Nauvoo vacation - Sunday, August 2

Today's agenda: Nauvoo Temple Quarry, Carthage, Griggsville, IL and Hannibal, MO

Mom/Grandma/Grandma Great decided she was well enough to join us on our SUNDAY DRIVE and was not going to spend another day alone in the villa.

Our first stop was the Nauvoo Quarry where the stone for the original temple was obtained.

A copy of a sunstone from the original Nauvoo temple is on display near the quarry parking lot.

Limestone Quarry in Nauvoo. Large quantities of rock, including stone for modern road building, was pulled from this quarry. The quarry filled with water after Mississippi river backed up behind the dam at Keokuk. This local limestone was deemed to soft to be used for the reconstruction of the temple.

Just outside the small parking area at the quarry is this view and you can see how close the quarry is to the Nauvoo Temple.

From here we headed down the 'river road' to Carthage to show mom the jail and visitor center we girls had toured yesterday. We drove around the block pointing out the various buildings and landmarks.

One of Mom's "feel better" foods is a milkshake so we stopped at the Dairy Queen she'd seen on our way into town and got her some vanilla flavored 'medicine' before setting the dueling GPS's for our next destination: Griggsville, IL.

Along the way we saw familiar scenery like this...

and this...

yet it's amazing that as much as it looks all the same it is so different.

We stopped for lunch in a tiny little town I can't remember the name of right now and found a small city park. Entertainment was provided by the local team of guys with a Sunday baseball game.

ILLINOIS, Griggsville

After more scenic scenery we arrived in Griggsville. This was on Christine's to-see list because of the "luxury bird condo high rises" in the self-proclaimed Purple Martin Capital of the Nation. The main attraction is a 562-apartment bird high rise built in 1962 that reaches a height of 70 feet right in the center of town.

Entering the town you were greeted by Purple Martin bird houses as part of the landscaped islands dividing the road.

2,000 mosquitoes a day?! *

* According to a study by the Purple Martin Conservation Association, the PM, a type of swallow, eats all manner of flying insect, but the mosquito hype may be misleading. As noted on purplemartin.org:"Their diet is diverse, including dragonflies, damselflies, flies, midges, mayflies, stinkbugs, leafhoppers, Japanese beetles, June bugs, butterflies, moths, grasshoppers, cicadas, bees, wasps, flying ants, and ballooning spiders. Martins are not, however, prodigious consumers of mosquitoes as is so often claimed by companies that manufacture martin housing."

Fortunately people get to eat people food!

The best picture we could get of the high-rise bird condo.

Built for Purple Martin use...

...there's nothing to prevent "squatter's" from taking up residence.

On our way out of town we saw a business with fields around it full of martin bird houses .

Purple Martin up close and personal - (thank you to zoom lenses)

After doing a lot of bird-watching we continued on our way to the next destination.

MISSOURI, Hannibal
boyhood home of Mark Twain

From Illinois we crossed over the Mississippi River on the Mark Twain Memorial Bridge. Internet-lift of aerial view of Hannibal (above).

We made our way to the Mark Twain historic section. At a dead-end street and near a river berm/levee was a small park-like area with a statue of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn that Christine and I explored. Well, Christine explored a bit more than me.

Not flattering body positions but Janice gave us no warning her zoom lens was in use.

Tom & Huck statue.

This town (and its sponsors?!) is proud of their Mark Twain/Samuel Clemons heritage. Only in Hannibal! - images were all over the place; this was one of my favorites.

Nearby was the street with the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum Properties.

The Stories Started Here… Discover how a young boy growing up in the small village of Hannibal became one of the world's most famous authors. Explore the Hannibal of Samuel Clemens' childhood and experience the beloved stories he created through the power of his imagination.

We found a shady parking spot across the street from the Mark Twain properties. Christine strolled around the area to get the pictures below for you to enjoy. Here you can see the street access has been blocked off to allow pedestrians to wander, but we were stunned a bit later to watch a car (elderly couple) from the street above turn down, drive over the curbs, down the brick pavers, and then casually make his left turn back into traffic apparently and totally unaware it was a no-driving zone...or maybe they didn't want to get out of their car?! Between that car, other tourists, and street activity, it was quite entertaining. Click on video below (okay, it was a slow moment).

Janice stuck her camera out the window for this shot. On the left side of the street is the small building that was the law office of Mark Twain's father, and also the Becky Thatcher house. On the right side of the street is Mark Twain's boyhood home.

Law Office of Mark Twain's father.

Becky Thatcher's house, currently being remodeled.

Boyhood home of Mark Twain and the famous fence to its right.

Peek-a-boo, guess who's watching you.

One of the other tourists at the Tom and Huck statue told Christine there was also a road up to the Lighthouse and Overlook, so we headed that way.

Omigosh, the road was practically straight-up the side of the hill, barely the width of one car (hoped we didn't meet one coming down), and either crumbly pavement or hardened dirt -hard to say- but we got up to the parking lot.

This picture misrepresents the steepness and poor quality of the road but I'm guessing the driver/photographer just got a bad angle on it!

Hey, there's our TownCar.

The Mark Twain Memorial Lighthouse was originally built in 1935 not as an aid to navigation but to shine light over the year-long festivities surrounding celebration of Mark Twain's birthday. The lighthouse was originally lit by President Franklin D. Roosevelt from the White House. The lighthouse was rebuilt in the 1960's and rededicated by President Kennedy. The lighthouse was refurbished in 1994 and rededicated by President Clinton. The lighthouse continues to shine but as it has from its beginning not as an aid to navigation but as a memorial to the great author.

View of Hannibal from the lighthouse.

The overlook also had great views of the Mississippi River, and the Mark Twain Mem. Bridge we'd go back over again on leaving Hannibal.

Leaving the lighthouse parking lot we continued on the road (much better condition now) that took us to a residential area, and offered great views of the Mississippi River. We maneuvered the car to park in a spot that was hopefully out of the way to others, and snapped a few shots.

There's a lot of barge activity. The large white one was parked aside a sandy beach, and the other moseying up-river.

Without zoom lenses, this shows how high up the cliff we were and the greenery that surrounded us.

We were also treated to a view of the Mark Train Mem. Bridge that we'd be going back over as we left town to head up to Quincy, IL.

It's been a long day with a lot of road miles under our tires (and tired bottoms) but we were only about 20 miles from Quincy and decided to eat dinner there. However, the hotels and motels we'd seen in Hannibal did offer up a few comments of how much we might be willing to "rough it" by staying in Hannibal overnight with only the clothes on our back.

In Quincy we found a place to eat and enjoyed a pleasant meal. A bit later, with our tummies full and the sun lowering in the horizon, we turned our sights to Nauvoo and headed north the final 50 miles of the day. Traveling through little towns like Ursa, Marcelline, and Lima we enjoyed more of the corn and soybeans scenery as we neared the end of our very long "Sunday Drive."

Back at our Nauvoo Villa we welcomed the opportunity to stretch our legs and relax. After a while, maybe 30-45 minutes or so, someone asked, "Where's Mom?" as we knew she was exhausted and also realized she'd been very quiet ever since we returned. A quick glance into the bedroom found her as we last saw her. We all smiled and had a chuckle; in fact this still makes us smile, and when you hear people say "A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words"...

THIS is the picture they are referring to.

Yes, it was a very long, and tiring, day.