Road Trip Rule #23: Don't leave folks hanging.

Alright folks. I should be doing something much more productive. Like finding something to wear for a wedding this weekend, or continuing on the Massive Project we have underway around here, or figuring out how to pay for the ridiculously expensive textbooks I need for the coming semester. I'd rather do this though; play a little catch up on the good old blog-a-roo. There's a gaping hole in the road trip story and some of you have alluded to this. I do apologise, and will try to not let it happen again. Though how I can follow through on such a promise is beyond me. See, the problem was two fold - we got to Nebraska and had such a good time relaxing that there was a decreased desire to blog (yup, my personal laziness strikes again) then once I had gotten behind the task of catching up was overwhelming. Fear not though, I am pretty sure the upcoming weeks will provide plenty of fodder for blog magic. And there's plenty still from the road trip to illuminate this corner of cyberspace. I know y'all are excited.

So, onward!

First, some Nauvoo highlights. I love the Lucy Mack Smith house. I've always been impressed by her - sometimes I wonder what that would have be like to have your fourteen year old announce he had seen a vision. It also had really nice flowers outside and I'm sort of a sucker for such things.

I have also just noticed that the front of the house was not symmetrical. This would have driven me crazy. I'm a big lover of symmetry.

The inside of the house was so compact. The stairs were practically a vertical slope. I really liked a pair of lace gloves they had on display so I took a picture then decided that they were freakishly small so I liked them even better. Lucy only lived in the house for a very short time and then moved in with the rest of her family as I recall.

We did see other places in Nauvoo including the Brigham Young home, John Taylor home, and the Post Office. It was interesting to see pictures of Nauvoo at the time and realise that there were so many more buildings than there are now. The way it is now you could be forgiven for thinking there were only a handful of people in a little village by the Mississippi. Not so my friends, not so. This was quite the bustling little town apparently. Big enough to justify this temple at least!

I've actually visited the temple before so we did not spend a lot of time there. I wanted to visit as many of the homes and buildings that are around the town as possible. Then of course someone mentioned the pageant and I had to go to that. I've never been to any of the LDS pageants so it was high time.

Singing, dancing and story telling. Also a random Scottish family who wore kilts/tartan throughout and spoke in passable accents (I can pronounce such a thing being as I am Scottish and all and despite losing my own accent. Yes, I recognise the hypocrisy). Enjoyable.

No one took holding their seats as seriously as we did as you can see from the picture, we are the only ones physically holding our seats. This may actually have more to do with the fact that other people had brought printed name tags, tape, twine and blankets to reserve there seats. Serious business this. Still, our early seat holding allowed for plenty of interaction with the and the opportunity to snack on delicious, freshly purchased fudge. Can't argue with that.

Oh! One more Nauvoo thing. I took this picture with one of you in mind. Can you see what it is? Anyone? Anyone?

Yup. A Hair wreath. Full on made of hair. All for you Ms. Hansen. All for you.