Family (History) Vacation

Our family's original vacation plans had called for some time up in the mountains of Colorado ... but with our house in Kansas still on the market, we had to come up with an alternative plan. That plan included a tour through some Mormon church history sites along with some family history along the way. We left Kansas City on Wednesday and headed to Nauvoo, IL (about 5 1/2 hours). After we spent a couple of days there, we followed the Mormon Trail across Southern Iowa to Council Bluffs and Winter Quarters outside of Omaha, NE ... then returned home on Saturday afternoon. Here's some highlights of our trip:

• Saw 3 temples in 3 states
• Participated in temple work as a family in the Nauvoo Temple
• Watched 2 plays: "High Hopes and Riverboats" and "Rendezvous in Nauvoo" ... the latter ending at 9:30 pm at the same time that a strong electrical storm ripped through the area.
• Took a 45 minute carriage ride through the area, during the time of the day when it rained the hardest.
• Visited the Carthage Jail where the Prophet Joseph Smith was martyred.
• Visited the Old Nauvoo Burial Grounds where Cody has an ancestor buried.
• Learned how the early Pioneers made bricks, bread, rope, and other 1840 necessities.
• Visited the Nauvoo homes of early church leaders.
• Stopped at countless Mormon Pioneer sites along the Mormon Trail of Southern Iowa including Garden Grove and the Kanesville Tabernacle.
• Looked and searched for more ancestors in other cemeteries ... didn't find their headstones but felt the peacefulness and serenity in the cemeteries.

We were grateful for the time spent together and what we were able to learn and experience as a family. Our pioneer heritage is part of who we are and their experiences have had an influence of each of us. It was a trip we were glad that we were able to take ... even if it meant staying in a Hampton Inn rather than a tent in the mountains.