The Great 2013 Vacation: Nauvoo

A lot of stuff to cover in this post, so off we go.  While planning our vacation, I felt one full day would be enough for Nauvoo--I couldn't have been more wrong in my assessment.  Honestly, my impression now is that three days would give a visitor enough time to get a good "flavor" of the area, but a full week might be best.  During the planning stages, I recall reading a comment on some website calling Nauvoo "the Disneyland for Mormons."  I wish I could remember where I saw that quote.  I don't know if I'd go that far (the Church would need to have at least one roller coaster somewhere in town for me to totally get behind the notion--"Get your tickets for the Nauvoo Pioneer; the world's only triple loop coaster!"), but I can't deny the fascination the area has for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because of the history surrounding it.  If I ever have an opportunity to go again, I will plan to stay more days than just one.

 

Jennifer and I had set an appointment at the Nauvoo Temple the week before leaving home.  Sessions began at 8 o'clock in the morning and that seemed like the best session for us--turns out it was the only session still available when Jennifer called to make our reservation; it's a good thing we wanted it.  As we prepared for bed the night before, we told Ben and Isaac they could sleep in as long as they were ready by 10 o'clock--they were very happy with the idea, I think it was they only time they truly got to sleep in the entire trip.  The night before as we walked around the temple grounds the night before, I talked of my visit to the temple site 30 years earlier and mentioned what we saw now was only a grassy hole then (the "footprint" of the temple) with replicas of a sunstone and other smaller pieces nearby (the real stones were housed in the visitor's center).  When President Gordon B. Hinckley announced the rebuilding of the Nauvoo Temple at April conference in 1999; the moment for me was electric (click here: the announcement is at 6:18).  The temple was dedicated on June 27, 2002; the start of the  meeting coinciding with the hour of Prophet Joseph Smith's martyrdom and was broadcast over closed circuit to meetinghouses throughout the world.  We were in Utah visiting my family at the time.  Jen and I were able to participate in the dedication.  It had been an amazing moment for me to see the temple the previous night.  To walk up the front stairs with my wife and enter this sacred edifice was a thrilling spiritual uplift.

 

Afterward, we drove to the Hotel Nauvoo to pay the bill for our stay and returned to the motel to find the boys ready to go (and there was much parental rejoicing).  Instructions in the motel literature told us we could get 15% off the breakfast buffet at Grandpa John's Café if we gave them our room number.  Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, the buffet was over and we had to pay full price for our breakfast (easy come, easy go).  From the café, we drove to the visitor's center to plan the rest of our day.  Jennifer wanted to go on the free carriage rides, but it was around 11:30 when we reached the center and all of the rides had been booked.  While we tried to come up with an alternate plan, I realized we had forgotten to bring something (sun block, my hat, cameras--I'm not sure what, but it was important that we have it) from the motel.  I told Jennifer to put a plan together while I fetched the missing item and we would execute her plan when I returned.  Meanwhile, Ben and Isaac met Sister Wood.  They were looking at the 3D replica map of old Nauvoo when she came and struck up a conversation with them.  They told her about their experience in Carthage, our temple scavenger hunt, and the other sites we had seen.  She encouraged them to say personal morning prayer--something they began the next morning and still do--and told them she thought they were someone who would have gone with Joseph to Carthage (they both felt very good about her comment).  Back at the motel, I had secured the forgotten item and returned to the center.  I hurried inside to see what Jennifer had planned . . . and found her completely discombobulated.  I was shocked.  She looked at me with this helpless look and told me how she had talked to a Sister missionary, but she had completely forgotten everything and had no idea what to do.  Frustrated (she normally takes charge of this kind of thing and runs with it), I asked her to go back to the desk and talk to the missionary again while I checked out what the boys were doing.  She started to walk in that direction, but quickly returned and said she wanted me to come with her.  Grumbling, I walked with her to the information desk.

I will readily admit to not really paying attention at first, the senior Sister missionary good naturedly said we probably didn't need her to go over the map and tell us what places to visit, but she would do so anyway.  As she circled the map and gave brief explanations to the different sites she suggested, I found myself hearing something in her voice that sounded familiar.  At some point, I glanced at her name tag and saw "Sister Excell".  That sent a shot through me.  Excell was the last name of my high school principal and I had been friends with his son, Rick.  Sister Excell had been my accompanist on the piano the first time I sang a reception song to one of my siblings (Andrea, in this instance) in Munchkin voice.  The more I surreptitiously looked at her, the greater my inkling became.  When she finished her orientation, I said, "I noticed your name tag; I knew a Sister Excell at one time."  "Oh?" she replied, "Where was that?"  "Cokeville, Wyoming," I said. "I’m Chris Metcalfe."  She took a good look at me and her eyes lit up.  I was correct; she was the Sister Excell I knew from Cokeville.  I introduced my family to her and we talked for a few minutes.  Somewhere in the excitement of seeing a familiar face in a seemingly unlikely place, I misplaced the wherewithal to have someone take a picture of us; didn't even think of it at the time.  She told us Elder Excell would be at the brickyard later in the afternoon and I promised we'd be sure to visit with him; a nice tender mercy from Father in Heaven and I almost missed it because of my pigheadedness.

The first thing we did after leaving the center was to go on a wagon tour of old Nauvoo.  We had two senior Elders, one driving and one narrating, in the front of the wagon and were pulled by two big, white horses named Elder Bob and Elder Bill.  The ride took us into areas that we probably wouldn't have seen otherwise and the narrating Elder told us stories of the area and also detailed some of the lives of people who lived in Nauvoo.  One of the stories he told was about King Follett who died when a bucket of rocks used to line the well he was helping to dig fell off the lip of the well and hit him on the head.  What became known as the "King Follett Sermon" was given by the Prophet Joseph about 2 months or so before he was killed.  There is no way I can do justice to this sermon here in this post, so I will content myself by saying I found this reprint from the Ensign for anyone interested in reading the sermon.  We also saw a view of the Mississippi River that was different than any other we saw during our stay.  The ride gave us a different perspective of Old Nauvoo and was an enjoyable one for all of us.

 

 

From our wagon ride, we drove over to Parley Street first to spend a few moments in the 70's Hall where gospel classes were held for missionaries going into the field (the first MTC?).  Afterward we followed the "Trail of Hope."  When the Saints were forced to leave Nauvoo, this was the road they used to reach the ferry to take them across the Mississippi River--or where they ventured onto the ice thick enough to drive their wagons across to the Iowa Territory.  Signs lined one side of the street with quotations from townspeople detailing their feelings about having to leave their beautiful city.  Our walk down the street terminated at the Mississippi River and gave Ben and Isaac their first opportunity to see it.  Also at the end of the street was a replica of a covered wagon and a statue of Brigham Young and Joseph Smith looking westward.  Plans had already been put in place to journey from Nauvoo into what was then Mexican territory to the west.  This statue was a depiction of Joseph handing those "plans" off to his successor.  Behind the statue was a pavilion with a list of names of people who had lost their lives during the years of pioneer treks.  As I reviewed the names on the wall, I unexpectedly came across the names of Daniel Gadd and Samuel Gadd.  I called everyone over to take a look.  Samuel Sr. and Samuel Jr. both died on the plains in Wyoming.  Seeing just "Samuel Gadd" listed on the wall, I thought maybe father and son had been accidentally lumped together.  I then found another wall tucked behind the mural listing names of people who had been "missed" on the original lists.  At the end of the list was the name Samuel Gadd again.  I guess someone with Gadd ancestry was able to show the mural makers there were two Samuels who died on the plains and not one.

 

 

 

 

 

We decided next to see the Joseph Smith Homestead, Mansion House and Red Brick Store.  Like the Kirtland Temple, the buildings are owned by the Community of Christ (formally RLDS) church.  We again were asked to pay a $3 per person preservation donation and watched another introductory video (different from the one in Kirtland although some information was the same) before taking the tour.  A young man in his early twenties was our guide.  Overall, we liked his tour a little better than the Kirtland tour.  He was very informative and tried to answer all the questions we or others asked (two other families joined us).  Like Kirtland, we were not allowed to take pictures of the inside of the Homestead or the Mansion House, but we were given permission to take pictures of the second floor of the store.  The second floor meeting room was where the Relief Society was formally organized in 1842.  We also learned that the first temple endowments were given in this room.  I knew this was the case, but was surprised to hear our guide mention it.  After leaving the store, we spent some time in the Smith Family Cemetery.  It was here that the bodies of Joseph, Hyrum and Emma were move to in 1928 by the RLDS church (if you'd like more details about why this was done and the reaction of contemporary LDS Church leaders click this link).

 

A quick check of my watch after this tour told us that Elder Excell would be working at the brickyard.  We drove there to visit with him for a few minutes and receive our "flawed" Nauvoo brick (the lesson behind it is to help us remember we make mistakes and become flawed, but through the Atonement of Christ we can overcome these flaws and become perfected through Him).  With the remaining time we had until the sites closed at 5 o'clock, we tried to see as many of the homes as possible.  We visited the Lucy Mack Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff homes before 5 pm.  We did and saw a lot throughout the day, but there was so much we didn't see.  This is why I think at least several days are needed to do justice to a visit to Nauvoo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before returning to the outdoor stage to see the missionary program (Sunset by the Mississippi) we had briefly watched Monday evening, Ben and Isaac wanted to go back to the temple to get a closer view of it in daylight (sitting on the bluff, it was very prominent throughout our visits to the sites).  We also wanted to go to the LDS bookstore in town to check out its advertised collection of Vocal Point cds, but we found the store closed by the time we arrived.  Returning to the temple, we walked around the grounds while Ben took video (Isaac had do so the during our evening visit).  After a few extra pictures, we piled into the car and drove to the visitor's center parking lot.

 

 

         

 

As we walked to the outdoor stage, we realized we hadn't eaten dinner yet, but we didn't want to miss the program and figured we'd be able to grab a bite to eat after the Vocal Point concert.  The missionary program was good.  I don't know if some of the songs were from that time period, but the lyrics were fun and the missionaries had a good time with it.  There was about a 30 minute or so break between that show and the Vocal Point program.  The boys mildly complained about being hungry (I was shocked beyond reason :)).  Suddenly, someone showed up with four pieces of pizza he said his family didn't eat and would we like them (modern day manna from heaven).  We thanked him for his kindness and eat our slices with gusto.  The Vocal Point show was very good . . . again.  I think they only repeated two songs from their Monday night show (which was a slight bummer; I was hoping they would sing the medley "Noyana / Come, Come Ye Saints"; the first word is a Zulu word meaning "Are you going").  I recorded them singing "I Need Thee Every Hour" instead and then found we had filled the 32 GB chip I bought for the video recorder before our trip began and couldn't record any other songs :(.  During the concert, the lead beat-boxer, Adam, did a 4 minute demonstration of all the different noises he could make.  This exhibition impressed our "in-house" beat-boxer (Ben) enough that he wanted to meet Adam after the show ended.  Ben demonstrated to Adam his own unique technique and asked him some questions.  Jen took a picture of them; Adam gave his "manly man" pose.

 

Hungry again, we searched for a place to eat . . . and found Nauvoo to be one of those towns that "rolls up the sidewalks" at 6 pm.  Everything was closed.  What?!!  No food anywhere?!!  We finally found a gas station/convenience store several blocks past our motel.  Thinking we were stuck buying chips and drinks (I highly nutritious meal, I can assure you), we were pleased to see a pizza counter in the corner of the building with a real live person standing behind it (cue angelic choir again)!  The clerk even threw in a 2 liter bottle of Sun Drop soda for no extra charge--she said it was a promotional thing.  A late night dinner of pepperoni and olive pizza eaten in the motel room ended our fun and full day in Nauvoo.