As Terri waits for her paperwork to be completed in South Dakota, it gives us a chance to get some errands done, and to visit a few interesting sites around the States.
Our first stop was to fly to Pennsylvania to pick-up our car (a 2006 Prius– a 30th anniversary gift to Terri). While there, we visited with my son Seth and his family. They just moved into a new home they are leasing, and thinking of buying.
They also have a large 3-car garage that Seth can use in his wood-working business.
Our grandson Joshua was thoroughly enjoying his desert…
The land they live on has a ready-made food supply of deer and turkey! I think Seth will soon become a mighty hunter…
After dinner, Joshua and I took a walk in their large yard.
We only stayed in PA a couple of days, and then we were off– driving the length of the country to Utah.
After stopping overnight to rest, we arrived in Nauvoo, Illinois. The Mormon Church recently re-built a temple there. This temple was first dedicated and built back in the 1800′s under the direction of Joseph Smith. After the Mormon’s were driven out of the state and traveled to Utah, the temple was destroyed by fire and storm. It has now been re-built.
Looking at it now (it is almost an exact duplicate of the original), it is hard to believe they could have built something so large and beautiful back in pioneer days!
The details cut into the limestone blocks of the temple are wonderful.
There are ‘sunstones’, ‘moonstones’, and stars on the temple
Here is one of the original ‘sunstones’ from the Nauvoo Temple. I am told there are only two left: this one, and one in the Smithsonian.
Terri and I had the opportunity to go into the Temple the next day to worship. The inside is even more beautiful than the outside. On the first floor there is a large meeting room that resembles the very first temple built in Kirtland, Ohio, with pulpits built on both ends of the room, with seating in-between. The basement has a large baptismal font, set on the backs of 12 oxen (representing the 12 tribes of Israel), while the middle levels are reserved for endowments. We did not get to see the upper floors.
It was a great experience for us both.
During the day we had toured the Nauvoo sites– there are a lot more than when I served here as a missionary 30+ years ago! I did not recognize much. In the evening, they had a small play in the Masonic Hall: part of the purpose of the Nauvoo area is to show visitors how people lived back in the 1840′s, so all the plays, music, etc., is designed to replicate what the people of that time would have seen and experienced.
We had a great view of the Temple from our hotel room. The next day we headed for Kansas City, Missouri.
We had a great view of Kansas City from our hotel room. Terri was there to attend a medical conference dealing with diabetes, while I visited the World War I National Museum that was across the street. Nancy Hopins has created a wonderful new book relating to WWI, and I was there to see if the Museum wanted to buy copies of the new book. They were very excited (I had given them a template for the new book), and said they wanted to buy!
This new book should be ready for sale in a few months.
The next day Terri and I drove straight through to Utah, getting home about 10 pm.
We should be in Utah for another couple of weeks before moving up to South Dakota.
We will continue to use this site to report on our adventures until we actually move to South Dakota, then we will switch to our new blog: pineridgepost.wordpress.com
Here is one of the more beautiful homes located up on Marpo Heights
Each time I go by, it seems as though they have expanded their gardens even further!
This is the old amphitheater located at Kammer beach. They use it occasionally (although the bathrooms no longer work).
And here is the new amphitheater, with the framing removed from the new concrete
You can see the deatail work imbedded in the side of the concrete roof
This detail goes all the way around the outside of the building
Eventually it will be painted, perhaps similar to the other structures around it
There was once a building here that has recently been removed. Perhaps they are preparing the land for a new building?
This was sitting on the dock…not sure what it is: perhaps a new bouy? or maybe a ne goirl?
I met Mel today…I thought he was cooking his breakfast! But he told me he was just cleaning up his property, and burning the old coconut shells…I was dissappointed!
I was surprised to find that some of the new bushes that had been planted up the hill on Broadway are already blooming!
There is always a wonderful veiw of the Carolinas from Marpo Heights
There was a large crowd of workers around the Clinic this morning!
One group was working on the road–digging a trench across both roads
Another group was digging up the grass to expand the parking on the south side of the Clinic
And another group was cutting bushes and cleaning up the grounds
And still another was taking down the tents set up behind the clinic…
