and eat their food. We watched Nephi and Ben get harnessed, then we got a text from Rebekah who was on her p-day saying that the missionaries were frolicking at a park and we could come see her there. We drove over there and watched her throw frisbee, but when she saw us coming she came over and talked to us for the rest of her frolic time.
Then we went into Old Town Nauvoo and toured the Scoville Bakery and the Cultural Hall, then we went to the Family Living Center and watched a demonstration on brick making before getting on our wagon ride. After the wagon ride, we went back to the Family Living Center and learned about weaving, barrel making and candle making. Then we did the print shop and John Taylor home tours followed by the blacksmith and wainwright tour. I drove into Dollar General to get more food, then came home and ate frozen pot pies for lunch.
After lunch the girls opted to stay at the Airbnb to nap and watch movies while Seth and I went on the Homes of the Apostles tour and saw the Patty Sessions and Mary Garner cabins. Then we recreated a photo we took last time in Nauvoo of Seth pretending to go into the outhouse behind the cabin before touring the Sarah Granger Kimball home. Then we went back to the Airbnb thinking it was time for Rebekah to do her weekly p-day call, but then we realized that we are in the same time zone as her and it wouldn't be happening for a little while. That turned out to be okay because then we got some downtime before dinner and the phone call.
Then we talked to Rebekah while we got dinner ready and ate. That night we had taquitos and refried beans for dinner. Then we went into town and thought we could quickly pick up some of Annie's Frozen Custard and fudge for a couple of desserts, and we thought we'd do some souvenir shopping. As it turned out, there were only two young girls working at Annie's, and they were totally swamped making salads and taking orders from everyone. It took a total of 40 minutes before we ordered and received our custard. While some of the family waited in line to order, Ana, Miriam and I walked over to the fudge shop, bought fudge, and returned before they had even reached the front of the line.
So instead of eating our custard while we souvenir shop and then going to Sunset on the Mississippi, we waited a very long time for our custard and ate it on our way to Sunset ... and were still late. But we still got to see most of the pre-show and then the full show. Because we were late to the pre-show, we got seats much closer to the back this time. There's one point in the show when the band all jumps off the stage and they run out in the audience and say hi to people, so the first time we went to Sunset Rebekah ran over and said hi to us because we were really close to the front. This time she had to run all the way to the back to see us for half a second and then run all the way back up to the front. As she was running, the mouthpiece of her tuba fell out and hit the pavement without her realizing it. She got back up on stage and then the band went to play the last few notes of the song. That's when Rebekah discovered her missing mouthpiece and couldn't play those final notes. I wish I had recorded it. It was so funny, the look on her face. But then as soon as the song was over, one of the other sisters handed her the mouthpiece that she had picked up on her way back up to the stage.
After the show, we said goodbye to Rebekah for a minute before going over to the British Pageant rehearsal. It started at 8:30, but we weren't sure how long it would go. It didn't finish until after 10, so everybody was very tired by the time we finished up with that made it back to the Airbnb. Poor Winnie needed to use the bathroom toward the end of the pageant, but I thought it was nearly finished and I didn't know where there were any bathrooms set up nearby. In the end, she had to hold it for a long time because when the pageant finally did end and we went over to where we knew there were some public restrooms, they were locked up for the night. So she had to wait till we made it all the way back to the Airbnb.
Getting ready to see the horses brought in to be fed and harnessed.
Family selfie with Rebekah at the park during her frolic time.
Rebekah talking about the Nauvoo Legion flag during the Brass Band Ceremony.
Upstairs at the Cultural Hall.
Ana on the wagon ride.
Miri and Winnie on the wagon ride.
Winnie learning to weave a rug at the Family Living Center.
Seth taking a rest on a bench at the Family Living Center.
Ana learning to card wool.
Miriam and the barrel she constructed.
Seth clearing off the cement marker on Stillman Pond's property.
The original and the recreation of the picture of Seth by the outhouse in Nauvoo.
Talking to Rebekah after Sunset.
Getting ready to watch the British Pageant rehearsal.
Tuesday, July 9
Seth and I had an early morning. We woke up at 6 and made sure we were outside the temple by 6:30 to meet Rebekah and her companion to do and endowment session. The Nauvoo Temple only had one early morning endowment session on Tuesdays, so that was the one day that we could go and be there with Rebekah. It was a lovely session, and Nauvoo Temple is when were you advance through different rooms: the creation, the garden room, the world room and the terrestrial room before going to the celestial room. Rebekah and her companion had to dash pretty quickly after the session, but they showed us where there is a hallway of artifacts from the original number temple which includes few original pieces of temple clothing and keys.
Then we went back to our Airbnb and got the girls so that we could go into historic Nauvoo and watch the Brass Band Ceremony at 9:30. There members of the band played and talked about the origins of the Brass Band in a little script and ceremony that they have prepared. We watch that just north of the Cultural Hall, then they loaded up on the bandwagon and set off through historic Nauvoo. Then we went back to the Family Living Center because Winnie really wanted to make some rope after she saw another family do it the day before. After making rope, we he toured Lyons' Drug and walked through the gardens behind. There weren't as many gourds growing as the last time we were there, but we still enjoyed going under the gourd arch. Then we walked down to the Singing Tree watched a stage missionary vignette called "Youth of Zion" and then waited for the Brass Band to show up and perform their concert at the Singing Tree. We toured the Reiser Boot Shop, then went back to the Airbnb for spaghetti with alfredo sauce and peas for lunch.
After lunch, we drove over to the oxen experience. This is the new one for us as I was never sure where it was last time we were there, or maybe it was closed to due to COVID. We got to pet Tom and Tim and learn that the ox is merely a regular cow that has been trained to pull. Then we got to have a little oxen ride in a wagon.
Then we went on the Temple City tour and to the Temple Building Pavilion or we got to try sawing and chiseling limestone. Then we went back to the visitor center' to watch the William Pitt and the Nauvoo Brass Band concert and one of the theaters there. Previously this event has been ticketed, but it hasn't been lately. My guess is that not many people know about a concert because most the people who were there I think were related to the band members. But it was still fun and good. We talked to Rebekah and Sister Frei for a while after the concert and found out that we could save seats for the pageant that night, so we went over to the pageant stage and learned about that process: you cut off a piece of twine and thread some name tags through it and then just tie them along the chairs that you want. We had talked to my parents and found out that they would be there in time for the pageant, so we saved nine seats: one for each of the members of our family plus Rebekah and her companion who got to sit and watch it with us plus Grandma and Grandpa. Then we walk down the Trail of Hope and read the signs along the way and stopped at the Pioneer Memorial right by the Mississippi to find names of family members who passed away along the journey to salt Lake.
Then we went back to the Airbnb for some chill time and packing time and dinner time. Grandma and Grandpa Scott showed up right after we did, so we were able to share our frozen pizza and broccoli with them and they shared some apples with us and we all ate dinner together. Then we drove back into watch Sunset on the Mississippi for the third time. Our family got there before the pre-show started, but Grandma and Grandpa came in just a few minutes after it started. We watched that and then refilled our water bottles and made a pit stop before getting situated at the pageant. Miriam and Ana got to see the bagpipe band and the Brass Band playing before the pageant. Then the Brass Band played "The Star-Spangled Banner" to open the pageant. After they were finished playing, Rebekah and Sister Frei were able to come sit by us as we all watch the pageant together. This is the last time that we would be seeing Rebekah, so we all hugged her and told her we loved her and goodbye. Then we came home and got to bed around 11.
Andrea and Seth outside the temple after doing an endowment session with Rebekah and her companion.
Winnie making rope.
In the gourd arch outside Lyons' Drug.
Rebekah on the bandwagon again.
At our oxen experience.
During the Temple City tour.
Ana chiseling limestone.
Winnie at the Temple Building Pavilion.
Miriam lifting a temple block.
Miriam, Winnie and Ana waving flags during the William Pitt concert.
Talking to Rebekah after William Pitt.
By the Mississippi.
Winnie with one of the many, many mayflies we saw in Nauvoo.
Rebekah playing during Sunset.
Dancing along to the chicken song during Sunset.
Ana holding Rebekah's phone with her music on it while the band plays with the bagpipers.
Ana, Rebekah and Miriam with the band before the pageant.
Group picture with grandparents after the Nauvoo Pageant.
Winnie in bed at the Airbnb.
Ana in the bottom bunk. She had her own room at the Airbnb until Grandma and Grandpa showed up, but then she had to relinquish it so they could sleep there.
Wednesday, July 10
We set our alarms for 7 a.m. so that we could get up, shower, eat breakfast, and load all of our luggage into the rental car. We finished up our cereal and I made some oatmeal that we found in the cupboard to supplement our breakfast. Grandma and Grandpa Scott came down to see us off. They stayed at the Airbnb one more night while we traveled to South Dakota.
This was our big 10-hour day of driving. Instead of going kind of diagonal to our next destination, we traveled north and then west so that we could say that we had been to Minnesota. It would have only added about 8 minutes to our trip, except at one point we ended up going the wrong way and then having to backtrack and that added about 40 minutes extra to our trip. We stopped at a rest stop just barely over the Minnesota border to eat lunch. We had brought lunch meats and cheese and crackers. We stopped at a couple of gas stations along the way so the girls could pick out drinks. I had to get myself some Dr. Pepper because I had a tired headache and I was too tired to drive. The caffeine worked wonderfully and I stayed alert and headache free for the rest of the drive.
About an hour before Murdo, South Dakota (our destination for the night), we stopped in Champlain, South Dakota, for some dinner. I had read about a place called The Smoking Mule that seemed to have good reviews. We ordered our dinner and found it to be satisfactory but not life-changing. Then we got back in the car and continued on our way.
Murdo turned out to be a very tiny town in the middle of nowhere with a limited selection in hotels. We stayed at the Sioux Motel. It did have three separate bedrooms and three separate queen beds, but the main room with one of the beds and the bathroom attached to it did not have an air conditioner. Seth and I slept in that bed so that he had easy access to the bathroom in the night without having to walk past any of the girls. The others all slept comfortably, but the two of us were a little warm.
Miriam while on our 10-hour drive.
At the rest stop in Minnesota where we ate our picnic lunch. The mosquitos were horrendous there.
Dinner at The Smoking Mule.
Thursday, July 11
I woke up shortly after 5 in the morning and was unable to go back to sleep, so I worked on the Wordle and other puzzles in bed and read until 7. At that point, Seth woke up and we tried going to the nearby grocery store to pick up some things for breakfast because this hotel did not include breakfast. It turned out that the only grocery store in town was very tiny and did not open until 9 in the morning, so we turned around and went back to the truck stop that was in town. Seth gassed up the rental car while I went inside and picked out some strawberry and cream cheese muffins and some banana muffins along with some orange juice for our breakfast. We went back to the hotel and woke up the girls so they could get dressed and eat . Then we loaded everything back up into the rental car and left the hotel.
Early on in the stages of planning the trip, I wasn't sure if we were going to try to go to Devil's Tower which required us to go a little bit out of our way and then backtrack, so I had tried to find something that would be fun for us to do that morning nearby. I had found that in Midland, South Dakota, there is an 1880 town that you can pay to get into and walk around. Since that time, I had decided that we would go to Devil's Tower, so we decided to not go to the 1880 town.
We drove to Rapid City, South Dakota, so we could stop at the Walmart and pick up groceries for a couple of picnic meals on our trip. Then we continued on to Devil's Tower and got there around noon. We went into the visitors' center, hiked the 1.3 mi trail around the base of Devil's Tower stopping to read informational signs and take pictures along the way, then we parked down at the picnic area and ate a couple of hoagies that we had bought at Walmart and then pulled over long enough to see the prairie dog town on our way out. It was very, very hot that day.
Then we drove to Crazy Horse Memorial. We could have spent more time walking around and seeing all of the cool artifacts they have there, but we still had places to go and we were starting to get tired. We did spend a good amount of time looking at the monuments and watching the informational video. Ana especially seemed impressed with the memorial and enjoyed learning about it. After Crazy Horse, we drove to Keystone, South Dakota, and checked into our hotel and ate pizza from Cruizzers. Seth worried that we wouldn't have enough for everyone, so we ordered two pizzas (one cheese and one Canadian bacon) ... and ended up with one full pizza left over.
The Quality Inn and Suites room was the best of the trip: it had two queens and a king bed as well as a mini kitchen with dishes and burners. There was even a huge Jacuzzi, but it was out in the open. 😂 They had parking on a second level; the ramp up to it was short and steep. It made us all very nervous going up and down, but it worked!
After some consideration and determining whether we wanted to juggle our schedule around and fit Mount Rushmore in in the morning, we decided we should just go there that evening. We decided we were just going to go right that minute, so we jump back in the car and drove the 8 minutes to the monument. I saw it last in 2001 and I remember being a little underwhelmed with it, so it was a little worried about taking the family there. But honestly, it was more impressive than I remembered and everyone seemed to enjoy it. We walked down to the observation point that's below the Avenue of the Flags. Miriam, Winnie, and Seth went back the way they came but Ana and I went around the longer way so that we could take a peek at the compressor they have in case in a little shed with some information about it and take a look in the sculpture studio. There was a ranger getting ready to give a talk, but we didn't want to stay and listen to it so we went back up the stairs and met them and headed back to the hotel.
On the way back to our lodgings, Seth was pulled over by a couple of park rangers. The male explained that Seth had been following too closely going down the hill according to South Dakota law, and he crossed the line a couple of times. Seth assured him he hadn't had anything to drink (and taught the ranger what the word teetolar means ... the man was skeptical that Seth had never had a drink 😂), then we continued on our way.
Seth took Winnie to the pool while the rest of us took turns showering, and we all ate the fudge we had bought in Nauvoo. Then we went to sleep.
On the trail around the base of Devil's Tower.
Family selfie at Devil's Tower.
Winnie checking out the sculpture at the picnic area where we ate lunch by Devil's Tower.
Looking through the museum at Crazy Horse.
Looking at the Crazy Horse model.
The actual Crazy Horse in progress.
Andrea and Ana in our cool Lincoln shirts at Mount Rushmore.
Family selfie at Mount Rushmore.
Walking back to the car after seeing Mount Rushmore.
Winnie lying at the bottom of the hot tub at our hotel.
Friday, July 12
Unfortunately the nicest hotel room on our trip also turned out to be the noisiest when the people above our room started dribbling basketballs or something at 6 a.m. It woke some of the others up, but between the white noise and my earplugs, I slept until 7 for the first and only time on the trip. We got up and ate breakfast, then packed up our stuff and headed out of the hotel.
We drove for nearly 4 hours to get to Casper. The drive was pretty uneventful, but we could see the landscape changing from the somewhat dry South Dakota with rolling hills to desert and sagebrush in Wyoming. When we got to Casper, we use some coordinates to find the museum with outside exhibits to see the replica of the ferry that Thomas Grover had built for Brigham Young's vanguard company in 1847. We took pictures by the ferry and walked down to see the Sweetwater River. On our way back to the car, I saw a sign that said we should pay admission inside the museum to see the outdoor stuff. We didn't do that because we were only there for a few minutes and we were only there to see one small part of it.
Then we drove to a restaurant for lunch. After listing off choices, Winnie said that Chinese sounded good, so we drove to one Chinese restaurant that was really close to us. When we found out it was closed, we drove into downtown Casper to eat at another Chinese restaurant. It was really good and everyone enjoyed it. Before jumping back into the car, we made one short little stop at a yarn shop so Ana could look around for a minute. Then we drove another hour to Martin's Cove.
We talked to some of the missionaries there and heard about the history of Martin's Cove and the timeline of the Saints being there. We also learned about the Sun Ranch that was privately owned and operated for about a hundred years before the Church took it over. We could have walked the 5-mile loop back into the Cove, but it was almost 100 degrees outside, so we only walked the half mile to Devil's Gate. We had assumed that all the Saints had walked through Devil's Gate, but we learned that the Sweetwater goes through it and it's not a good place to take wagons and oxen through so instead the pioneers would go through Rattlesnake Pass. We found the names of the Walshes (my great-grandma's family) on a list of members of the Martin Handcart Company and took our picture there before getting back in the car and driving another hour and a half to Riverton, Wyoming.
We checked into our last hotel of the trip: the Paintbrush Motel. It was definitely an older and more rundown motel, but it was the only one in the city I could find with a triple bed. We ate our leftover pizza from Keystone for dinner and watched I Am Legend before going to bed.
Seth standing guard outside the bathroom in Casper, Wyoming, while Winnie uses it. The women's side was closed.
At the Thomas Grover ferry replica in Casper.
The ferry.
The Sweetwater.
Ana in the yarn shop in downtown Casper.
Pointing to the name of our ancestor Alice Fish Bury Walsh on the list of members of the Martin Handcart Company.
By Devil's Gate.
Saturday, July 13
The last leg of our journey. We didn't stop at any sites along the rest of the 5-hour drive home. We told the girls that we would wake up at 7:30 and get going. Instead, Seth and I woke up around 6 and worked on some Duolingo for a while (Seth is learning Japanese; I'm working on Spanish) until we finally got up and showered. We took the girls to Walmart to pick out their breakfast because this motel also didn't serve it. They all got to pick out their own food and drinks and bring it in the car with them.
We made it home in time for us to eat lunch, check on the pets and unload the van before dropping it off at the airport.
Family selfie in the rental van.
Stopping for a picture in Grand Teton National Park on our drive home.
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