Thursday, September 25, 2008

Our Lovely Trip

We just spent a marvelous week in Nauvoo, Illinois. It was such a perfect vacation for our family, being in part a homeschool unit on this history of our country and our church and in part a spiritual pilgrimage from which both my husband and I came away feeling tremendously renewed.

The historic sites of old Nauvoo are mostly charming red brick buildings peppered across a vast expanse of well-manicured lawns and trees. Puttering around old Nauvoo feels very tranquil and slightly surreal. You are apt to suddenly find yourself in front of someplace you have heard about in a lifetime of church history lessons, such as Joseph Smith's red brick store:


And then there is the beautiful Temple, the nucleus of the community:


There were so many fun things for the kids to do in Nauvoo. We were busy all day every day and we still didn't get everything done. The kids ate up all the old-fashioned stuff like the blacksmith shop and the printing office. The ox-drawn wagon ride was also pretty popular:


I enjoyed touring the many homes that have been restored. I have many ancestors who lived in Nauvoo so as I walked through the homes I thought a lot about how my progenitors lived their daily lives during that time. I think that I would have liked to have lived among them in such a beautiful and thriving community.

Don't you think we fit right in?

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1 comment:

The Hills said...

I'm so jealous! I love Nauvoo! We were there for less than 24 hours, but we still got to do so much. Luckily we had friends who have family there so they watched Ty while we got to go through the temple. I am waiting excitedly for the day when we can go back and the kids will understand all that happened there. Looks like you had fun! I'm glad you enjoyed your trip.