Life is Sweet: November 2019

Wednesday, August 28

aka Day 14

NY, PA, OH, IN

We went back to the impressive Niagara Falls to see things in daylight.

Again, pictures don't do it justice.

It's just one of those things you have to experience IN PERSON.

We hopped a Maid of the Mist ride first thing.

We had been told by several people that the Canadian side is better to view the falls, but since we didn't get Mar's passport in time, our only option was the American side. It was perfectly lovely. And while on the Maid of the Mist, we actually made it to Canada anyway haha.

We loved Niagara Falls.

(And I cracked myself up when I thought "Ni-a-gar-a" was different from "Ni-a-gra." That was a senior moment for sure.)

We must have also been right on the border of New York, so we paused to snap a better picture of a welcome sign (we may have had someone honk at us because we paused in a loading zone of some kind... but hey, we got the pic), since our two previous attempts were drive-bys.

We made our way back into PA (for the third time - we totally should have done the Priesthood Restoration Site, darn it)...

...then on to OHIO.

(A brief side-note, here. I personally think every state should have a welcome sign near any major freeways or highways. Ohio had a welcome center, but it's not nearly as satisfying as a welcome sign. I also think every welcome sign should be accompanied by a safe pull-off area for photo ops. Wouldn't this be amazing advertising for your state? I think so. We were disappointed in those states that didn't not provide one or the other. That is all.)

We arrived in Kirkland, stopped to watch a film in the visitor's center, then took a very brief tour of the Newell K. Whitney store (the senior missionary giving the tour was a direct descendant).

*We were a bit pressed for time because I had the fun idea to stop and visit with some old friends of ours from Parker that had moved to Wooster, Ohio, and had made arrangements with them the day before. We had spent a little longer at Niagara Falls than I had planned, and by the time we made it to Kirkland, we were pressed for time due to the closing time of the Kirkland Temple tour. This is another place I hope to return to and spend more time appreciating the historical significance of.

We barely made the final tour of the Kirkland Temple, and had hoped to visit the museum of the Community of Christ church next to the temple, but it had closed by the end of our tour.

The temple, however, was fascinating, and I'm grateful we made it in time to see it.

We made it to the Bateman's home much later than our original 4pm time (more like 8:30... sorry, Susan!), but it was fun to visit with Tom and Susan, get a little tour of their home (Susan is my favorite long-arm quilter and has always had an awesome set-up), and see a little bit of their slow(er)-paced town.

After our visit, we headed to our next hotel in Indianapolis, IN.

Thursday, August 29

aka Day 15

IN, IL, IA

Before heading on our way, we stopped at the Indianapolis Temple. It, like several others along our journey, was closed for maintenance, darn it. I would have loved to go inside. It is also a new(ish) temple (dedicated in 2015), and is beautiful.

(Side note: I truly believe ALL temples are beautiful in that they provide sacred places to receive ordinances and make covenants necessary to achieve exaltation, and represent the eternal nature of the family, and show God's love for us, His children. Each temple is beautiful both outside (seriously, those groundskeepers are amazing) and inside. There are, however, variations based on time period. It was wonderful when President Hinckley announced that the Church would be building smaller temples, which would provide more members with a temple closer to them. We saw several of these Hinckley-period temples (Nashville, Birmingham, Palmyra...), and although they look similar on the outside, are quite unique INSIDE (at the least the two we attended were). The thing I have enjoyed noticing in temples that have been built in more recent years (Monson/Nelson time period) is that they are more unique in design on the outside, and more representative of their geographical location on the inside. For example, the Philadephia Temple highlights the time period of the historical buildings located in that city. It had period doorknobs (even in the dressing areas on the lockers), black doors, and chandeliers. When we toured the Fort Collins Temple here in CO, we were told how they used local artists to depict the landscape of the surrounding area in the artwork and on some of the walls. So, even though all temples are BEAUTIFUL, we especially loved seeing unique features in some of the newer ones.)

We drove into IA (just a sign above the road while we were crossing a bridge - I have a video which may -- or may not -- get added at a later date). We found our hotel, changed, then made our way across the border to IL.

The Nauvoo Temple (a unique Hinckley-period temple), is BEAUTIFUL.

After attending a session, we were met with the most amazing sunset.

Pictures don't do it justice.

We drove back over to IA, and ate at a little Mexican restaurant next door to our hotel.

It was yummy (phew!)

Friday, August 30

aka Day 16

IA, IL

We started our day in Nauvoo by taking a couple of the wagon rides around town.

We were keeping our eye out for my Aunt Lenna and Uncle Greg, who are serving a mission in Nauvoo. We found out where they were working that day (Uncle Greg was pulling the oxcart, Aunt Lenna was at the Lyon Drug and Variety Store), but somehow missed them altogether, darn it. Because we only had one day in this area, we wanted to make sure to get to Carthage, so we did that mid-day, and by the time we got back to Nauvoo, we checked the locations they had been working at earlier in the day, but they were gone.

A huge blessing during our entire trip was that we hit everything AFTER peak season had ended. It was perfect. The weather was still nice, but we had loads of senior and young sister missionaries practically to ourselves. We were told that during the summer months, 70 young single sister missionaries serve in Nauvoo. After the peak is over, most of them return to various other missions throughout the surrounding area/states. ALL the missionaries were still in Nauvoo at the time we were there, but crowds had diminished immensely.

Ideal timing on our part, I think.

Around noon we headed to Carthage.

We visited a few more locations in Nauvoo afterwards (looking a bit for my aunt and uncle).

Someone along our way told us to check out the polytunnel in back... we loved it!

We stopped by the Red Brick Store (owned by the Community of Christ church) caught the end of a tour, and visited with the older gentleman working the store. He told us how much he would love to go inside the Nauvoo Temple. Of course, he said, he'd been told he could... he just had to get baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was friendly, and he and Bill had a good ol' chat while Mar and I sipped our Red Brick Store root beers.

We ate dinner here... SO GOOD!

On our way out of town we noticed some senior missionaries out working with the baby oxen.

Of course we had to stop.

Meet Brigham and Porter.

We were told that oxen are trained when they are very young to work together. In a field across the street from where we were was a solitary ox. We were told his buddy had died the previous year, and so he basically had little purpose... it was long past the time that he could learn to pull with another ox (so sad). These baby oxen were going to be trained together, and will eventually end up at This is the Place Heritage Park in Salt Lake City. We hope to go see them someday so we can tell them "we knew you when" haha.

We ended our day at the Trail of Hope before heading back to our hotel in IA.

Saturday, August 31

aka Day 17

IA, MO.

We headed on our way to MO to see a few of the Church History sites we missed in our rush to TN the first time through. We set our navigation to direct us to Adam-ondi-Ahman. There may have been a detour sign or two that we ignored, putting our trust in the soothing navigating voice of Google. That was a mistake.

It took us a little longer than anticipated (we literally back-tracked TWO TIMES... I know, we're slow learners haha). We drove by a few Amish buggies (we didn't have time to make an actual tour of Amish country part of our trip), and I was able to snap this single pic as a reminder.

Since we didn't get a good shot of the Iowa welcome sign coming in, we nabbed one on our way out.

Then immediately crossed over into MO.

We drove for what seemed like hours (oh yes, it WAS hours) on little two-lane back roads and through a few small towns. We stopped for our fave ice cream at Micky-D's, and I had to snap a pic of Mar next to Ronald. I haven't seen one like him for long, long time, and I know I have pics somewhere with my older kids when they were tiny (with cousins, too) around a Ronald just like him. It was a personal request and Mar so kindly obliged.

We finally made it to our destination.

It was a lovely day, and we nearly had the place to ourselves (so nice!).

We learned something new while we were here.

There was a temple site dedicated here.

Mar had looked it up, and sure enough, it states, "Site dedicated but temple not constructed."

It was the third temple planned, but never constructed, as just days after the dedication the Saints were ordered to leave the settlement.

I never knew.

Since there isn't a clearly marked spot where a temple block was dedicated (cornerstones were never laid), we made some guesses to where it might have been. Mar's GPS gave a pretty specific area ("you have arrived"), so we thought we had a fairly good idea.

Our next stop was Far West.

When we pulled up, we were greeted by this guy.

We thought perhaps he was lost, so Mar checked out his tag.

Awesome!

So fun of JR's family to share.

It was neat to reflect again on the sacrifices made by early Saints to do the Lord's will in spite of being persecuted and hated.

We said our good-byes to JR and headed to The Three Witnesses Monument in Richmond.

None of us had ever visited this site before, and found it fascinating. It is located in an old pioneer cemetery in which Oliver Cowdery is buried. The cemetery had been neglected for years, and the Church has helped to restore it as well as possible. Here are a few interesting facts about this monument:

Erected in 1911

A metal casket with a concrete base was placed under the monument which contained copies of

the History of the Church, Volume 1

the Book of Mormon

the Doctrine & Covenants

the Pearl of Great Price

Oliver Cowdery's family geneology

the Contributor, Vol. 5, which contained a history of the Book of Mormon

and engraved portraits of Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris, and David Whitmer.

Dedicated Nov. 22, 1911 by Elder Heber J. Grant

I love that the Church does so much to preserve historical locations and to make improvements, beautify them, and then maintain them.

Our next stop was Independence.

After our long day of driving (+ several detours), we arrived later in the day.

I had wanted to take Mar to the Community of Christ temple (which also includes a museum), but they were only open until 5, so we had missed our opportunity. We were so happy that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Visitor Center was open until 9pm.

In one day we visited THREE dedicated sites for temples, none of which are yet constructed. It's kind of exciting to think of the day when they will all be completed.

Dinner on our final night was here: