Nauvoo is certainly a beautiful city as the name implies (Nauvoo in Hebrew means ‘beautiful place’). I had a hard time imagining it covered in swamps, as it was when the Saints first arrived after being driven from Missouri. It’s located near a bend in the Mississippi River. Goodness, that river is huge! I’ll never think of Utah rivers as anything more than streams and creeks. Insects abound near the river—especially Mayflies. They’re funny little insects that terrified Jared and Christopher—two of the boys on our bus that Tasha and I volunteered to watch. To the east, you can look back and see the temple looking out at the Mississippi. It must’ve been hard for the early Saints to leave after having just finished the original.
When we first arrived in Nauvoo, we went on a bus tour of it before stopping
at a place to eat dinner before the show “Sunset on the Mississippi” started.
We toured the women’s gardens for a bit, looking at all the pretty statues.
Famished we found a place in downtown modern Nauvoo with delicious mint
chocolate frozen custard! I loved it. I’ve always had a sweet tooth for
anything minty and chocolaty. We also dropped by the fudge factory, and
I got some mint chocolate fudge. The dark chocolate/orange flavor I got
was really good too. It’s probably a good thing I don’t live in Nauvoo,
or I’d be getting fudge all the time. Before the show, we went down to lower
Nauvoo and toured some of the buildings. There’s a really neat place that
shows demonstrations on daily life for early Saints. If you’ve got kids
and find yourself in Nauvoo, it’s a good place to visit. We also visited
the Browning home and got a very personal tour because we showed up about
three minutes before everything in Nauvoo shuts down for performances and
whatnot.
The variety show “Sunset on the Mississippi” was really quite smashing. It was fun seeing all of the missionaries and performing missionaries having a good time while singing and dancing. They did a melodrama that was absolutely hilarious. “Sunset on the Mississippi” is free and doesn’t require a ticket, like some of the other shows in Nauvoo.
The next day, Tasha and I got to watch some of the kids as their parents
attended the Nauvoo temple. We went and made some rope before walking to
the visitor’s center and riding a wagon around Nauvoo. There are a lot of
interesting sites in Nauvoo. I think I’m going to have to go back to spend
more time there. I missed out on a lot, just because we only had a day and
a half to spend there. After lunch, Tasha and I went to the temple and did
baptisms for the dead. It’s gorgeous inside the temple—the Church spared
no expense in furnishing it. The lockers to keep your clothes are made of
fine wood, for instance. And the fount is sublime. I enjoyed the experience.
If you plan on visiting Nauvoo and have a recommend, go to the temple.
We then went to the part of Nauvoo owned by the Community of Christ. The Red Brick Store, where Joseph organized the Relief Society, is run as a store. I got some dolls for my nieces and a fan. And root beer. That’s something you need to get at the Red Brick Store—they have very good root beer. We hopped on the bus near the gravestones of Joseph, Hyrum, and Emma and went up to upper Nauvoo to eat dinner at the Hotel Nauvoo. Their food is very good—but the restaurant can be a bit confusing. I kept walking into the wrong rooms with my great sense of direction.
After that very filling dinner, we went and saw the Nauvoo Pageant. It
was superb! The acting was great, and everyone knew their cues very well
(or, if they didn’t, they ad-libbed well). It didn’t have the theatrics
like the Hill Cumorah Pageant, but it was fantastic. It told the story of
the Saints and their struggles up until Nauvoo. The cast in this pageant
was a lot smaller than that in the other pageant, too. But I still recommend
you see it if you can.
"Sorry...I just thought with the captain issue in question, I'd throw
in my name for consideration."
Pintel