We are all loaded and on our way East! I didn't mention before, but we had a very difficult time packing. I didn't know what we would have in an appartment, what I should take....and of course I wanted to take much more than we had room for. Our car was so packed it was low to the ground. Thanks to Liz and Taylor giving us their car top carrier, I was able to pack even more and now are car looks at speed bumps and puts itself into pack and says, "No WAY!"

We left the Provo Temple about 3 PM and drove straight to Bear Lake where my mother is from. I love the first veiew of the lake from Logan Canyon. I grew up going here summers to visit grandma and grandpa. It was like coming back home to me.

After I traditional raspberry sunday in Garden City we went right to the St. Charles cemetary where mom and dad and grandma and grandpa and family are all buried. It was almost sunset and never looked more beautiful to me.

I had a good visit with mom and dad while Phil gave me a little while alone. (This is where I want to be buried also.) It was wonderful and very peaceful. The next day we were on to Martin's Cove WY.

This is where the Martin Handcart company got stranded one winter coming to Salt Lake. They left too lake and experienced an early winter and hardships untold.

The church has made an historical site honoring those who suffered so badly here that winter. Here are handcart replicas that church youth groups come to experience a little of the trek across the wilderness. I couldn't help me compare all I had loaded into our car for only two years. I felt humbled.

Martin's company was found bythe early rescue group that Brigham Young sent out from Salt Lake. There were almost 1000 people that they moved these rocks into a cove to protect them from the worst winter storms and where there was some wood to build fires from. This area is called Martin's Cove. Almost 200 died in this group.

This is the Sweetwater River that all the Mormon wagon trains were happy to get to because it was good water. It's in the same valley as Martin's Cove...but because of the winter storms it added more suffering for this group because it was one more river they had to cross in the freezing weather. This is where the famous story took place about the three young rescuers carrying people across all day and suffering greatly themselves because of the exposure to the elements.

Here is Devil's Pass. Not far from Martin's Cove and another landmark the pioneers used to find and measure their distance along the trail. Across from it (to the south) is rattlesnake hill. As you read the pioneer journals they tell about a stretch they crossed where rattlesnakes were everywhere. That is here. Those of you that know my extreme fear of snakes will be amazed I actually got out of the car, went off the road to read a placard over a lone grave. I kept a LOUD prayer in my heart and almost ran back to the car after I was done. The senior missionary couples here told me they adverage about 2 snakes a day they have to kill as they give tours. I am so glad I am going to Palmyra!!!

A little farther east in Wyoming we came to Independence Rock, another major landmark for the Pioneers. The pioneers used this rock as a post office also, leaving mail here for other wagon trains coming along the Mormon Trail. Many pioneers carved their names into this rock including Brigham Young.


We went across Wyoming and Nebraska. Just before the Missouri River (actually on the banks of the river) is where the first group of pioneers wintered on their way from Nauvoo to the Salt Lake Valley. They called it Winter Quarters. (Omaha is now a little South of it). It was here that they built a town for shelter and planted crops that the other groups following them could harvest. It was a very hard winter and many of them (we think it is about 900) were buried on the hill overlooking the river.

This is a monument to the pioneers at that gravesite. As Phil and I walked along the graves there was an amazing spirit there.

President Hinckley dedicated a temple there in 2000. It is on the very land south of the cemetary. He said the ground was already sacred by the lives of the pioneers buried there that he did non need to dedicate the ground for the temple. We could fell the sacred nature of the area just in walking it.



We were there on a Sunday and temples are not open on Sundays so we could only see it from the outside. Someday I would love to go through this temple because I think it is extra special.

These are the front doors that were very interesting.

A close up of the leaf patterns on the doors.

Here is the temple from the side. Small, but very beautiful. I am sure the pioneers that struggled so hard here were thrilled to a see a temple built here.

Here is a veiw of the temple from across the street at the visitor's center.

We crossed over the river and went to church at Council Bluffs, another LDS pioneer site. Somewhere after that when we were on the road through Iowa towards Nauvoo we saw this sign and had to take a picture of it. Neither of us can really remember where it was, but thought it was very important to share with all of you.



Then we crossed the Mississpi River and got to Nauvoo, which means Beautiful City. When the saints were persecuted and fled from Missouri, the people of Quicny, Illinois took them in. A little later Joseph Smith found a place up the river that no one really wanted because it was a swamp. He bought the land and the saints drained the swamp and built a wonderful town and called it Nauvoo. It is right on the river and was the largest town in Illinois at the time. Even bigger than Chicago.

The visitor's center in Nauvoo has a Women's Garden out back. Mother loved it and so it is very special to me also. It is statues in bronze of the different stages in a righteous woman's life. Here are a few of them.

This one is my favorite because it was mother's favorite. She even bougth a small replica of it which I cherish.

Joseph and Emma

This is the road from Nauvoo (atleast the way we came) south along the Mississippi River. It is beautiful. It was the way we went to go to Carthage and back.

Sunset on the way back from crossing the river to go to a restaurant in Keokuk, Iowa for Phil's birthday dinner. It was great food and a wonderful day!

The Nauvoo Temple was the main reason the saints went through all they did. It is a shining memorial to their dedication and fortitude and very beautiful on the bluff overlooking the river.

Phil and I went through a session there the morning we left. What an amazing experience. We also got a tour of the baptistry, the spiral staircase and all the framed artifacts along the back hall.

This is a statue of Joseph and Hyrum as they left to go to Carthage. Joseph was certain they would not come back alive. He turned to Hyrum over looking the city and said, "This is the most beautiful city and the best people under heaven."

We took this tour (in fact it is Phil standing up in the back) of the buildings in Nauvoo.

Joseph red brick store where he held important meetings with the 12 apostles and was able to confer the keys of authority he held prior to his death so the church could continue after he was gone.

A statue of Hyrum and Joseph out side of Carthage Jail.

This is the walkway to the jail and visitor's center. It was beautiful and the spirit we felt here was like none other.

When they went to Carthage they were held in a downstairs cell for a day. Because of all the threats made on their lives by the Carthage Greys (a city militia), the jailer moved them to his bedroom upstairs. The next day while the jailer was out the mob rushed up the stairs and shot through the door killing Hyrum.

John Taylor was wounded very badly and was pushed under the bed by the shots.

Joseph went to the outside window to try to free the others from the mob. He was shot from the doorway as well as outside and landed near this well

Here is the upstairs window he fell out of.

This is the jail from the southeast back view.

KIRTLAND, Ohio

Newell K. Whitney's store. He and Elizabeth, his wife prayed for the truth and Joseph was told of the Lord to go to Kirtland. He went first to this store, went inside and said, "Newell Whitney, I am Joseph the Prophet. You prayed me here. What can I do for you?"

They joined the church and many other also in the area. He opened his home and store to Joseph and Emma. It became the headquarters of the church in early Feb. of 1831.

His store


This is the upstairs room where the School of the Prophets was held. Many important things were revealed here including the organizatio of the first presidency. It was the first MTC where the saints were prepared for missions and also the Word of Wisdom was revealed here. D&C 89
God the Father and his son Jesus Christ appeared to several here. A very sacred place.

Another corner of the same room.

This is in the Whitney's home across the street from the store.

This was the saw mill in the town. When the Lord told Joseph they needed to build a temple, the town's saw mill couldn't provide all of their needs so they built their own.

The saw was driven by water power.

The saw blade and carriage.

The water wheel that ran the saw and carriage.

Some examples of the work they did for the temple

This is the John Johnson farm in Hirum, Ohio, about an hour's drive south of Kirtland. The Johnson's son was baptized into the church and so they and their minister went up to Kirtland
to meet this 'prophet'. Mrs. Johnson had a withered hand and during that first meeting, Joseph noticed it and asked if she would like it healed. He did and the whole family as well as their minister were baptized.

The Johnsons became an itegral part of the church history. When threat to Joseph's life became so bad that Kirtland was no longer safe for him, the Johnson's took he and his family in.

This is the bedroom that Joseph was dragged out of in the night by a mob that tarred and feathered him. He was sleeping with a sick little son who was left uncovered in the night when the took Joseph. Joseph survived the beatings, but a few days later the baby died due to the exposure of the night. Emma was taking care a the other twin and fainted at the sight of Joseph when he came back.

This is the room upstairs where much of the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants were recieved. Section 76 was revealed here to both Joseph and Sidney Rigdon. Other's were present and watched the two of them as the heaven's opened and they talked about what they were seeing.

This was a copy of the Bible Joseph used.

When the mob took Joseph they were trying to kill him but one of them put a paddle of tar in his mouth. Then when they tried to poor poison down his throat the harden tar saved his life. The very next day the bruised and flesh torn prophet preached from the Johnson front porch a sermon of brotherly love, kindness and meekness to some of the very people that tried to kill him. He did not want to let anyone know who they were because he was afraid his followers would take revenge.

A pretty flower

We are now almost to NY

But got to go through a corner of Pennsylvania and it too was lush and beautiful.

More incredible green....................

New York was similar to Iowa, Illinios, Ohio, and Pennsylvania......beautiful greens farm lands everywhere! I wanted to get out and roll in the lushness of it all.

Almost here.......

Village of Palmyra!!!!

WE ARE HERE!!! Thursday, September 9th, 2010 at about 6:00 PM