Nauvoo-Day 4

We got to town early because we wanted to get tickets to the wagon ride. We did. We all went to see the movie Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration. Two thumbs way up!

We broke up into two groups again. My group went to a lot of the houses on the flats. We were to meet again at 12:30 for the wagon ride at 1:00. We got a text from the other group that the wagon ride had been cancelled because the heat index was too high. Whatever, we're from Florida. We'll drive the wagon. JK. I know it's for the animals just as much as it is for the humans. We don't want anyone keeling over on our watch. We were sitting in the tiny, little Pendleton School house when the torrential downpour started. We had to wait a little while. The other group came and looked in the window. We wouldn't let them in. Seriously, there was no room. Plus, it was funny. About ten minutes later, we all met at the Family Living Center and spent quite a bit of time waiting out the rain.

After the rain, we went to Brigham Young's house. On the way out, we saw a crab apple tree and the kids gave them a taste. They said they were sour but tasty.

We then took our walk down Parley Street.

On 30 June 2002, during the final dedicatory service of the rebuilt Nauvoo temple, President Gordon B. Hinckley spoke of Parley Street, which leads to the site of the old Nauvoo Ferry, from which the early Nauvoo Saints began their trek to the Salt Lake Valley. Then he extended a heartfelt request that those present in the temple take time open leaving the service to walk down Parley Street. He asked that as they did so, they think of a young pioneer family and imagine the difficulty of leaving a comfortable home and departing for an unknown destination. A Walk Down Parley Street, Petty, James W. Ensign August, 2003

A few of us stopped in the Seventies Hall so Melena could look up one of her relatives. That was nifty.

Some of us went shopping in the Red Brick Store and then we all walked over to the graves of Joseph, Emma and Hyrum. We sat on the bench and Sister Ingalls explained about the Community of Christ.

We decided that we needed to get as much done as possible in Nauvoo because the next day was Sunday. Some wanted to go shopping for souvenirs. Sister Ingalls said we would go to Keokuk that night for dinner. Several groups went different ways. Me, I got to do the fun part. I got to do a load of laundry. Most of it was mine and Jensen's anyway. She had worn her church shirt on the wrong day even after writing down her outfits on a card. The kids had actually listened to what I said about packing and had packed enough outfits, amazing.

Some of the kids were starving so decided to go ahead and eat. The restaurant they went to was right across from the laundry mat so I went and sat with them. The food looked disgusting so I decided to wait for Keokuk.

One group got finished early. They saw me putting the laundry in the van so they decided to sit in the van and wait. I walked around the back of the van to go to town and the rest of the groups. I noticed that the bumper on the back of the van was pushed in and punctured. I had not noticed this before. When Roxanne got to the van she looked at it. She didn't remember it being that way either. She had walked around the van when she rented it and pointed out every little ding and scratch so that she would not get charged for it. I could tell she was really upset and worried. We figured that someone had backed into us and then fled. And in the temple parking lot!

We carried on with our plans for dinner in Keokuk. Most of the restaurants that were on the GPS were no longer in business or just looked rather skank. We decide on a cute little Mexican restaurant which can be rather dicey. It had all of the signs of authenticity when we walked in. The dinner was rather tasty and worth the wait. Not the best I have ever had but tasty.

Back at the motel we were able to get in another night of swimming and jacuzzi-ing. Sans boys. Yea! (They're just so loud and splashy)