Day 7: Nauvoo

I am having trouble uploading pictures from the first day at Nauvoo. I wrote a whole post to go along with them, so I will hold off posting and just post the pictures from our second day at Nauvoo. It was packed.

We started out the morning early, at 6:45. We went to the Nauvoo Temple for the 8:00 session.

The Nauvoo Temple was originally finished in 1846, just before the members of the church left for the Salt Lake Valley. It was eventually destroyed. In 2002, it was rebuilt and rededicated in exactly the same place, almost exactly as it was originally.

Here we are in front of it.

And here's a shot of the temple with a water tower behind it. Just like the one in Lubbock.

After we changed, we headed back to Old Nauvoo, where we walked along the Trail of Hope, which was the street where the church members lined up to begin the journey west, all the while having a pretty good view of everything they were leaving behind. Along the trail are quotes from the people who left, things they wrote in their diaries.

Also along the trail is a spot where you can see oxen.

An ox is not a specific breed of cow. Rather, it is any animal bred to pull cargo. I didn't ask if that mean a chicken could be an ox. But I wondered.

Here I am next to an ox. The pair that were pulling people in a wagon were named Hank and Homer. I am embarrassed to say that my mom and I rode on the wagon in a tiny circle around the yard.

Here is a shot of oxen under a baptismal font. The imagery and symbolism makes a lot more sense to me now.

When we were done there, we had lunch on the main street in Nauvoo. Mom and I loved the place where we ate, which reminded her of Grandpa Hopkin's Cafe in Morgan.

After lunch, we headed to the Nauvoo Cemetery, where I called Grandma Pete to see if we had any relatives who lived in Nauvoo. As it turned out, we did.

Our next stop was the Land and Records Office, where we were able to look up some of Grandma's relatives who actually lived in Nauvoo. They let us burn their records on a CD to take home.

We also made a quick stop at Lucy Mack Smith's house and Brigham Young's house.

Amazingly, we also made it to Warsaw and Carthage Jail before dinner. I have more to say about Carthage, but I will have to save that for a time when I can upload my pictures.

Eventually, we got back to the bus and headed for dinner at a steakhouse. Then we got back on the bus and headed back to Old Nauvoo for the pageant.

During this trip, we will see two pageants: Nauvoo and the Hill Cumorah Pageant. They are vastly different. Nauvoo involves singing and dancing, and the memorization of lots of lines. The Hill Cumorah Pageant is narrated by a recording, and the actors get a week to learn everything they need to know. The Nauvoo pageant is performed on a stage, while the Hill Cumorah Pageant is performed on the hill itself. The Nauvoo pageant is stunning and well-performed, but it is not as big as the Hill Cumorah Pageant, or as widely attended, from what I could tell. But we loved it. The focus of the pageant is life in Nauvoo, and finishes with the completion of the Nauvoo Temple, which was lit up at the end of the play. Beautiful.

Blogger is not letting me upload any new pictures, so this will have to do for now.

By the time we got back to our hotel room that night, it was 11:00. It was a long day, but a great one.

Day 6: Nauvoo

Our day started out without any orange juice mishaps. We bought milk at Wal-Mart the night before, so we had that with two cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

We drove to Nauvoo in the morning and stayed there all day. First, we saw the buildings owned by the RLDS Church, which includes the home Joseph and Emma Smith lived in when they first moved to Nauvoo,

the Mansion House, which they built later,

and the Nauvoo House, which was built as a hotel, but in which Emma lived after Joseph died.

We also saw the graves of Joseph, Emma, and his brother, Hyrum Smith.

Our tour guide was named Kevin. Thus far, he has been the best tour guide we have had. He has been working as a tour guide for four years, and he was very knowledgeable and very smooth.

We also saw the Red Brick Store, which Joseph ran for a few months, until he began to lose large amounts of money due to his tendency to give away his inventory when people couldn't pay. While someone else took over the store portion of the building, the upstairs was used for church meetings, and as an office where Joseph worked. It is the site where the Relief Society was organized.

In Nauvoo, much of what you see is a reconstruction of the buildings that were originally there. However, some of them have remained largely intact over the years.

After the tour finished, we went to the LDS Visitors' Center where we watched the Joseph Smith movie that was made a few years ago. We ventured out into the garden, where the Women's Monuments are. There are several statues depicting women in various roles. My mom made me pose next to this one:

If I were not such a good daughter, I would have had her pose next to this one:

After that, we had lunch in town (the part of town that is not historical sites). There were only a handful of places to choose from, so Mom and I opted to get pulled pork sandwiches from the local grocery store, which we ate on a bench outside.

After lunch, we headed back to Old Nauvoo, to the buildings the LDS Church owns. That's when it sort of becomes a blur.

We first toured the John Browning home. For those of you who hunt and fish, this is gun/fishing pole maker. I didn't realize he was one of the early members of the LDS Church, but he was.

We also toured the John Taylor home, the general store/post office, the tinsmith, Wilford Woodruff's home, and the brickyard. In between, we would get back on the bus so that we could rest in a cool place.

For dinner, we found this little restaurant on the main street in town that sold sandwiches and sub-zero ice cream. We each got a Porter Rockwell, which is turkey, ham, and three kinds of cheese, drizzled with barbecue sauce and grilled in a panini press.

After dinner, we located the store in town that sold fudge. If you think we were able to go in without buying anything, you obviously don't know me or my mom that well.

We headed back to Old Nauvoo one last time to watch a production called "Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo," which was a short play about the LDS Church in Nauvoo prior to, and immediately following the death of Joseph Smith. What made this play terrific was

a) It only lasted an hour.

b) All of the actors were the same senior missionary couples who had led the tours earlier that day.

Let me pause to say that, seeing all of the senior missionary couples throughout the day reminded me of the dream I once had to spend a week in Nauvoo and a week in Palmyra studying the relationship dynamics of LDS senior missionary couples as a follow-up to my thesis. Sigh. Maybe some day.

Anyway, I was pretty impressed by the singing, dancing, and acting ability of the senior couples. I don't think any of them were ever on Broadway, but they were all at least as good as the actors in the LDS Beauty and the Beast movie we watched on the bus the day before.

Here is a picture of one of the couples whose storyline provided comic relief. Sorry it's so bad.

My favorite part of the play was when the elder who was playing him broke down and started laughing. It was reminiscent of that Chris Farley SNL sketch where he is playing Matt Foley, and David Spade has to cover his face because he is laughing. Except that it wasn't on national television. Their entire audience was only about 50 people.

The night ended with another trip to Wal-Mart. When traveling with my parents, it is always good to be in close proximity of places where you can get junk food and comfortable clothing.

Day 5: Far West and Adam-Ondi-Ahman

Here's how my morning started:

• I took a shower, did my best to straighten my hair, despite the Missouri humidity, and dressed in a navy blue shirt and a pair of white pants.
• Mom was still getting herself together, so I offered to get breakfast from the breakfast bar and bring it back to her. She was appreciative.
• I dropped off my suitcase in front of the hotel, where it was loaded on our tour bus.
• I went to the breakfast bar and brought back the following items: two bagels, a Belgian waffle, an omlette, two pieces of bacon, and two cups of orange juice.
• I offered Mom first choice of breakfast foods, and watched her set a cup of juice on the ironing board.
• Mom pulled her suitcase out to take it to the bus.
• The suitcase wheel caught on the ironing board.
• I lunged for the orange juice to keep it from tipping over and spilling on the floor.
• The orange juice spilled all down the front of my white pants.
• I thought of my dad.
• I walked, bow-legged, out to the bus where people were beginning to board, retrieved another pair of pants, and returned to the room, where Mom offered me half a Belgian waffle. I remarked that, in addition to being cold, wet, and sticky, orange juice resembles urine.
• Mom offered to wash out my white pants by hand.

Mornings on this tour start out with "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" from Oklahoma. As a group, we are getting pretty good at it already.

Our first stop was the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is a church that split off from ours after the death of Joseph Smith. Since that time, the line of prophets have been direct descendants of Joseph Smith. However, other than a common history, it does not share many resemblances with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today. The place we went in is called a temple.

It promotes peace, and, as far as I can tell, diversity. I snapped this picture because I found it amusing, and mildly offensive:

They are really into Japanese stuff there, as evidenced by the Japanese couple, the Japanese rock garden, and the Japanese architect who designed the temple.

Here is a shot of the inside of the temple:

It is modeled after a nautilus shell.

I never got a clear answer on what this room is used for in terms of meetings, but this man came in as we were leaving and began a rousing organ solo.

When we got back on the bus, we did a drive by of the Harry S. Truman home.

Our next stop was the Far West temple site.

Here is one of the cornerstones that was laid by the Twelve Apostles before members of the church were driven out of Missouri by angry mobs and an extermination order. There is no temple there. Yet.

Look at how green everything there is!

Our next stop was Adam-Ondi-Ahman, which means "the place of God where Adam dwelt." It is believed to be the place where Adam and Eve went when they were cast out of the Garden of Eden.

The valley below is the future site of a gathering of 144,000 priesthood holders where Christ will appear.

Our last stop of the day was to Jamesport, Missouri, which is a community that has Amish, Mennonites, and others living in it. We ate at an Amish restaurant, shopped at a candle store, and, I am ashamed to say, bought five pieces of pie, four cinnamon rolls, and two cookies.

Here is a shot of an Amish man we passed on our way out of town. It reminded me of my mission, which had many Mennonite communities in it. It was always kind of a bummer to tract up and down streets where horses had just been. Look closely at this picture and you can probably guess why.

That's all for today. I have a pair of pants I need to wash out tonight.

Day 4: Independence and Liberty

Well, we made it.

I will admit, it was tense for a few minutes.

But my mom and I successfully got from Las Vegas to Kansas City, Missouri in one piece. Our luggage got there, too, and we managed to find our tour group.

We had a quick lunch at Panera and, to no one's surprise, were the last people on the bus headed to Independence. We hit the ground running on our first day in Missouri. Here is a sampling of what we saw.

In a small area in Independence, there is the Church of Christ Headquarters (Hedrickite Church) the Community of Christ Headquarters (the Reorganized Latter-day Saints) and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints visitors' center (the Mormons).

Our first stop was at the Church of Christ.

This is where the temple site for the Independence Temple, which was never built, was designated. It is owned by the Hedrikite Church, or the Church of Christ, as they are formally called. This is not to be confused with the Church of Christ that is all over in west Texas. But it is definitely confusing.

The Hedrikite Church split off from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when the original church changed its name and added the "Latter-day Saints" part. The man who gave us a tour was an apostle in the church, called the Church of Christ, officially.

This is what the RLDS Temple looks like. They were closed when we went there the first time, so we had to go back the next day. More pictures to follow.

Our last stop was Liberty Jail. It's a pretty great name for a jail. This is where the Prophet Joseph Smith and four other men were imprisoned for 4 1/2 months.

Here is a picture of the rebuilt Liberty Jail. As you can see, there are mannequins representing the five men in the jail. The mannequin standing up is Hyrum Smith. His head touches the ceiling. I'm sure they put the mannequins in there so people get a sense of how small it was, but it made the experience feel a little like Disneyland.

We came home that night and I submitted my dissertation. Thank goodness for hotel rooms with Internet.

Day 2: Las Vegas

I was awakened about 6 a.m. Saturday morning by the tiny voice of my tiny niece Brooklyn, who wanted to go outside and play with the garden hose. For about an hour, Brooklyn, her mom, my dad, and I all sat outside while she watered the concrete, the bushes, and our feet.

Later, we went bowling. Brooklyn, with the aid of one of those ramps and some bumpers, beat both Maria and I.

After napping, we all headed over to this amazing sale at the Banana Republic outlet store in downtown Las Vegas.

Brooklyn and I sat in the back and danced. Like her cousin, Sammie, Brooklyn loves to dance.

At night, we lit some fireworks. Apparently, even something as simple as sparklers are illegal in southern California, so we bought a few for Brooklyn to try out.

However, it seemed to me like her dad and grandpa were the ones who really enjoyed them.

Here is a shot of my dad.

The device in his hand is primarily used to pick up dog waste. However, he discovered it was also the perfect way to handle used fireworks. Maybe this picture is only funny if you know my dad. Maybe it's really only funny to me.

Day 1: The Albuquerque Airport

With my dissertation successfully defended, I will embark on a two-week tour of LDS Church history and U.S. History sites across the country, beginning on Monday.

Today, however, I am in Albuquerque, laid over on my way to Las Vegas to spend a couple of days with my family before the tour starts. As I did when I went to Japan, I will do my best to document this trip as it happens, so that those of you who follow this sort of thing can experience it as it happens.

So, right now, I am in the airport. And, thus far, here are the things I have noticed:

• A man on the other side of the aisle from me reading Hold Me Tight, by Sue Johnson. Middle-aged, married. Some kind of businessman.
• An older woman wearing a blue duster, giant rhinestone earrings, and a huge bun on the top of her head, who was on my flight from Lubbock. I don't believe in taking pictures of strangers for the purpose of mocking them, but I was tempted.
• The Albuquerque airport itself provides many clues as to why Texans have a general disregard for the state of New Mexico. That's all I will say.
• While, in general, I think we as a society have found all kinds of ways to distance ourselves from one another, occasionally, I still hear people who don't know one another talking on airplanes and in airports, and it gives me hope that we might make it as a society after all. As I type this on my laptop with my headphones shoved in my ears.

The Beginning of the End

Today, I defended my dissertation. I am now officially Megan Oka, Ph.D.

Here is a small snippet of what my day was like:

One of my committee members, Dr. Alan Reifman, writes songs to help his students remember statistical concepts. When I had him as a professor, he began working on "Oka-Notion." Before my defense started this afternoon, he put this on the projector and we all sang along.

Every dissertation defense should start and end with karaoke and have cupcakes in between. Many more people would be getting Ph.D.s.