NAUVOO

The one thing that I knew I wanted to do more than anything else while we're here in Wisconsin is visit Nauvoo, Illinois. I've always wanted to see the temple and the various sights there and a few weekends ago I finally got the opportunity! I was so excited. Of course it was an adventure... what outing isn't? But It was one of the best weekends to date. We planned to go Friday after work because we were both supposed to be off early. Unfortunately we didn't get off work until later than anticipated and we got a late start on our travels. We decided we'd stop at a state park and camp because it would be too late to make it all the way to Nauvoo. We drove and drove to find the state park... but we were lost.. for at least an hour. haha At about 11 p.m. we pulled into a camp sight, set up our camp in the dark and tried to get some sleep.

The next morning we got cleaned up, finished our journey to Nauvoo and visited the temple first thing! I love love loved it. It was so beautiful and historic and I felt so giddy to be in the very place the early saints and the Prophet Joseph Smith were. It was super neat.

 After the temple we got some gas station pizza (there is nowhere to eat there!) haha And we took it to a pretty park and had a picnic. Yum.

 Next we signed up for a wagon ride. Matt thought the horses were super cool. I loved to tour!

 We rode around the old town and had a tour guide to tell us about all the different historical buildings and shops. We rode down close to the Mississippi which looked cool.

 We also had the best view of the temple. I think it is stunning!

 After our wagon ride, we went back on our own to the little shops and building so that we could go inside and learn more about what life was like for the early saints. I loved it. We ended the evening with a show in the Visitors Center. It was a BYU group that did tons of different cultural dances. It was awesome.

 We camped one more night, and the next morning after church we visited Carthage. What a special place. It was probably my favorite part of the trip- visiting the jail and learning about the martyrdom of Joseph Smith was extremely touching.

It was such a wonderful weekend. The pageant wasn't running yet. so we might go back this weekend so we can see it!