Treading Water: Last leg of our vacation: Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, and Salt Lake

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Last leg of our vacation: Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, and Salt Lake

Church History and Andrew's mission tour (July 25-Aug 3):

We left Vegas Monday morning with the intention of taking I-70 to Denver, spending the night, and then joining up with I-80 to take us in to Iowa and then over to Nauvoo, Illinois. As Glen was napping I was looking at the atlas and realized that we could stay on I-70 to Missouri and visit Independence, Liberty Jail, and Adam-Ondi-Ahman (famous church history sites) and then drive across Missouri and wind up in Nauvoo, Illinois to see the town and go to the Nauvoo pageant (which was part of our original plan).

After some stressful time with our radiator overheating in Denver (which we later found out to be a minor problem with a hose that Glen fixed with a screw driver), we pushed on to Goodland, Kansas and spent the night there, and Tuesday morning we made it to Independence, Liberty Jail, and Adam-Ondi-Ahman. It was SO hot and humid, it was hard to enjoy (which could be said of our entire trip...it was blistering). But it was very pretty and we are glad we were able to add those sites to our tour.

Spent Tuesday night in Hannibal, Missouri (Mark Twain's boyhood home). Then Wednesday morning we went to Carthage, Illinois, where Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were martyred. I think it was my favorite place of all that we visited.

We drove on to Nauvoo where Glen and I took in a temple session while Andrew (who has already been in the Nauvoo temple several times) went with the other kids to see the sights around the town. When Glen and I were done, the kids picked us up...and then my camera stopped working--it is currently in the shop, but it will take 2-3 weeks to find out what is wrong :( --so I don't have any pictures of my own after the temple.

We then went downtown, went shopping (where Andrew bought the game Feast and Famine which we then played the rest of the trip), and ate lunch (at Grandpa John's café...since the kids have a Grandpa John, we couldn't resist eating there), then headed back to the Historic Nauvoo area.

We visited the Pendleton Log House and School Room. Glen and the children are direct descendants of Dr. Calvin Crane Pendleton, so we had to stop there. Glen and the kids signed the special registry they have there for descendants. Others in the Perazzo clan had signed it before us.

We walked down Parley Street to the Mississippi, just like the Saints had done over 160 years ago. Then we visited the graves of Joseph and some of his family members.

Then we went to the old time fair while waiting for the pageant to start. The pageant itself was marvelous. It tells the story of the settling of Nauvoo. One of the high lights of our trip. Andrew bumped into missionaries he knew, so that was fun, too.

We drove to Iowa City that night and spent the night in a hotel. The next morning, Thursday, we went to the Institute building and Andrew was pleased to find that a missionary district meeting was going on, so he was able to meet up with some more missionaries he had known. We then went to the "Ped Mall" which is a really neat pedestrian and shopping area.

After that we went to a handcart park where the Saints had stayed getting ready to start their trek west. It was so hot, we gave up and called our niece Mindy, who lives in Iowa City, to see if she was ready for us to arrive early. Thankfully, she was.

So we spent a very pleasant afternoon visiting (and Madison was visiting from Fallon, too). Mindy served us dinner, then Mindy, Madison, Hannah, and I went next door to Celeste's for the weekly girls' night out. Mindy and her friends were doing some sewing and crocheting. Celeste is a whiz at taking thrift clothing and remaking it into more fashionable pieces. Since we've been home, Hannah has had a blast trying her hand at it. Lots of fun.

Andrew came over to perform his two fictional Book of Mormon movie trailers (one day I will post a video of them). After he left, Celeste asked if he had taken a dance class at BYU. Sure enough. She had been his teacher Fall 2008 for ballroom dancing. Small world.

Anyway, Friday morning we went to Oskaloosa, which was Andrew's last area. As he had just left there only one month previously, there were a lot of visits to make. First up was the Hines family, whom he had had the privilege of baptizing. We had a blast visiting everyone. They kept us laughing.

Then that evening we drove to Waterloo, spent the night and only visited one sister Saturday morning. The two men Andrew wanted to see weren't in town. So we drove on to and stopped in Dyersville to see the ball field from the movie Field of Dreams. I bought a magnet in the shape of Iowa which has a line from the movie: "Is this heaven?" "No...it's Iowa."

We then traveled on to Dubuque. They had just had a record-breaking rainfall a few days earlier and there was still a lot of wet mud in places. It's a good thing we hadn't planned on being there any earlier in the week.

We met up with Sister Cristine Holt and we went out to a buffet lunch at Pizza Ranch. We then drove around and saw a few sights and did crazy things like driving over the Mississippi River into Wisconsin just to say we had been there. That night we went to the River Walk and enjoyed sculptures and music as we walked along the Mississippi.

Sunday morning we attended church in the Dubuque ward. The whole city only has one ward (whereas Fallon had 6 wards and 1 branch), so Andrew was able to see a lot of people he wanted to in "one stop shopping" style. After church we went over to Cristine and Wayne Holt's and they served us lunch, which included good, ole Iowa corn. It was very good. They were so nice. I wish they lived closer!

That afternoon we drove to Des Moines and were able to meet with Andrew's mission president and his wife, Pres. and Sis. Jergensen. It was such a wonderful visit. They were so nice and charming and had nothing but a ton of praise for Andrew. I'm so glad we were able to meet up with them.

Monday morning we headed to Sioux City where Andrew had spent his first Christmas in the mission field. Once again, the people were so nice. And once again we drove across a bridge (this time over the Missouri River) to another state just to say we had been in that state. This time the state was South Dakota. This area, like Dubuque, had also had flooding...however it had been a few months ago and not all the water had subsided. It was amazing. Some on and off ramps to the highway were still closed down because they were completely under water. A park had playground equipment half-submerged.

After our visits, we drove down to Council Bluffs, Iowa, formerly known as Kanesville, (another church history site) and saw the visitor's center there. Then we drove into Nebraska and went to the visitor's center for the Winter Quarter's Temple. We saw the cemetery next to the temple where a few of Glen's pioneer ancestors are buried.

We then drove to Kearney, Nebraska (pronounced Karney) and spent the night...exactly half-way between Boston (1,733 miles to the east) and San Francisco (1,733 miles to the west). Exciting.

Tuesday we drove from Kearney to Farmington, Utah were we spent the night with Glen's sister, Teresa and her family. Had a great time. We were introduced to a new game, Dominion, which we now own and are having a blast playing.

Wednesday morning we went to Temple Square in Salt Lake and had a few hours there in the visitors' centers. Then we, finally, headed for home, arriving around 7 pm.

What a wonderful trip. And how wonderful it is to be home again. Except for, of course, I'm leaving on Saturday to spend next week with my sister at BYU's Ed Week. Andrew's driving there with me and will spend the week with cousins and getting a few things ready for school...which will be here before we know it.