Nauvoo vacation - Saturday, August 1

how many places can you find I didn't correct the spelling of "pageant"?


ILLINOIS, Nauvoo



Today, it's just "the aunt's" playing tourist. During the night Grandma had a bad reaction to her tuna sandwich from yesterday and will be staying at the 'villa' to recuperate while we pursue Saturday's agenda.

Nauvoo Visitor Center

It's a rainy morning but we've decided since Mom is with us in spirit and Christine's been using a cane we'll park in the handicapped space--nearer the door. Of course, that mean's we can't sprint from the car to inside the center to avoid a near drenching, but it could be worse...maybe.

Just outside the entrance to the visitor center is this sunstone; I think it's from the original Nauvoo temple.

There's a lot to see inside the visitor center and after finding out when the Joseph Smith movie started we each went our separate ways to fill in the time until we needed to get to the theater.

I'm always fascinated by these type of displays showing a bird's-eye view of places. (Glen Canyon Dam has one of Lake Powell and it's fun to try and find Rainbow Bridge!) Anyway, this is likely how Nauvoo looked in its prime. The temple was certainly a focal point even then. Looking northwest (above) and a view to the east (below).

Christine and Janice found a large area full of statues, like this one, of Christ and various scenes from his life...

... including the visit to Joseph Smith and the First Vision.

After wandering around and seeing a few other exhibits we watched the film - "Joseph Smith, The Prophet of the Restoration" about his life and legacy. I don't think any of us had seen it before and it was quite interesting to me. The film is currently playing in the Legacy Theater of the Joseph Smith Building in SLC and at other selected LDS Visitor Centers.

Monument to Pioneers & Eyes Westward statue

The rain had stopped by the time we left the visitor center and went to the end of Parley Street at the Mississippi River. New since I was here in 1995 is a memorial to the pioneers and even newer, a statue of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young titled "Eyes Westward."

bottom of Parley Street and the Mississippi River

All it takes is 18" of water and these lillies thrive. They are along the edge of the river for miles.

close-up of the flowers

Eyes Westward statue.

The building in the background is the pioneer memorial. Near this spot is where many LDS started their journey to the Rocky Mountains. On the walls of the memorial are the names of over 2,000 Latter-day Saints who died along the Mormon Trail.

Joseph Smith had seen the Saints westward trek to the Great Basin in vision and this was discussed with Brigham Young and others who saw the need for preparing a move to the Rocky Mountains.

Iowa/Illinois state line & Mississippi River

We decided to stock up on the grocery supplies needed when Mom is in her "sick" mode, so we headed over to Fort Madison, IA. It's across the Mississippi River about 7 miles of two-lane roads from Nauvoo. As started on our way we knew there was just enough time to shop, return to our 'villa', eat lunch and still make the 2pm show we had tickets for in the visitor center in Nauvoo.

As we got on the bridge we noticed something was different, but not quite sure what. Halfway across we were stopped behind several cars and then noticed that the middle of the bridge had pivoted 90-degrees from where it should have been. Uh-oh, not looking good for our tight timetable. Looking around we saw a boat going up-river and we followed its progress as it crossed under the bridge and continued on its way(below).

We still couldn't believe what looked like very special bridge treatment for this leisure craft. Then we look up-river again to see where the little boat is going and and see this huge barge coming (below). Now it makes more sense why the bridge was opened!

The barge is just a bit bigger than that little boat.

Need some perspective on the size of the barge?

See the guy on the front corner nearest you? Yup.

We were entertained by the events but getting concerned about the delay due to our constrained timetable. Once the barge passed under the bridge it seemed to take forever for the bridge to spin back into place. With nothing else to do we started snapping pictures as the gap between the bridge and airspace narrowed.

There's our road -- about halfway up the metal structure.

slowly... closing the gap

slowly... inching closer

and closer.... slowly....

slowly... almost... the gap narrows.

finally!!
gate lifted and traffic moves forward.

Fort Madison, Iowa - home to two (!) grocery stores.

Odd thing, to us anyway, is there's a $1.00 toll when you cross the bridge from Iowa to Illinois. However, when entering Iowa from Illinois - no toll. Go figure. We paid our toll, got back to the villa, threw together a sandwich for lunch and quickly left for the 2pm show at the visitor center.

Nauvoo Visitor Center -- "High Hopes and Riverboats"

On the stage in the Nauvoo Visitors Center , young performing missionaries present “High Hopes and River Boats,” a musical drama about residents of early Nauvoo. After the Bailey family moves to Nauvoo, the parents die of malaria. Sara Jane Bailey marries the local school master, teaches school with him, and cares for her younger siblings. Romance and conversion move the plot along until covered wagons line Parley Street and families look back at the city and temple they labored hard to build. Stories for this production come from journals of early Nauvoo saints.

Someone made a comment partway through: "reminds you of our old stake roadshow's?" (yah, and as good as our growing up years Kaysville 9th Ward roadshow's were this was far superior).

click on this video to see a snippet of a dance number.

more of the show.

after the show we headed toward Carthage; just 15 miles away.

Not too far outside of Carthage we see this oddly landscaped yard. It's not on any of our 'roadside attractions' lists but probably should be.

For the young, these are old time gas pumps. They were all different colors, different styles, different brands, and scattered about the entire yard.

ILLINOIS, Carthage

Carthage Jail and Visitor CenterEntrance walkway from parking lot to visitor center.

The statue of Joseph and Hyrum had a bench where you could sit and take in the scenery, the people, the monuments, the statues, and the history.

Along the pathway to the visitor center were several monuments with various Joseph Smith quotes.

The centerpiece statue is this one of Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum.

At the visitor center there was a log-jam of people waiting for tours. We took our turn and was soon joined up with a group made up mostly of young families.

Downstairs room/home of the jailer. This is our tour group, and the sister missionary (pink shirt) who was our guide. I spoke with her briefly at the end of our tour and she said was a bit nervous as she'd never had so many children in one group and wasn't quite sure if she was 'reaching' them. She did just fine!!

From here our large group went into a very small room to wait for the group ahead of us until it was our turn to go upstairs. While we waited our guide asked if there was a song the children wanted to sing; "I Am A Child of God" was the unanimous choice. Although only the first verse was sung, it really was quite moving. By the time my brain realized this needed to be recorded, some of it got missed. Click on the video below to see my view and hear the end of the song.

Up a very narrow stairway we were led to the iron cell upstairs.

From the cell we went to this room next door is where Joseph and Hyrum, along with Willard Richards and Wilford Woodruff were moved so they could be more comfortable. This window is the one Joseph fell through to the ground below outside, landing near the well. (below)

View from inside to the well down below.

Hey, Bob.

There's so much more to see here than "just a hole in the door"-- really.

On our way out of town we found a Dairy Queen and grabbed a quick dinner before we needed to get back to Nauvoo and try for some decent seats at the final night of pagaent. We again passed by Gasoline Alley.

ILLINOIS, Nauvoo
It was decided I'd leave Christine and Janice at the pageant area so they could get some seats while I went back to the villa and checked on Mom. As we tried to find the closest spot to drop them off a most kind and wonderful 'car usher' (for lack of a better name) saw Christine get out with her cane and immediately wanted to send us directly up to the handicapped parking area. Told him we'd gladly accept that offer but I had to run an errand first - would he remember me when I came back so I could still park there?! He said Yes. We'll see.

Working my way through historic Nauvoo (some streets closed for pageant) I saw this sunset-lit scene of the temple and just had to stop and get a picture.

Nauvoo Villas
Mom's doing okay, wants to join us but recognizes the need to continue her recuperation.

Historic Nauvoo
The Nauvoo Pageant

View of stage from our seats. If you look closely you may notice the temple in the background on the hill - doing a bad imitation (or hiding behind) one of the light and sound towers.

Apparently 3 look-alike-ladies from Utah in a Lincoln Town Car with Minnesota plates are not forgettable and my 'car usher' gifted me with a 'pass' through to the handicapped parking... directly across from the seating area. Chris and Janice spotted me first but before I could get there (the two light-colored shirts nearest the camera, below) they trooped the colors, and being a good I patriot waited until it was appropiate time to take my seat.
Click on Video

Although we were near the back of the seating area the sound was incredible, spoken words easy to understand, and view of the stage quite good. There is so much going on with the large cast and the story as it deals with the building of the Nauvoo Temple. During the pageant there are cabins and such being erected side-stage along with the framework (reminded me of a timber-framed barn) for what you can tell is the temple. I couldn't quite determine how they were going to get a completed temple out of three levels of 10-foot sticks.

AMAZING... click on the video below.

Okay, better view with a zoom lens! After the show we spoke with gal who was a member of the large/family cast. She said there were three costume changes during the show for the large cast - did we notice that with each costume change the colors got lighter? Well, didn't want to admit that, but just another reason to return and pay attention to that aspect of the show. I'm certain there were plenty of other things we missed too!

Here's the finale. Click on video below.

Are you exhuasted yet? So were we.