Day 5 - Adam Ondi Ahman, Carthage, Montrose, and Nauvoo

We got up this morning, had breakfast at the hotel and got on our way to our next destination.  We first went to Adam Ondi Ahman.  Through revelation, we know that this is where Adam and Eve went when they were cast out of the Garden of Eden.  The Saints also were here for a time before being driven out.  It was so beautiful!  The trees and rolling hills were just so pretty.  We took lots of pictures and just sat there in the peacefulness for a while.  We left there and headed through the country on our way to Keokuk/Nauvoo.  Sean decided he could live there.  We saw several Mennonites and the country was just gorgeous.  We stopped in a small town (can't remember the name) and had lunch at a park that had a metal slide, merry go round, and teeter totters.  We couldn't believe it!  The kids had never seen such a sight!  As we stopped for gas and candybars on our way out of town, Sean congratulated the workers at the store for growing up in a town with those dangerous parks and living through it (funny man).

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We headed straight to Carthage, Illinois and Carthage jail where we met up with Diane and LaMarr.  They had received permission from their mission president to join us there that day.  Ken and Jen and their girls were also out visiting, so we all were able to spend some time together and do the Carthage tour together.  Another great presentation.  I was amazed at the dungeon cell (I guess it was actually in the upstairs, but it felt like a dungeon)  Somehow in all my years growing up, I didn't realize it was there.  I just thought they spent the whole time there in the room upstairs.  It was a humbling experience to hear the presentation, see the bullet holes in the door, and be in those same rooms where the prophet of our church had once been.

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We left Carthage and headed to Nauvoo and to the Hotel Nauvoo for dinner.  It was a big huge homestyle buffet.  The food was really good.

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After dinner, we decided we wanted to spend some time with our own boys since they had been riding with Uncle Greg the whole time and we hadn't really seen them the whole trip.  We went over to Montrose, which is on the opposite side of the Mississippi River from Nauvoo.  As the Saints crossed the frozen Mississippi river as they were being driven out of Nauvoo, they turned around and saw their city burning.  We went there right at dusk and it was cool to see the temple light up and to see what it might have been like  as they Saints were being cast out of their beautiful city and leaving their temple.  The boys threw rocks in the water and had a rock skipping contest.

We went to WalMart to grab a few things and then Sean and I went to the laundromat with dad to do some laundry since the hotel only had one washer and dryer. Diane and LaMarr met us there and we sat and talked with them while we did our laundry.  It was fun to hear their mission experiences and visit with them for a while.  They came back to the hotel with us and the boys came down and visited with them in the lobby.  The boys had fun swimming at the hotel as well.