Spring Break in Nauvoo

After leaving Iowa on Monday morning, we had another long drive into Nauvoo. This was made even longer when we had to stop for 40 minutes at the Mississippi River crossing. We watched as several barges came through before they rotated the bridge back into place. Finally, around dinner time we made it into Nauvoo. We dropped things off in the hotel, and then walked downtown. There was a restaurant called Red Front that was the only open restaurant in town.

We had to wait for a long time at the bridge.

Finally heading across the Mississippi.

This river is huge! 

The Red Front Store is one of the few things open in Nauvoo right now.

The ice cream bricks were delicious.

We did find two museums open. The first one was called the Martyrdom Museum in downtown Nauvoo. It was the owner's labor of love, and he is just getting opened up for the year. We spent some time walking around looking at the displays.

There was a second place open in the basement of the mercantile. It was called Joseph Smith's Tomb. This just opened a year or two ago, and it claims to be the site where Joseph commissioned a place for his family to be buried, which was never used. 

After dinner, we watched the NCAA championship. (Mark picked the winner, but Seth had the most points in the bracket.) Then we went to bed.

Joseph Smith's Tomb??

This museum was super interesting.

Dax's face was too good to not share this picture.

We love the Nauvoo Temple.

Seth really hoped UConn would win again. 

Tuesday was all about Nauvoo. This time, though, we took it slowly. We tried to focus on our relatives and family roots in this town, rather than trying to get every shop and home visited. The sister missionaries just arrived the prior week, and several of them recognized us or people we knew. It was kind of fun to have Nauvoo basically to ourselves, since it only fully opened on April 1. 

We did a few things we hadn't done before in Nauvoo, like take a carriage ride, visit two ancestors home sites, and run to the basement of the Visitor Center for a tornado drill. Of course, many spiritual experiences were had along the way. We also played at the Family Learning Center, carding wool, dipping candles, making rope, and building a barrel. It was really fun. 

We got to hang out in the basement for a minute due to the tornado siren.

It was FREEZING!!

We had a ton of fun at the Family Living Center.

Seth and Mom made a really good bucket.

We enjoyed visiting all the houses we missed last time.

Dax had a double ham sandwich.

Nauvoo is so great!

After walking the Trail of Hope, we drove down to Dairy Queen for dinner. Along the way, we stopped at a waterfall, and watched the birds on the river. There were scaups, herons, and great egrets. We added that to the cardinals, pileated woodpecker, and numerous bald eagles we'd already seen, and this trip became quite a bird watching adventure. 

To top the day off, we even let Seth and Dax swim in the pool. 

Mom and Dad walked the Trail of Hope.

We stopped at this cool bridge.

The waterfall was a quick stop, but so pretty!