Saturday, December 31, 2011

Pueblo, CO

Mike did his 2nd audition rotation in Pueblo, CO...on one of his days off he went to a park that had some great hiking trails. 



 This bridge was featured on Yahoo's 10 ten places to propose






Mankato Interview...NAUVOO

OK, so luckily I was able to fly out for the Quincy interview and also the Mankato interview. I arrived the night before the Quincy interview and got to go out to dinner with 2 residents and their wives. The thing I loved about Quincy was how it seemed that the residents were all pretty close and also the ward was like a family there. From what I heard at least! I was going to drive around the city with one of the residents wives, but right as she pulled up to the hotel Mike pulled up all done with the interview. So instead he drove me to see the houses on main street (previous post) and then we headed to Mankato...

The changing colors were gorgeous! I absolutely love the FALL colors

 We arrived to Mankato pretty early. So we grabbed dinner at Taco Johns (the best fast food mexican place around) and then we stayed with Mike's friend who is a 1st year resident there. They were so generous to let us stay with them as she was 8 months pregnant and had 2 other little ones. The next day I got to tour the city and the hospital with Mike and a resident during his interview that day. I loved how homey it felt there. I even liked the city. I think if we matched there it wouldn't be so bad because 1)we already have friends there and 2) the city was nice. 
 That night we stayed in a Bed and Breakfast. We have stayed in Bed and Breakfasts before, but this time around it felt a little odd. The rooms were decked out in super old decor. Like Great-Grandma styles and it smelled like walking into your Grandma's house too. But it used to be a mansion back in the day and the architecture was amazing. Plus the breakfast the guy made was DELICIOUS...fresh homemade cinnamon rolls and an egg dish that was yummy.
 Ok so we then headed to Nauvoo the day after the interview...as  you can see on the date stamp the 28th of October!! Here is the bridge that we have to cross to get to IL...it's a 1 lane bridge!!
 This was an awesome boat!!
 And we made it back to IL for our Nauvoo trip. Both Mike and I have never been to Nauvoo and we thought this was a great opportunity to take a break and enjoy ourselves before we had to be separated again for another month. 
 Right when we arrived we went to the Temple...here is a statue of Joseph and his brother Hyrum...I was a little cold! :) 
 Such a gorgeous Temple....Nauvoo Temple
 Later that night after we got all ready for our date. We walked to the Temple grounds to have a walk around....I love Temple's at night time. Their light overpowers the night and it's an amazing sight!! After our walk we went to dinner at buffet that was amazing, we also stayed in the hotel that the buffet was in. I forgot the name of it right now, but when I remember I'll update later 






 Oct 29th...that morning we headed to do a wagon ride tour to see the sights. Here is the Temple on our wagon ride. 

 Gunsmith store

 This was the boats the Pioneers used to cross the river. 
 This is where the Saints would have church! I think it would be fun to have church outside...only if the weather was good of course! You can tell the Saints had such amazing testimonies because they endure the heat, cold, wind, etc to attend church
 Our team....
 Me petting Mike....the horse







 The river!
 Joseph and Hyrum


 This was a hotel and home of Joseph and Emma Smith. They didn't get it finished before Joseph was murdered, but Emma and her second husband finished it and ran the hotel. This was intended for the people traveling to Nauvoo for business. 
 Joseph and Emma's homestead. This was their first home. They out grew this and built the.........


 Mansion house. This was also a hotel. After they sold the business to another man, they moved into 2 rooms which were know as the servants quarters... 
  The graveyard where the Smith's are buried
 The upstairs room above Joseph Smiths Red Brick Store
 Joseph Smiths Red Brick Store
 Joseph, Emma, and Hyrum Smith's graves

 We didn't have a lot of time that day to just keep looking around. You need like 2 full days to really enjoy Nauvoo to it's fullest...here we are headed to Carthadge, IL
 Joseph and Hyrum Smith.
 Carthadge Jail....interesting story was that the Jail was on the upstairs floors. The jailer and his family of 8 all lived in the jail. The kids bedroom was in the attic...the jailer and his wife's room was on the upstairs floor with the more secure jail. Well when Joseph and Hyrum were there the jailer and his wife gave up their room to them and their 4 other guests. When the mob came Joseph was shot out of the jailer's window and killed. 
 The room where Hyrum and Joseph Smith were killed
 The bullet holes in the door are original. The one on the side of the door was actually cut out and preserved by the family who owned the jail before the church bought it back. After they restored the jail (it was turned into a home before) the family donated the piece back to the church and they restored it to it's original place. You can see where the old owner cut the bullet hole out. 
 The more secure jail on the 2nd floor next to the jailers room

 This is the window that Joseph Smith fell through
 Joseph fell 2 stories to his death...

 On our way to St. Louis from Carthadge, we stopped to see Mark Twain's home town...the white house is his home as a boy. The white fence next to it was Huckleberry Finn's white fence that he got the other little boy to paint for him

 Mike decided it would be fun to climb to the lighthouse...what he didn't know that the stairs went on FOREVER and were steep. It was a great workout! 


We then got to St. Louis that night and I flew out the next day. The next day Mike proceeded to drive to his next rotation in Pueblo, CO.