Ohio Day 7

Kirtland was one of our favorite stops.

We slept late in Cleveland. It was our first time sleeping in on this entire vacation. After eggs and sausage, we rolled out about 10 o'clock on the way to Kirtland. Each of us declared Kirtland our favorite Church History destination so far. It was a really nice day. 

We started at Historical Kirtland, which is the site of the Newel K. Whitney store. After a short video, we walked around the property, touring the store, the Whitney home, their ashery, and the sawmill. We really enjoyed seeing where so many well-known stories took place. As we sat in the upstairs room in the store, we saw where Section 89 was inspired and written. We saw where the school of the prophets met. It was amazing to realize that Joseph and Emma had walked and lived right where we were standing. 

This was the Whitney's home, but Joseph and Emma lived here, too.

This is inside the Whitney store.

We learned so much about how the Whitney's gave up everything for the gospel.

This is where the School of the Prophets was held.

This is inside that yellow home pictured above.

And here is the outside of the Whitney store.

This is the ashery. I had no idea how this type of place worked.

Inside the small Visitor Center

After the walk around Kirtland and the store, we drove up to the Isaac Morley Farm. This is a very small site that didn't have much to see, though we did walk a short, pretty trail to the crest of the hill where Joseph Smith taught a famous sermon.

The Morley farm was a quick stop.

Next we stopped at the Kirtland Temple Visitor Center, which is run by the Community of Christ. We had lunch in the parking lot and then visited the small museum. Finally, it was our turn to take the tour. We walked through the bottom two levels of the temple. We started on the second level, which is "a house of learning," which was likened to the MTC, where they taught Apostles and other missionaries before sending them out to the field. The first floor is "a house of worship," and looks nearly identical to the second. The major difference is that this is where Christ visited and accepted the temple. We really enjoyed the man who gave the tour (and suspected he was an LDS volunteer). Tears were very close as we stood and sang "The Spirit of God", while Mom played the piano. We couldn't take pictures inside, but we absolutely loved this tour!

We enjoyed touring the Kirtland temple.

These are the original doors. They are HUGE and heavy!

We loved this temple.

Our next stop was the John Johnson Farm. This site is a little farther south and is the place where Joseph stayed when the rest of Kirtland seemed unsafe. We saw the room he was pulled from before being tarred and feathered. We also sat in the room where Section 76, The Vision, was received. We really did see why Kirtland was such a powerful time in Church History.

The Johnson Farm was a special stop.

We had exactly 40 minutes to make the 37 minute drive to the Visitor Center called Boston Mills for Cuyahoga Valley National Park. We made it just in time to pick up the Junior Ranger booklets! From there, we weren't sure whether to drive to a hike, or go to Costco just a few minutes away for dinner. Ultimately, we decided on dinner, which turned out to be pretty smart. While we ate, a massive storm rolled in. Rain was coming down in sheets, and people piled up around the door of the store, gaping at the lightning and soaking rain. After we sheltered in Costco for quite awhile, the storm seemed to lighten. We decided to make a dash with our groceries and return home. 

We decided to save this National Park for the next day!

The rainstorm was crazy! We were so lucky to be inside.

It was actually nice to get home early. We had laundry to do, dishes to wash, and scriptures to read. The storm really worked as a warning to send us home early so we could get some sleep!

Indiana Day 6

We had a huge driving day today. We woke up in Nauvoo and left the little stone church house a little after 6:30. Then we drove for four and a half hours until we reached Indiana Dunes National Park. There were no stops, and not much to see, but the boys did great! So far on this trip, they have added Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, and Iowa to their state count. Then by the end of this day, they added Ohio. 

Indiana Dunes took up the bulk of our afternoon. We had lunch in the car, and then explored West Beach. There was a short hike on which Seth counted 499 stairs, but it led to the beach of Lake Michigan. We splashed in the water for a bit, and it was nice and cool. The boys enjoyed skipping rocks.

There were a lot of stairs on this trail.

There was also a lot of sand.

Lake Michigan was nice.

It was so hot. The water felt really nice on our feet.

Mom and Dad loved this trip!

Then we spotted birds in Long Lake right along the shore. There were great egrets, geese, ducks, and even a small toad. This is what the boys really like to do, so we spent a lot of time looking.

The lake was one of our favorite stops in Indiana Dunes National Park.

We are always happy when we spot wildlife.

We spotted a small toad.

There were also a bunch of turtles.

After a few hikes fell through, we visited the Visitor Center to turn in the Junior Rangers. They directed us to the Great Marsh. This sounded just right to us, so we happily drove out there. We managed to spot a few turtles, a white-tailed deer, and a wood duck. The ticks kept us from enjoying the hike too much, though. Three of us brushed ticks off ourselves, but the walk through the marsh was a favorite.

We visited an old farm. Farm animals love Dad.

They weren't sure about the boys.

The Great Marsh trail was very green.

Mark was so excited to see birds.

We spotted this beautiful white-tailed deer.

There were lots of sandhill cranes.

This was an interesting National Park.

We left around 4 o'clock because we knew we had another five hours into Cleveland. As it turned out, with dinner, that ended up being a lot longer. We finally rolled across the Guardian Bridge about 11 pm. There was plenty to do along the way, though. The boys enjoyed watching movies on the screens in the new van, and Mom and Dad enjoyed making them listen to Little House on the Prairie books. Then we read scriptures and Dad read to Seth. Sometimes, we just talked or looked for animals. Our dinner stop was at a nice little restaurant in the middle of nowhere. It was cheap, so we even ordered pie!

The food and pie were delicious.

Now we are staying in a beautiful little house on the edge of Cleveland. There are four floors, and a nice large porch. The house is about a hundred years old, but it is just nice and comfortable for us. 

Illinois Day 5

We were so excited when we arrived at this house.

We needed laundry facilities spaced throughout the trip, so Mom used a vacation rental website to find us a little house to stay in. But this was no ordinary house. It was actually an old Methodist church, called the Old Stone Church just down from the temple in Nauvoo. It was built in the 1850's just after the Mormons left, and it was actually constructed of stones from the Nauvoo Temple. According to Joseph Smith III, Emma Smith attended this Methodist Church and played the organ right in this building. Now it is renovated into a beautiful place to stay, and it is really cool to think that Emma was here, and the stones are from the temple. 

We were so excited that these were stones from the Nauvoo temple.

This is the inside of our "church home."

We were happy to be in a "house" and not a hotel, even though it was a on Old Stone Church. We woke up early and Dad and the boys went to the temple, while Mom and Seth got breakfast ready. Dad ran into his old t-ball coach, Brother Barton, who is serving a summer mission in the temple. We really enjoyed the temple, which Dad and the boys had never seen before. 

The Nauvoo Temple is beautiful.

When the boys got home from the temple, Mom and Seth had pancakes ready to go. We ate quickly and went down the riverbank to historic Nauvoo. We spent the day going from house to house around Nauvoo. We tried to hit all the activity houses, the bootmaker, the drug store, the blacksmith, the tin smith, the print shop, the bakery, and the gun maker. Then we hit some of the mansions including those belonging to Lucy Mack Smith, Heber C Kimball, and John Taylor. Each house was manned by missionaries, sometimes young sisters, and sometimes senior couples. We really enjoyed the presentations, which included the story of the person who owned the property, and often, their testimony and contribution. The boys enjoyed walking around Nauvoo, and they were surprised to receive a handmade brick and a horse shoe cast just for them.

The boys loved all the pioneer games.

Seth said this was his favorite part of Nauvoo.

The history of the houses were so interesting.

The gunmaker shop was fun.

Walking through Nauvoo where Joseph Smith walked was super special.

We always liked visiting a printing press.

John Taylor's home was very nice.

The old homes were beautiful.

We spotted a cardinal!

Seth also liked the blacksmith shop.

It was really nice to return to our house for lunch. Then we headed down to Carthage. We wanted to see the jail where Joseph and Hyrum were killed. The drive was really pretty, and the boys were excited to see some wildlife. They were checking off the colors of birds as we saw an orange oriole, a scarlet cardinal, a powder blue jay, and a yellow warbler. Mark even spotted a raccoon in the field near Carthage. We arrived just in time for the tour, which was a really moving, spiritual experience. All of us felt the Spirit and were grateful for the early Saints. We took very few pictures because we weren't sure whether to smile or not in such a somber place. 

Carthage was a spiritual spot.

The original door and bullet hole.

We didn't know what face to make in pictures.

Back at our house, Mom made pasta and about a hundred meatballs. The boys all ate really well, and it was nice to have something different than a sandwich or fast food. Then we drove down to see the Joseph Smith property. This area is owned by the Community of Christ, and right now all tours are shut down. We drove along and looked a the signs for the stores and houses that we are familiar with from Church History, but we couldn't see inside. We did walk through the cemetery and the boys saw the graves of Joseph, Hyrum, Emma, and most of the other Smiths.

We also stood by the Mississippi River. 

Our final stop in Nauvoo was for a show. It was performed on the outdoor stage by missionaries who have auditioned specifically to perform here. There was dancing, singing, and the Nauvoo brass band played. Mom and Seth even danced on stage! We enjoyed the jokes, the music, and the tap. It was a really fun show. We had never imagined that a service mission to sing and dance was a possibility!

We ended our evening by the Nauvoo Temple and overlooking the Mississippi River at sunset.

We love to see the temple.

Sunset was beautiful.

Seth wanted to touch the moonstone.

We loved these statues of Joseph and Hyrum in front of the temple.