Nauvoo Trip - Day 4

On Monday I woke up early to go jogging.  It was really neat to have the Women's Garden behind the visitors' center all to myself.  I also jogged to the Sarah Granger Kimball Home.  I picked up some doughnuts and milk on my way back to the house and John found me when he was on his way to do the same thing.

Later that morning, we had a baptism sesssion scheduled.  It was wonderful to have that time in this incredible temple with all of these beautiful girls.  We had some male names to be done too, and since Jack wasn't up for going to the temple that day, Ben and John baptized each other.

We changed clothes and collected the rest of the group, then headed back to the historic area.

The tinsmith.

Luke got really good at this game in the Pioneer Pastimes area.

We ran into friends from the MBA program!

The Browning Gunsmith shop.

What Jack wanted to do more than anything else was rent bikes and ride around.  The rest of the group wanted to have some down time, so Ben and I took Jack on a bike ride through the historic area and down to the waterfront.  We loved it!

Here, we're on Andrew Hiram Whitlock's land,
with the Mansion House behind us on the left.

This is the grave marker for Hyrum, Joseph, and Emma
in the Smith Family Cemetery beside the Homesatead.

The Mississippi River at the end of Parley Street, where the Saints crossed
to begin their journey West.

This is a cool sculpture depicting Joseph Smith supporting Brigham Young
as they look over the river.  Brigham is holding a map.  The sculpture is called
"Eyes Westward," and I just learned that there's a replica of it in SLC.
Now I want to go see it.

Later in the afternoon we went on a horse-drawn wagon ride through the historic area, then toured some more.

Mill stones behind the bakery.
Seeing these always makes me think of Luke 17:2.
Just imagine...

I like this quote by Lucius Scovil, the owner of the Scovil Bakery.
Every Christmas, I still make the molasses cookie recipe I got at the Scovil Bakery
(along with a corresponding sample) on my first visit.  On this trip, I learned
that the Scovil Bakery operated on consignment - nothing was actually baked there.

The Riser Boot & Shoe Shop

The blacksmith showed us the difference between a horsehoe for a
normal-sized horse and the draft horses that had been pulling us
around on our carriage and wagon rides.

We learned a lot in the wainwright shop.  When the Saints were preparing to move
west, each household had to make their own wheels for their wagons so as not to
overwhelm the wainwrights in town.  But they were all made to the same specifications
so that if one broke, they would be able to fix it using universal parts.

That night we attended a fun music and dancing performance by the Nauvoo Performing Missionaries called "Sunset by the Mississippi."  It was very entertaining and we thoroughly enjoyed it, though we all felt bad for the missionaries having to work so hard in the heat and humidity.

This NPM and several others actually lived in the house next to our AirBNB,
which is the site where Sarah's Nauvoo ancestor lived.  Eliza loved talking
to this sweet sister and found that they had a lot in common.

After the show we got some frozen custard on
Mulholland Street and Jack took another opportunity
to play the street piano.