Nauvoo/Branson Trip - June 2008

Phil and I had the opportunity of going to Nauvoo for a few days on June 10th. Phil was asked to be the best man at one of his high school buddies wedding which took place in Branson so we decided to spend a few days in Nauvoo before making our way back to Branson to attend the wedding. Nauvoo was absolutely beautiful and it was an experience that I will never forget. When President Hinkley dedicated the temple he said that he hoped all who visited Nauvoo would feel the beautiful spirit that resides there and you could not help but feel it as you walked through the city and visited the many historical sites. Below are just a few of the highlights of our stay.

The beautiful Nauvoo Temple

We stayed at the White House Inn which was located in the center of town about a block from the temple. It reminded me of a grandma's house. There was 4 rooms and a cute little kitchen where you could fix your meals if you did not want to eat out.

At dusk the missionaries in Nauvoo would put on a cute musical for the public to enjoy.

At one point in their production they asked all the Vets to come up on stage to recognize and honor their service in the armed forces. I was so proud to see Phil standing up there with all the other men who honorably served our great country.

Ater the performance the International dancers from BYU, Provo came and performed. They did some awesome dances and were so entertaining.

We went on a couple of horse and wagon rides. One ride took you on a tour of the city of Nauvoo and the other one took you up in the beautiful hills of Nauvoo where they told you spiritual stories of of peoples lives in Nauvoo. That was one of my favorite things.

This is the gun shop which was one of Phil's fovorite sites.

This is Emma, Joseph's and Hyrum's grave site

Outside the Visitors Center they have built a beautiful garden that was filled with statues in honor of women. It was so calm and peaceful. I loved just sitting there taking in the beauty that surrounded me.

These two cute Oxen took Phil and I on a ride around a beautiful park.

We visited Carthage Jail where Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum was killed. The top window is the one that Joseph fell out of when he was shot.

This is one of the jail cells upstairs where Joseph should of stayed, but the jailor really liked him and Hyrum so he let them stay in his bedroom down the hall.

This is the jailors bedroom where the prophet was shot and killed by the mobs. As the mob approached the room where Joseph and Hyrum were, they were bracing themselves against the door to try and keep the mob out. You can see the bullet hole in the door that came through and killed Hyrum Smith.

I loved our visit to Nauvoo. I only wish we could of stayed a couple more days but we had to move on to Branson to attend the wedding. We had beautiful weather while in Nauvoo and did not experience any of the flooding that is going on now along the Mississippi river. We did experience a few detors traveling from Nauvoo to Branson due to roads being closed down from the flooding and on our way to Branson we drove for a couple of hours in a horrible rain storm where we could hardly see out the window. When we drove into Branson it was clear, beautiful, but very humid weather.