Spring Break!

Ok, so I know it's been forever since I wrote anything, but I had good reason. I had spring break last week, and I went with my my family to St. Louis, Missouri and Nauvoo, Illinois! The whole gang that went included me, my mom, dad, my brother Jon, my Grandma & Grandpa Chamberlain (my mom's parents), and my mom's older sister Jeri. It was so wonderful to finally have a break from school and everything that goes along with it. And I love going to see new places that I've never been to before, so it was great! If I write about everything that we did, that could definitely take up a lot of space, so I'll try to condense it. And don't worry... there will be pictures! Here goes:

On Monday we flew to St. Louis from SLC. Jon was stoked to see the Edward Jones Dome (where the Rams play) and the Busch Stadium (where the Cardinals play) from the road. We drove straight from the airport to the Gateway Arch in downtown St. Louis area. It is so big! And it definitely sticks out in the architecture of the city, because it is made of aluminum. But it is so pretty... it is set in this park with huge trees leading up to it, and it is right on the edge of the Mississippi river. We took the TINY tram cars up the top, and saw a great view of the city from up there! As we were looking at the Mississippi river, we noticed the top of a statue sticking out of the river... we realized that the river was so flooded and much higher than it usually is! It was crazy.

(The Gateway Arch... all 630 feet of it)

(This is one of the tram cars... it fits 5 people, believe it or not!)

(Jon looking out one of the tiny windows at the top of the arch)

(It was so windy and cold in St. Louis!)

On Tuesday we stopped to see the St. Louis temple on our way out of town. I love seeing all the temples because they are all so beautiful! We then drove to Hannibal, Missouri, which is the birthplace of Mark Twain. I honestly was not that excited to see this place, but it actually was kind of cool. I thought it would just have a historic landmark sign off the side of the road, but there was a big part of the town that was the original buildings that he and his friends lived in, and you could see the specific places where he got his stories from. While we were waiting for my grandparents to finish looking around, Jon and my parents and I hiked up to this old lighthouse (we counted 244 stairs) that had a good lookout on the river and the town. We got back into the car, crossed over into Iowa for a few minutes, then into Nauvoo, Illinois! But by the time we got there, everything was closed... we even had to go to a gas station for dinner!

(The St. Louis temple)

(Mom with a cool antique mailbox in Hannibal)

On Wednesday we spent the whole day at Nauvoo. We started off at the visitors' center, then took a wagon ride around the town. We weren't even close to visiting all the houses and stores, but some of the ones we saw were the gun shop, the shoe maker, the black smith, the Smith family cemetery (Hyrum, Joseph, Emma, Lucy Mack, and Joseph Smith Sr.'s grave sites), the post office, the bakery, the cultural hall, the John Taylor home, the Brigham Young home, and the brick yard. Short tours of all of these places are given by senior missionaries, and it was pretty cool to hear the stories of the people that lived and worked there and to see some demonstrations of what life was like in the 1840s. We then went to a really good homecooked buffet at the Hotel Nauvoo. This was the happenin' place in Nauvoo... it was open clear until 8:30 at night! Everything else shuts down at 5 or 6 at night! We finished up the night at a play put on by the missionaries called "Rendezvous."

(The family in the Cultural Hall... we were on the original floor that Joseph Smith danced on!)

(I'm in front of the pioneer memorial that is on the edge of the Mississippi)

We had really good weather most of the trip, but Thursday was raining and cold all day! We drove to Carthage, which is about 30 minutes from Nauvoo, and went to the jail where Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed. There was definitely a very reverent feeling there. We drove back to Nauvoo and took tours of the Mansion House (Joseph Smith's house) and the Red Brick Store. These are owned by the Community of Christ church, and so they give the tours. It is not quite the same feeling as you get in the other buildings shown by our missionaries, but it was still very interesting. We had to cut that tour short so that we could go to the temple! The Nauvoo temple is SO beautiful, and there is such history behind it, so it was amazing that we could go.

(Me standing in front of Carthage Jail)

(Grandma & Grandpa in front of the Nauvoo temple)

On Friday we had to leave early to drive back to St. Louis (about a 3-hour drive) to catch our flight back home. It definitely made me so much more grateful for what the pioneers did, as I was able to be back in Salt Lake only a few hours after leaving Nauvoo. It took them 17 months to make the trek to Salt Lake, and they lost many people along the way. This was a great trip, and I definitely recommend it to any of you who have not been to Nauvoo!! And I'm impressed if you are still reading this... sorry it was so long!