Meet Me in St. Louis

For the final leg of our trip, Josh and I made the trek from Nauvoo to St. Louis (with a slight detour into Iowa due to faulty navigation on my part. Thankfully, it only meant crossing the Mississippi too soon and only burned up 10-15 minutes).

The entire trip, Josh kept trying to cheer me up by telling me how warm it was in St. Louis. "It's 73 degrees in St. Louis right now!" he said as we froze in the Chicago wind. Then we got to St. Louis, after hours of driving (by Josh), went to the temple (#43!), came out, and it had SNOWED!

It was still beautiful:

But even the springtime flowers were frozen:

And our car was covered:

We had a quasi-treacherous drive to our hotel, which was close enough to walk to the Gateway Arch (we didn't of course):

The view from our room the next day

I was feeling a little sick (and sick of the traveling pace) so we spent the evening in the hotel. Josh tried to go out and get food but most places were closed (either due to weather or poor business planning). Downtown St. Louis isn't really known for its food, so there were slim pickings (we may or may not have eaten gross wings from Hooters).

We spent the last day of our trip at the Arch. It was ridiculously busy. In fact there was a long line at one leg of the Arch (because you have to go through a metal detector). We were worried because we were going to miss the outdated documentary about how they did the construction! So I told Josh to scope out the other side in case it was a shorter line. He texted me a few minutes later and said, "Line is shorter! Get over here now!" I ran, but it was more of a shuffle because I was wearing boots and holding my phone. For whatever reason, a girl took one look at me and thought I'd be a great candidate to take her tourist picture. "No! I can't! I'm sorry!" I yelled over my shoulder as I ranshuffled to Josh. Quick tip: Buy your Arch tickets ahead of time because they sell out. When we were there, they sold out at 12:30 and began turning people away. You could still see an outdated documentary about how they built the Arch, but really, why would you visit the Arch and not go to the top?

I guess you could see the museum, but. . .

Okay, it wasn't so bad. It was clean and only mostly racist. But we were there to go to the top of the Arch!

First, you line up according to the time on your ticket. Then they give you plastic cards with numbers on them:

Then you wait around for half an hour, only to line up outside of numbered doors:

When the doors open, you see that the tram to get to the top is shaped more like individual eggs:

Then you get in and are all squished together, 5 people to a pod:

When you get to the top, it pretty much looks like this:

The rectangle behind us is a window. This is what they look like from the outside:

There isn't a ton to see, but it's pretty cool to be so high. When you get bored with looking out of the tiny windows, you line up in a tiny hallway and wait for people to come up in their egg pods. As you can imagine, things get pretty cramped:

After the Arch we went on a riverboat tour on the Tom Sawyer:

It was a little cold:

We got to see some fun things, like:

The backside of "The Captains' Return," a statue of Lewis & Clark (with their trusty dog, Seaman) near the same spot where L&C returned from their trek west. Who knew they could walk on water?
(Actually, the statue was specifically designed to handle being immersed in water when the Mississippi River floods, which happens every spring in St. Louis).

A Hobotown

An electricity plant built in 1904

And some bridges

It was a nice ending to our 2,000 mile (seriously), church history, temple-going road trip! It's also going to be the last trip we take for awhile. I don't get a break in August like I normally do because I start working at private practice doing assessments in July. In the future, some time, we will go to the Vancouver temple (maybe for a long weekend), but we have no plans for that now.

One last look at the arch

So You Think You Wear Pants*

In honor of one of my favorite shows, So You Think You Can Dance, returning on May 26, I thought I'd share some of my favorite dance pieces from the show so that you can love them too.

I think it was because I was working at an inpatient drug and alcohol rehab when I saw this piece about addiction that made it so powerful to me. (Honestly, I cry every time I watch it). It's just beautifully danced and full of commitment. It is by far my favorite dance from the show.

I am in love with this next dance, and not just because it has a psychology theme. It also stars one of my favorite dancers, Alex, who should be coming back this season following an injury. I am really annoyed, though, because all of the good clips had their embedding option disabled, so you will have to click on this link and watch it on your own.

This next dance is also incapable of being embedded (BLARH!), so you will also have to link to it here. It's fun, there is some flipping, and I sang this song on our road trip when we passed the actual Hannibal, MO.

Finally, I wanted to share Josh's favorite piece, which he has only seen online because he hates this show and complains about it when I watch it. He likes this particular dance because it's creepy and he likes to say, "Rama Lama Bang Bang."

You should watch SYTYCD with me this summer!

On a side note: I never understood the appeal of American Idol. I had never even watched it before Josh and I got married and I don't watch it now. I didn't understand why people would waste their time voting, etc. But when I began watching SYTYCD I totally got it. And I may or may not have spent two hours one night phoning in my vote for a contestant or two. Especially these guys.

* This is what Josh calls the show. It stuck. He thinks it's hilarious.

Island in the Sun

I'm the Varsity Scout Coach and assistant Teachers Quorum advisor in our ward. There's a combined YM/YW talent show next week, although most of the boys won't even be there. Nonetheless, we thought it best to practice a song this evening... and then eat pizza while watching TRON: Legacy. It was a fun night. Here's the result of our practice:

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!

This is someone else's blog post...

... but I think it is really worth reading. Another great post can be found here.

Josh and I have rarely spoken out about our childlessness, but, trust me, it's on our minds. Sometimes people say things that are ridiculously insensitive (boy, could I tell some stories!), but it's especially awful when such offensive insensitivity is perpetrated by a national organization that I have supported.

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!