City of Joseph - Nauvoo

The only family photo where Eliza is looking at the camera.

The reason for our grand 2400 miles of driving at $4.00/ gallon was to attend Jared's sister's wedding. Brittany is down at Baylor in Houston working on her PHD and she met a really sweet guys who is also at Baylor (yes one day they will be Doctor and Doctor Bitner) . It has been great to have her down here, we have gotten to know Derek, the lucky guy, really well over the past year.

So from St. Louis we headed northwest about 3.5 hours. We rented a bed & breakfast for a few nights about seven miles south of Nauvoo that over looked the Mississippi. It was called the Nauvoo country lodge. The rooms were reasonable, breakfast was good, but the owner was a bit cranky. We walked in and the first thing Eliza did was stick her lips to the window. He growled and said "I just finished washing those". Yikes. But my parents stayed there also and my dad can strike up a conversation with frankly anything that will respond and by the second day the owner had mellowed a bit. All things considered, I would recommend it and we will stay there again.

It was great to return to Nauvoo. It will be 5 years this fall that Jared and I were sealed in the Nauvoo temple. It's slowly becoming a family tradition, Brittany and Derek were the 4th couple out of 7 kids to be married there.

Tuesday we got up and did a session at the temple and then spent the day in Old Nauvoo. If you have never been there, Mormon or not, its a great family destination. Over the years the Church has gone back to the original records and reconstructed or restored the old city. At one time Nauvoo rivaled Chicago in both size and commerce. During the summer they have missionaries that dress up and open all the shops. You can tour everything from the brickery to the bakery, the old time post office to the blacksmith shop. The kids get little bricks and prairie diamond rings (nails bent into the shape of rings at the black smith shop). They have wagon rides if you don't want to walk and even an old time brass band on a wagon that play through the streets. The the best part of it is there is no cost.

Anyway there is more info on the website http://www.historicnauvoo.net/

We were fortunate enough to be there during the Nauvoo pageant. It was great this year. We spent the week with family and just relaxing.

The Nauvoo Pageant
Master of the Stick Pull

Britt and Derek's wedding day was beautiful. They were sealed in the morning and then we had a good dinner at the 1850's guest house. They are so cute together and we wish them the best. Erin said that one day she is going to marry herself. When we told her that is not really possible, she said sure it is, then I'll get all the gifts.

hmmmm....

Then we traveled to Des Monies for the reception and then headed back to Houston (which I might add is an inferno right now).