Rendez-vous in Old Nauvoo

I have to admit that, of all our stops, I was most looking forward to Nauvoo. For those that don't know, my religion was founded in Fayette, NY in 1830. Then the LDS (Mormon) saints moved to Kirtland, Ohio, where they built a temple. For various reasons they moved to Far West, Missouri, where they were violently expelled by locals and the Missouri government. After that, they settled near the Mississippi River in a small town (originally named Commerce) that they renamed Nauvoo.

But FIRST! We visited Carthage jail, site of the martyrdom of Joseph Smith (super morbid, right?) Since it was almost raining, it was a pretty slow day. Our tour guide was still in training so she read her little notecards.

The Jailor's kitchen

The more secure jailroom (thick brick walls, no windows)

The room in which Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed

There is still a bullet hole in the door

More of the room

I would write more about the events that occurred here, but that's not really for this blog. It was a special experience.

When Joseph Smith was shot, he fell out this window

The window from the outside-- the second-floor window facing us

The staircase with the front door to my right

Yes, I do find this entire part of the trip to be morbid, but we also visited Ford's Theater when we were in DC, so I guess it's normal for us.

 Statues of Joseph and Hyrum Smith outside of the visitor's center, but behind the jail

Then we were off to the exciting city of Nauvoo!

This model was in the LDS visitor's center

One of the most interesting things, in my opinion, about Nauvoo is that there are both LDS and RLDS-owned tourist spots. The RLDS (or Community of Christ) church owns everything that remained in the Smith family, such as the Nauvoo House where Emma lived after Joseph's death, the mansion house, which was actually a hotel, the Smith homestead, and the red brick store where the Relief Society was organized. Those were the places Josh really wanted to see, so we took a guided walking tour.

The gravestone for Emma, Joseph, and Hyrum Smith

This tour was the source of some of my rage expressed earlier. It also exposed me to a bizarre phenomenon where the tour guide (a 60+ yr old man) gushed over me for being a doctoral student who thought the Kirtland Temple tour was interesting (as though that made a difference). The other people on the tour asked me later what my degree was in, and when I told them they said, "Oh, so it's not in anything relevant." Completely valid. I was confused by the gushing too.

The Nauvoo House-- the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon was placed in a cornerstone. It was found before (too much) damage was done. It's amazing to me that people didn't consider keeping things like that safe from the elements.

The Smith Homestead, where Joseph Smith III (Joseph Smith's son and second prophet of the RLDS church) lived

The mansion house

The red brick store

I pretended like I was present for the first gathering of the Relief Society

The Smith family graveyard. The Mississippi River is in the background.

We never went to any of the LDS touristy stuff (free bricks!) because we were headed to temple #42.

A city set on a hill

Josh has a serious case of Crazy Eyes

The belltower

Sunstones on the exterior

Original sunstone

 From my journal: " The Nauvoo temple is amazingly, shockingly beautiful. I assume that the original plans were used with some modifications. Immediately past the recommend desk there is a meeting room similar to those (1st and 2nd floor) in the Kirtland Temple. To get to the dressing rooms you go up this beautiful spiral staircase. The dressing rooms are the most gorgeous I have ever seen-- with dark wood and beautiful mirrors. It's definitely a departure from all of the others we've seen on this trip. The ordinance rooms have murals (creation, garden, etc) and are progressive. My favorite part is that there are sunstones on the outside of the temple showing off their full faces, but in the Celestial Room the suns are only showing off their eyes. Also there is stained glass on the ceiling of the Celestial Room depicting the phases of the moon. I'm looking forward to coming back here some day."

From the side

The ShepAldery-ist picture of all!

So, when we were in Carthage, the senior missionaries told us that we should go to the musical "Rendez-vous in Old Nauvoo" later that night because it was put on by the senior missionaries in the area. I am so glad we did because I thought it was awesome. And I don't even mean that in a sarcastic way. It was exactly as you could expect-- most people were off-key and terrible actors. Not everyone remembered their lines or knew the choreography. But it was so sweet and heartfelt and I love the idea that these senior missionaries come to Nauvoo and have to do this. If you ever go to Nauvoo, remember to get your tickets for the rendez-vous!

We stayed for one night at the Woodruff Hotel and woke up bright and early the next day for the last leg of our trip-- St. Louis!

The Night Chicago Died

Chicago is most notable for the many toll roads (which is really shocking for a west-coaster). Thankfully, none of the tolls were more than a dollar or so. 

We stayed at the Palomar, which I highly recommend. Once we dropped off our bags, we immediately went to the Magnificent Mile for some shopping. Our first stop? The Lego store. Why? Because my dad is obsessed with Legos and apparently you can't just buy the separate pieces online without great expense. Of course, we ended up buying ten bottles of Lego pieces because my dad wanted wheels.

The Lego store had this cool display of Godzilla tromping down a Chicago street. All made out of Legos. 

We did more shopping, but nothing else of note. For probably months Josh researched deep dish pizza places because he wanted a genuine Chicago pizza experience. He finally decided on Giordano's, which was tasty.

Though they were very busy.

Too busy to fix their sign, it would seem

We capped off the night with a trip to Sprinkles.

 Yum!

 The next day, we made a late start for the Willis Tower. Here is a tip for you if you ever go to Chicago: Go to the Willis Tower as early as possible. Even if it's a freezing day in March, it will be busy! We had absolutely no idea, but it took an hour to get to the top. It was ridiculous.

Willis Tower, grounded version

The view from the top

If you didn't know, Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) is famous for these sky ledges that are constructed so you can wait in line while other tourists (mostly kids) can sit for 20 minutes while their parents take a million pictures, elbow you out of the way, and walk in front of your pictures when you're trying to take one of your husband and/or your feet. 

The "sitting on the floor of the ledge, taking up space and getting in Emily's way" was a popular picture pose

My only complaint is that they built the sky ledges on the really boring side of the building.

Oh, it might also be famous for being tall. How tall? 284 Barack Obamas, that's how tall!

And slightly more Josh Alders tall

We also walked around the city and saw things like:

The Chicago Theater where Charlie Sheen performed a week later

The riverfront, where Josh wanted to go for an early-morning run but it was just too cold!

More buildings on the riverfront

Later that day we went to temple #41. The Chicago temple is sisters with the Dallas and Boise temples. It seems larger than the both of them (especially since you have to walk back through the dressing room from the chapel to the ordinance rooms in Boise), but is actually smaller.

I think this temple is the only one that any of my family members had visiting that I had not because my sisters would do baptisms there with the Rhinelander branch during the summer (we had a house in Wisconsin).

I was the only female in the session, which has never happened to me before. In fact, I think there were more men than women in all of the temples we visited during this trip. My experience in this temple was special-- not because it has unique architecture (though there is what appears to be a kitchenette in the dressing room, which was new to me, and the bathroom looks like it hasn't been renovated ever), but because I heard one of the most moving prayers ever, and because one of the temple workers came up to me afterward and shared with me that she's also a graduate student in a doctoral program. It may seem like such a silly, small thing, but it meant a lot to me. We're a small group-- the doctorate-seeking, childless, LDS females-- and it gets really (really) lonely. But she knew that and we shared a moment of connection.

Our last Chicago meal involved hot dogs at Portillo's. It was good! Josh's research on the place for the best Chicago dog paid off.

 Inside the restaurant

Chicago is beautiful. Josh and I already have tentative plans to return and do some of the architecture walking tours. We could/should have spent the entire week there, but we had to move on to Nauvoo!