Nauvoo, Day 2

The rain cleared just as the bus pulled into the Carthage parking lot. Thanks to the help of some good Young Men and their leaders, the card tables were set up, the ice chests were pulled out, and Sister H, Sister K, and I were busily handing out muffins, fruit, granola bars, juice and water. It's amazing how fast you can feed about 120 youth, leaders, and bus drivers when everyone is hungry and tired of sitting on a bus. As quickly as we set things up, we soon found ourselves gathering up the trash, putting away the extras, and going to tour Carthage Jail. I had seen it before, in fact in my pre-blogging days I sent out emails detailing my adventures and I remember doing the Nauvoo trip of 2000 in about 6 installments. Unfortunately, I've changed email addresses and ISP's at least twice since then and no longer have that trip on record anywhere (that's what I get for not printing). What I do remember about my day at Carthage Jail was that 2 1/2 year-old Natalie was at her very worst that day and that for an LDS tourist spot, the only good place to nurse my son had been in my car. Needless to say, participating the Carthage Jail tour without small children is a much more pleasant and moving experience than it is with them.


It was very different to see the tour from the viewpoint of a museum professional than a young mom struggling to keep her kids quiet. Many of the posted signs, verbal cues, and other small details that only someone who works at a historic site would notice leads me to think that we all speak pretty much the same language whether we are paid professionals or full-time church missionaries. (And yes, I can picture Dave and I as missionaries here even more clearly now that I'm home. Which means we really need to learn how to get along before we retire.) It was just interesting to me to be on the other side of it and to see the same tour I saw in 2000 from a whole different perspective. The tour was, of course, quite touching and sad as it always is. We spent more time in the jail cell than I did the first time I was there which was a little disconcerting. (And I'm glad it didn't work that way with my babies in-tow on the first trip, it could have gone quite badly.) When we entered the upstairs bedroom and the tape started, I noticed myself shying away from the window. To read an account of the events leading up to Joseph and Hyrum's deaths at Carthage Jail, I would click here. You can think what you want about the church, but I hope anyone who reads this is in agreement with me that whether you believe Joseph Smith or not, it was absolutely wrong to imprison a man and then leave him to a mob of 200 armed men to be murdered (alongside his brother) in cold blood. Whether in death or in attempt to escape, Joseph's last act was to fall out of the very window I was seated by and I didn't like it. (I mention this only because it is important later) All I could picture throughout the taped presentation was that fall to his death and I found it more upsetting than inspiring.



Soon though, our group's tour had ended and we were headed back to the buses and my thoughts turned, by necessity, to the logistics of feeding everyone at an outdoor venue now that it had (again) begun to rain. Fortunately for us, a grocery store was bringing us boxed lunches and there was a covered pavilion at the Nauvoo State Park. Phew! I got my only visit in with the group that came from my branch while sitting and eating that afternoon. It was very exciting to me that Pres. and Sister C. got to come from Blanchard on the trip as chaperones. It seems to me that those two do all the work and have very little of the fun-they seemed to be glad to be there during lunch and I'm grateful for the ten minutes of talk time we got then because it didn't happen again for the rest of the time we were in Nauvoo.



After lunch, it was obvious that is wasn't going to get any warmer than about 65 degrees that day. Anticipating the mid-80's with the humidity level of a town built right on the Mississippi river, I hadn't packed anything long-sleeved and I wasn't the only one. We decided to ask the fun bus driver if he would take us to the Wal-Mart in Iowa. Of course he would, he rocked. So, the stake leaders, about 1/3 of the kids, and 1/2 of the adults all came along too. Everyone else got to tour Old Nauvoo. Had I known this would be my only chance to do likewise, I might have joined them. But I would have been cold and goodness knows how much I hate that. Instead, I have a new Clark Co. Iowa sweatshirt (and a cute Kermit tee that I happened to spot while shopping) and I got to see the hotel I stayed at on the 2000 trip. Back then, it was the only thing there. Now, there is a Dollar Tree, Super Wal-Mart, McDonald's, and all kinds of other stuff that would have been convenient back in the day. Oh well.



We returned from Keokuk just in time to catch a show at the Visitor's Center and then to go right back to the buses and get everyone checked in to our respective lodgings. The girls were staying at the Nauvoo Family Inn and the boys were at the Nauvoo House owned by the Community of Christ. Since that was where the working kitchen was, that's where the Stake YW Presidency stayed too. I remember joking with my mom on the 2000 trip about how nasty it looked and how I would never want to stay there. I think God must have been listening. In my defense, I was absolutely right. The building itself was clean and incredibly well-preserved for its age. The kitchen was well-stocked and everything was obviously taken care of with a lot of attention. The bunk beds and the bathrooms...well, let's just say it was a good place for the boys to stay and leave it at that. They have added central heat and air in the past 8 years which is good, but it can only work as well as it would when added to any building that was built well more than a century before its invention. What worked better was propping the two old windows up with sticks from outside, but the owners didn't like that. Oh well...at least I'll always have the stories to tell. Once we unpacked, it was time to set up for dinner (yes, my trip completely revolved around making meals and cleaning up after them-it's the recurring theme here). Again, this was catered by the grocery store and all that we had to do was set up, serve, and clean up afterwards. And that was enough by itself-thank goodness we didn't have to do much cooking. Once everything was cleared, it was time to load up the buses again for the evening pageant. They had changed it since I last saw it, something I would usually be excited about-but at this point, what I really wanted to do was curl up on my very uncomfortable (but coveted) bottom bunk and sleep. Did I? Of course not.

We found ourselves back at the Visitor's Center again to put our stuff in the chairs that the Stake YM Presidency had saved for us so that we could wander around the pre-show activities. Just as I took notes of the costumes and hairstyles of the "High Hopes and Riverboats" show from earlier in the afternoon for work purposes, I did likewise while observing the games and activities all around the pageant area. I saw the same games (stilts and 'graces'), but I also saw rag rug braiding, dancing, wood-burning, and a few other things that we don't do. (We have hayrides too, but only on special occasions.) Again, all of it was a lot more interesting to me than it was 8 years ago when my only concern was feeding and calming my children. We sat down a little early and immediately encountered pageant characters. The casting for the pageants is actually pretty neat. Families come down for several weeks in the summer to practice and perform on a volunteer basis. Natalie would love to do this, but I think the whole family has to be talented dancers and singers, not just one daughter out of the 6 of us. Anyway, there seems to be an even bigger focus on missionary work than ever before and I'm afraid a huge group of 120 with only two visitors in the bunch might have been a disappointment. When I was told that referrals get a free CD of the performance, I did give them Mom's name and number. She still talks about the "City of Joseph" pageant 8 years ago and still listens to the CD from it. So, I figured she would like the new pageant soundtrack as well. And she's good at letting the missionaries know her level of interest (and disinterest) in the church when they visit. I just hope she lets me borrow the CD. Still, after a few minutes' visit, I was ready to sit back and talk to Sister H and Sister K again and I really didn't have any other names for them...and yet they kept talking to us. On the drive home we would all agree that it was a bit much. In that moment, we feigned a potty break to get away from our seats (and our visitors) for a minute. And that's when I heard some words from one of the Young Men's leaders that shocked me: "Hey Sister G, I know about YOUR BLOG..."

(to be continued...)