Hannibal

Leaving Nauvoo, we drove south, eventually crossing into Missouri.

We ate dinner and wandered around Hannibal a bit.

Saturday morning, we set out to discover Mark Twain's hometown.

Sarah helps paint the fence while Matthew, Megan and U watch.

Matthew and Megan in Huck Finn's boyhood home.

Me in Mark Twain's boyhood home. It was fun reading about his life. We learned about the people behind the stories and the real stories behind some of the stories. Mark Twain was quite the character!

Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher.

Matthew and Sarah.

Matthew and Megan.

U and Me.

We took a river cruise aboard the Mark Twain Riverboat. From Hannibal, Nauvoo is 66 miles and 18 hours upstream while St Louis is 120 miles and 24 hours downstream.

Sarah, Megan and Matthew up top where we sat. Notice the variety of pipes and horns on top of the boat.  They blew them all at once.  It was very loud!

The Mark Twain Lighthouse atop the Cardiff Hill.

Sarah, Me and Matthew on the boat.

U and Megan.

Lover's Leap.

Beautiful bald eagle.

What lovely decor.

The riverboat.

There was a park nearby where the kids enjoyed playing.

This was a really cool swing. It would work well for a caretaker to swing with a young child. Our kids loved using it as well.

Matthew and Sarah.

Megan and Matthew.

Megan, Matthew and Sarah. I love the look of pure delight on Megan's face.

Downtown Hannibal. Megan really liked the colorful building (which sold homemade ice cream) and wanted us to take a picture.

Mark Twain liked India.

Some of why he liked India so much. And I must agree that there is only one India. Of course, the picture is of the one building in India.

Cute fire hydrant!

Becky and Tom.

Megan and Matthew.

We toured the Mark Twain Cave. It is an interesting cave with a whole bunch of passageways that criss cross each other. It would be very easy to lose your way.  It is mostly dry with just rock. There are a few areas that have stalagmites and stalactites.

Sarah, Me, Matthew and Megan.

One of the many passageways.

Running our hand along the alligator's back.

Another part of the cave. Lots of people have engraved their names in the rock, including bandit Jesse James. What is interesting is that while they are preserving the names that are already there, it is now considered a crime to add your own name (the value of old graffiti versus new graffiti).

Sarah, Megan and Matthew sitting on a stone ledge above mom and dad.

The Devil's Backbone.

Beautiful area lit up with lots of LED lights.

One of the natural entrances to the cave.

View from Lover's Leap.

What beautiful flowers and butterflies!

Matthew and Megan.

We visited the Mark Twain Museum which had interactive scenes from many of his books as well as some historical items. Many of the original Norman Rockwell drawings for Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn were there as well.

Matthew sounding the riverboat horn. It was loud!

Megan sounding the horn while Matthew and Sarah steer.

Mark Twain himself visited and told us about the real life inspiration for many of his stories.

Statue of Tom and Huck at the bottom of Cardiff Hill.

With the lighthouse at the top of the hill. There were 244 steps.

U, Matthew and Megan with the lighthouse. When Matthew saw the lighthouse, he knew it must be the Ocracoke Lighthouse (in Outer Banks) because that lighthouse is all white too.

We finally found a North Dakota plate! This was the last license plate we needed to finish the license plate game. (For reference, we found the third to last plate--Rhode Island--2.5 weeks before at Mount Vernon. The second to last plate--Montana--was found in Nauvoo just a few days before.)

At the "Renowned Liars Table." It's amazing how our reputation preceded us! We had a yummy dinner and enjoyed some malts and shakes as a special treat after dinner.

Nauvoo

Thursday morning, we crossed back into Illinois to visit Nauvoo. After a quick trip to the visitor's center, we set off to see the sights.

The kids enjoyed being able to pet the oxen.

Matthew, Sarah, Megan and Me on the oxen wagon ride.

We went on a tour of the the Community of Christ sites. This is the Nauvoo House.

Pretty red-winged blackbird that was flitting about.

The graves of Emma, Joseph and Hyrum Smith.

The Smith Family Homestead. This is one of the locations that Joseph and Emma lived during their time in Nauvoo.

The upper level of the Red Brick Store. This is the room in which the Relief Society was organized.

The family in the upper room.

Joseph Smith had an office upstairs as well.

The office.

We went on a carriage ride through the woods.

Petting the horses after the ride.

Matthew, Sarah and Megan loved climbing on the many wagons and carts that were in Nauvoo.

We visited some of the homes and stores including Brigham Young's home, Lucy Mack Smith's home, the brickyard (where we got a brick), the blacksmith (where we got prairie diamonds), the 70s Hall, the school and log cabin, the printshop and the bakery. It was quite different from Williamsburg as every place was a tour (versus exploring on our own).

Matthew and Megan were happy with their cookies from the bakery.

Matthew showing the hidden keyhole.

Matthew, Sarah and Megan in a covered wagon.

Sarah, Matthew and Megan prepare to speak in the 70s Hall.

Matthew giving his sermon.

U with Matthew and Megan.

Dress on the bed in the Lucy Mack Smith home. This place has super steep stairs!

U, Matthew and Megan practicing their lessons in the schoolhouse.

Megan went to do some pioneer activities at the Country Fair with U. Here she is tying a quilt.

In a gunny sack race.

Matthew, Sarah and Me went to a show "Sunset By the Mississippi" which was a lot of fun. It started with a children's parade. Matthew and Sarah both got instruments and joined in the fun. Here they are on the stage at the end of the parade.

The show was fun and funny. The young performing missionaries did a lot of dancing and singing while the senior missionaries had us all laughing about senior moments. The senior men also had a song about how tough and strong they were which they sang while picking each other up and showing their muscles.

All three kids enjoyed playing stick ball.

We enjoyed watching the Nauvoo Pageant.

The Nauvoo temple all lit up after the pageant.

The next day, we enjoyed listening to the young performing missionaries sing and put on little vignettes.

We visited the John Taylor home.

The kids had a great time playing at Pioneer Pastimes.

Sarah walking on stilts.

Me trying to walk.

Matthew riding a horse.

Sarah and U playing stick pull. U had a definite advantage so he simply held onto the stick and had Sarah try to pull him up. It was still a challenge for her!

Sarah and Me playing.

The young performing missionaries serenaded us with their beautiful music.

Matthew loved being a helper around the log cabin house.

Megan in a cute dress and bonnet with Me wearing a bonnet as well.

Helper Matthew gathering wood for the fire.

Sarah tried on a bunch of different dresses to determine which looked best. We think she looked nice in all of them.

What a cute kid!

She really liked this dress.

Matthew got in on the dress up action as well. He looks really dapper in this outfit.

Outside the log cabin home.

Matthew helping in the kitchen.

Megan caring for the animals.

Sarah with a climbing bear.

Sarah doing the rope pull with one of the senior sisters.

Sarah and mom doing the rope pull.

Matthew studying in the schoolhouse.

We watched "Just Plain Anna Amanda."

Megan and "Anna Amanda."

We toured the Browning Home and Gunshop.

View of the temple from the Browning's backyard.

We went to the Nauvoo Family Living Center where missionaries explained to us how they did several crafts in the 1840s. We were a bit surprised it wasn't more hands on (like having the kids dip candles) but it was interesting.

Watching the weaver.

The kids really enjoyed helping make a rope and went to the presentation multiple times. Here, everyone is holding the rope before it is cut.

The kids wanted to play a bit more at Pioneer Pastimes. They even put on the same outfits!

Matthew and Megan in a wagon.

We went by the temple.

U, Matthew, Me, Megan and Sarah in front of the temple.