nauvoo: day 1

This wonderful trip of mine began early in the morning on July 8. I met friends at the Tulip (aka Tamra/ Jibber's house) at 6:15 am so that we could make it to the airport with enough time for the guys to check bags and still be on time for the flight. We slid through security pretty easily except that Matt and Whitney were chosen randomly to have their bags searched. Bummer. We got to the gate with time to spare so I went with the guys and Whitney to find some breakfast. I forgot for a quick second that airport food is gross. There went five dollars out the drain on a breakfast burrito.

R to L: Whitney, Maggie, and me

L to R: Whitney, Laura and Matt's feet, Jon, and Tamra

We started boarding the plane right on time. I sat next to Tamra, Matt, and Maggie, with Laura and Whitney in the row ahead, Justin by himself in the back and Jon somewhere.... I can't remember. We sat on the plane for two hours before we even started moving towards take off. Thanks for nothin' Delta. The plane was too heavy so they had to get rid of fuel and ask for people to take a later flight while they took all the checked luggage and put it on the later plane. Jon was the only one with a checked bag. Darn..... I brought along my new Kindle and it kept us entertained for most of the time. I found this free game called Pixel Perfect Puzzles and Tamra went crazy over it. You make pictures on a grid. It uses a lot of brain power. All the friends around us played and by the time we were actually in the air, we were all hooked.

Tamra and me, after we landed, with smiling faces

After four and a half hours in a tiny little space, we finally made it to St. Louis. We were already a little peeved at the airline and then we had trouble with Jon's checked bag. We sat there in the airport for an additional hour as he tried to explain where we were headed and where they should send his suitcase. The problem began because few people in the airport had actually heard of any place called Nauvoo. One of the flight attendants thought that we were flying overseas! No friends, just three hours away from this very spot.

Justin doesn't like to pack light ;)

Most of our troubles behind us, we headed out in our two rental cars (nicknamed by Laura "Black Diamond" and "Fluffy Bunny") and hit the road. We were lost for the first few minutes because without mountains, we couldn't figure out which way we were supposed to go. Then, randomly, we ended up at Chevy's for some food. I like Mexican food but I am not a huge fan of rice and beans. The chips and salsa were amazing though! And my fried ice cream. Oh man, order me another one of those.

L to R: Maggie, Justin, Whitney, Tamra, Matt, and Laura

With full stomachs, we were back on the road. I was riding in Fluffy Bunny with Laura, Tamra, and Justin. Laura and Tamra wrote a Nauvoo song that we sang to the other car via cell phones. A full ride of three and a half hours let us watch the sun go down over the river. We pulled into Nauvoo when it was dark but the initial realization of where I was was amazing. We drove along the river right by the river and across the way, I caught my first glimpse of the Nauvoo temple. They were practicing the pageant so the stage was fully lit up but the temple was in shadow. Still, I could see enough. It took my breath away.

I was so excited that I hollered out and tried to point out the temple, but trying to get the rest of the car to see it proved a little harder than expected. I swear it was a full five minutes of me pointing and telling them where it was. Justin found it quickly but Tamra and Laura were a different story. Five minutes later, Tamra says, "Oh, it's there in the shadow." Don't worry- that was exactly what I was telling them. Justin just laughed.

Then we were off to find the house we were staying in. We followed the same road for awhile and didn't see anything. We found what we thought was the right street and started looking for #4544. Well, the numbers went 4542 to 4546. Uh....what? Some of the group went on an adventure around the two houses while Laura and I found an older gentleman walking his dog. Laura drove over and asked about the number. When I mentioned the words Gate House, he let us know we were on the wrong street and that the house we wanted was up above us with its lights on. We stayed in the bottom level of a castle! It was beautiful! 

I felt like we belonged in the movie Tangled.

The bunks where us girls slept. I was in the bottom over to the left that you can't see.

Dining room was in the bottom of the turret. I love the rocks on the wall.

Living Room where the boys slept, even though there wasn't a door to separate the two spaces.

I have never seen such a huge shower!

We even had castle doors!

After we checked out the whole big room where we were staying, all the luggage was inside and beds were assigned, we headed out for a walk to look at the Mississippi River. I had my first experience with fireflies! Matt caught one in only a matter of minutes. I wish we had them in Utah. At times, I couldn't tell which were stars and which were fireflies. I really wanted to bottle one up and take it home with me, but I figured that would be more disgusting than enjoyable, so I didn't.

We ended the night with scripture study. I've never done that on a friend trip before, that we get together before bed and have scripture study. I was reminded how awesome these people are! Everybody in their pajamas surrounded the pull-out bed that Justin later nicknamed "Death" (it was really that bad of a mattress. I felt bad for him.), and we started to read. That first night we read Joseph Smith's recounting of the First Vision. It was the perfect way to start this vacation of ours and was the perfect foundation for the rest of our activities.

Just wanted to show you what "Death" looks like. And I mean the mattress, not Justin.