Fun in Nauvoo

Behind the Nauvoo Visitors Center is a beautiful garden area with beautiful sculptures paying tribute to women are on display. It was fun to walk through and see them all. There was also a narration you could play as well.
Nauvoo is truly a swamp. We learned on the wagon ride about how the people were given a plot then had to irrigate it and fill it in. It rained while we were there and I saw this view on the wagon ride. Yup, still a swamp.


This is the beginning of the Trail of Hope. It is Parley Street where the saints made the trek down to the river to board the raft to cross the river. It happened to be flooded that day and there were lots of missionaries putting in drainage pipes and filling the trail in so people could actually walk down the street and read the plaques if they wanted. I would loved to have done that, but don't think the kiddos would have been keen on that
More of the trail later in the day after we saw the missionaries filling it in. I couldn't help but wonder what the saints were thinking and feeling when they had to leave the place they built and loved so much. How could they know what would lye in store for them. My gratitude for the saints just grew in leaps and bounds as we drove down this road. Mothers carrying tiny babies, kids in tow, leaving everything they loved behind. Could we do that now days?
Here is a reproduction of the rafts that were used to get the wagons and saints across the river. A little daunting if you ask me!!
Here is the Mississippi River at the end of the Trail Of Hope. I would be pretty nervous with the idea of crossing that huge river with my wagon on a raft!n The teamster on the wagon ride did say that the river is very far over it's banks at the current time, so maybe when the pioneers crossed it, it was much smaller. Nonetheless, a huge undertaking any way you look at it!!


We really loved the Family Living Center. There were different stations you went to that did demonstrations of daily how they did things in daily life during the 1840's. Jordan was VERY into it and talked a lot to the senior missionaries as they would do the demos. So cute. Spencer and Landon wanted to play with the old fashioned toys more than listen. But they did like the rope making. Some of the stations were: sheering sheep and making yarn, brick oven bread making, candle making, rug making, the loom, rope making, pottery, barrel making, and there were buggies on display. We had to keep Landon from climbing under the ropes-he desperately wanted to get in one of the buggies.

We got to keep the rope we made, tasted the bread, and got a little tiny candle, so the kids were thrilled with the freebies. Reminds me of their daddy and getting free stuff. Oh, we also went to a bakery next door to the Cultural Hall and got a free cookie.

They had a super fun musical called "Simply Anna Amanda" in the "Cultural Hall" The kids loved it and the performers were excellent. A must see if you go there.
We stopped at a play area after looking around a bit. Landon had fallen asleep, so Jordan and Spencer and I played a while and Darin looked around the Post Office building as well as the John Taylor House. Lanny finally woke up so he did get a bit of a chance to play.

We had such fun here-stilts, climbing teddy bears, a wooden horse and sheep to sit on, a table "bowling" type game, tops to spin, little pioneer houses to play in, old fashioned hand games, "roll" the wheel game, pull the stick,and much more. It was a blast.
Spencer didn't want to dress up, but he did wear a hat for a minute:)



The play area was so fun. We probably would have stayed a lot longer if we weren't super hungry and sweating buckets. It was so stinking hot and humid. They had a dress up area where you could put on pioneer clothing, but the Maney kiddos weren't down with that-I didn't blame them-it was soooo hot and we were already so sweaty.

Overall, if you can do it, I highly suggest a trip to Nauvoo!! There's a lot of fun things to do, but even more importantly, you can feel the Spirit of the Prophet Joseph Smith so strongly. It was a boost to my testimony and I feel it is a huge gift that I was able to receive!!