Day 9

We went to the Visitors Center in Nauvoo. They had some really cool art work!

All that artwork was made by one woman. It took her 10 months and there were at least 17 of them!

This was in the Garden area out back.

Afterwards, the senior missionaries and some young, local volunteers performed for us at the Visitors' Center. It was really fun!

Day 8

It was very nice to stay at the White House in Palmyra, New York, but we were all excited for the next stop.

Niagra Falls!!! The center was huge and it was full of people. You would see people from India with the little jewels on their foreheads, people speaking German, French, Spanish and even Chinese!

The falls were absolutely amazing! We didn't have our birth certificates, so we couldn't go on the Canadian side where the best views were. It was a cool thing to do though! After that it was all driving to Nauvoo, Illinois. We arrived in Nauvoo at about 6:30 AM Illinois time.

Day 7

On the Whitmer farm they built a chapel to look like the one's in that time. We went to church there, then went through the tour of the farm. This is their house.

And their kitchen.

My attractive, silly brothers!

After resting for an hour or two, we resumed our tour on the Smith farm.

These are the sister missionaries who gave us the tour.

In one of these two beds is where Joseph Smith was when he was praying and angel Moroni appeared to him. Joseph said that the room was as bright as noon day. His brothers slept through the whole thing.

The Smiths later moved to a frame home only about 150 meters from their old one.

Joseph Smith was living within this home when he received the plates.

The Barn.

His fathers workshop where he built Barrels for a living.

Joseph put the plates under a floorboard in the little workshop, but later he was told by the spirit that they weren't safe there, so he moved them up to the loft. When the mob came through they tore up all the floorboards, but didn't even think to look in the loft where the plates were only covered by straw and a little bit of cloth.

The apple orchard where Joseph fell down and had another vision after going to the grove to pray.

The view of the temple from the Smith farm.

The Sacred Grove was so beautiful and peaceful. I think it's the most beautiful place on Earth.

Mom and Dad thought so too.

And we make friends all over the place. This is mine and Clints friend. Her name is Slimey-Sandra the Snail.

Day 6

We ran out of batteries as soon as we walked into the site and I forgot to grab the extras, so we didn't get any pictures. At this time we were in Palmyra, New York.
First we went to see the press where the Book of Mormon was printed. The man who printed the Book of Mormon was not a member and we have no record of him ever joining. The Book of Mormon sold for about $20 which is about $100 dollars compared to now. They later lowered it to $16, but that was still about two days work.
Then we saw the Hill Camora visitors center. It was raining, so only some of us climbed up the hill. We ran into a family from Idaho there. And there was another family going through the tour from Rupert, Idaho, but we didn't wait to find out who they were.

Day 5

There was so much! i'm not sure I can remember it all.

The N. K. Whitney store was a very important place in Kirtland Ohio at the time. The next pictures are all within the store.

It was a post office as well as a store.

You know how you hear those phrases like, “He went the whole nine yards” and, “as dead as a door nail”…We learned where those two phrases came from while we were there. Fabric was imported in 9 yards, so when someone came in they’d say, “I want the whole 9 yards”.
Also, nails were very expensive in those days. So whenever a house would burn down, they’d gather up all the nails. They didn’t grab the nails in the door frame though, because they were bent when they were put in. When they put the nail in the door, they’d call it a dead nail because it could not be reused.

This was the N.K Whitney's workshop.

Joseph Smith received almost half of the revelations withing D&C at this actual table. It is the original.

The place where they had the school of the prophets.

Emma Smith's only place she could call her own while they lived here.

The kitchen that Emma used. The workers had to walk through there to take things down the the cellar.

Now we're out of the N. K. Whitney store. This was the place where N. K. Whitney and his wife lived. His wife wanted a yellow house because that was her favorite color, but at the time yellow was the most expensive color of paint because it was hard to make. Red was the least expensive (that's why barns were always red). Since the store was doing well, they could afford yellow.

After John Johnson sold his farm he opened up an Inn. This is a replaca of the Inn.

The saw mill was made to go extremely fast, but with little water traveling through.

Though you cant tell in the picture...The wheel looked almost as if it was being run by a motor, but there was only tiny bits of water going through at a time.

The ashery. For those of you who don't know, an ashery is where they make soap out of ashes. They paid local people for their ashes, so that was an easy way to get money for those in need. In fact, the area is covered in trees and during that time there were almost no trees because people would take them down and burn them for the ashes.

Day 4

It was not an exciting day. It was all driving.

A lot of people had trouble keeping their eyes open.

Clint drew a fantabulous picture of his future wife.

Day 3

We woke up a little late, so we had to go get breakfast at a place called The Village Inn.

We started out at the Winter Quarters Museum. They had a bunch of real artifacts! Except for the printing press, these pictures are actual things the pioneers had.





The is the first Odometer that my ancestor, Appleton Harmon, built.



Accross the street from the Museum was the cemetary and temple.



The flowers there were absolutely beautiful!





The Kanesville Tabernacle was an exact replica of the old one. Brigham Young was ordained prophet there.


Our day's adventure ended there. We traveled from there to the Travelodge in Iowa City.