Nauvoo

As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, there are a few places in the United States that have special significance for us. One of those places is Nauvoo, Il http://www.historicnauvoo.net/ And it is about 5 hours to the west of us. So, when some friends from church invited us to join them there for a weekend we thought it would be a great trip to take this summer with the kids - we were not disappointed! It was hot, but it was a great experience.

Nauvoo is a city that was built on the banks of the Mississippi in the 1840's by members of the early church after being driven from their homes. http://www.historicnauvoo.net/about-nauvoo/ They later had to leave the city because of persecution, but the church has gone back and restored many of the original buildings and has people (mostly missionaries) representing those who actually lived there, in costume, talk about them and do activities, designed for families. There are things like a bakery, a store, homes of well-known people, a cultural hall, blacksmith shop etc. There are also lots of theater type shows this time of year, and one that is well-known is the Nauvoo Pageant. It is put on every night and before hand there is a carnival, much like one that would occur in the mid 1800's where you can play games, do crafts and dance to a live band like people did during that time. The kids LOVED it! Master S especially thought it was a blast and everyone enjoyed the pageant.

One of the things we did with our friends was a mini-handcart pull, for about a mile. When the saints were forced to leave Nauvoo, they headed west - many had wagons, but there were many more who couldn't afford them, so they pulled/pushed handcarts. We thought it would be a great experience for the kids and so we signed up. Miss Lilly was not happy as we started ...
she wanted to ride in the back and I told her no. But, after the first hill in the mud (it had rained pretty good right before we started) I think she realized how difficult it was going to be, and she stopped complaining, put on a happy face and happily walked along. I totally underestimated how difficult it would be - I have a new appreciation for those pioneers and early saints. They were a lot stronger than me, physically and mentally and as a family we learned a lot about team-work, helping each other and even those we don't know and how to dig in and work together when things are tough. One of those experiences that I wondered why we were doing it at first, but realized I could never duplicate the things we learned in any other setting.

It was definitely a trip worth taking and one that I hope we take often - you could easily spend a week there and have plenty to do - maybe we'll go back for the Christmas program ...