We arrived in Nauvoo late afternoon and by the time we got unloaded and went to see the temple there was a beautiful sunset over the Mississippi River.

Which made the temple look like this

 

We went down to a town called Keokuk to get some groceries and Jim got a night time picture of the temple that is really beautiful.

 

 

 

Tuesday, March 17th
   Before we left Omaha we went to Winter Quarters visitor center and the temple was just across the street.  Originally we wanted to go to the temple but it only has sessions in the evening and we weren't going to wait that long.  The visitors center was very interesting and it's just hard to imagine all that the saints went through there.

 

From Winter Quarters we went over to Council Bluffs. 

 

Some of the bridges here are pretty interesting.  I got these pictures of one of the bridges.

There was another that was really colorful. Reds & yellows, totally different shapes

but I couldn't get my camera fast enough.  Then leaving Council Bluffs I got this one.

 

We went to the tabernacle in Kanesville.

 

We saw a film on the Mormon Battalion.  They left from here and it was very interesting.

Again, hard to imagine all that they went through,

Then we went to the tabernacle and were told all about it.  The original tabernacle was built a couple blocks away from where the one is now.  It was built with cottonwood trees and there was a natural spring that ran underneath it.  The wood isn't a good building wood and rotted away.  This replica is also built out of cottonwood because the Historical Society decided it needed to be authentic.  But this one has rebar in the walls and is built on a foundation with a crawl space under the building.  In the crawl space at the end of each rebar is a jack, so to speak, that can be tightened as the wood dried out.  Cottonwood holds the moisture and that is a problem in building with it.  In the last couple of years they haven't had to tighten any of the jacks so the settling is mostly over.  About the only trees we see around here are cottonwood so that is all that was available.

The Historical Society worked with the church to rebuild it as close to the original as possible.  Then in the late 90's they sold it to the church for a dollar and the church took over all the maintenance,  which was time consuming and expensive, because of the cottonwood. 

Inside you can look closely and see where the wood rots out.  Our guide told us last year they had to replace part of the wood because of it's rotting.  In this picture you can see the rotting wood up near the top.

This is where Brigham Young was sustained as President of the Church.

This is the stage are where that was done.  The mural is of the apostles that were present -

three were missing, if I remember correctly.

There's a old organ (on the right) that looks almost exactly to the one Dan has that was Mom's.

It has been restored and is electronic - the peddles don't work anymore.

The fireplace is made of the same kind of adobe kind of material - mud and grass.

It doesn't function as a fireplace but this is what it looked like.

This is a statue of the first presidency when Brigham became President

This is one of the center posts (cottonwood tree).  Each one also has a jack under the floor too.

You can see the crack in it.  The guide said that the center of the tree is hard and sturdy so the crack won't go through.

 

 

 

DAY FIVE:  Monday, Mar 16th
   When we left Laramie it was windy and not very warm.  The temp. was suppose to be 49 degrees but it didn't feel like it.  When we stopped at a rest area near Sidney NB it was 89 degrees and really WINDY.  We took some pictures.

 There was a plaque at this rest area tell about the construction of I-80 across the state.  Apparently Nebraska was the first state to have an interstate freeway from one side of the state to the other.

Most of Nebraska is very flat and most of it is brown and dull.  Here's a little rock hill that was at the rest area. 

 

We're driving along and there is an arch over the freeway.  Jim told me to take a picture.

It's the Great Platt River Archway Monument

When we got to our motel Jim looked it up on the internet.  It is a museum and monument of the Platte River valley's role in the westward expansion (building of I-80)  It is directly over the interstate (as you can see), 3 miles east of Kearney, NB

It might be an interesting place to stop and see if there were time.  Oh well.

It was really windy all day today but very warm.  The highest temp we saw was 89

 



Saturday, Mar. 14th
  It has been, I'd venture to say, the nicest day we've ever had in Laramie.  Great afternoon to be outside.  Jim helped clean the garage in the morning - he scrapped pilled up dirt from the garage floor from mud accumulated off the cars tires.  Then Shawn took Jim out shooting and they preceeded to get the ranger stuck!  Every time we come to visit it seems someone gets stuck.  Heather had to take the tractor down and pull them out.

DAY ONE: Thursday, March 12th
  It was a beautiful day for starting a trip. Sunny and very nice.  We stopped in Ogden to put gas in and Jim was cleaning his teeth with his floss pick and had a crown come off.  He gave it to me and I looked at him, wondering what I was suppose to do with it.  Just what we need!
  So I called Heather and asked if she could arrange for a dentist appt. late Friday.  The best she could do was 11:00 Monday morning and we want to be well on our way to Nebraska by that time but you do what you have to do.
  When we got to Salt Lake we went to Jodi's shop - plans were to have her color my hair.  She was going to do that the end of January when she came home but I was not in any shape to do a color job with the injury I had to my back and hip.  It was a challenge to get my hair cut.  When we got there Heather's mom was there getting a manicure (Heather is the girl Jodi works with).  We were talking about the crown and her mom asked if we wanted to see a dentist in Salt Lake - she called her dentist and got Jim an appt. at 3:30, just enough time for him to get there.  So he got his crown fixed and I got my hair done.  It all worked out great.

DAY TWO; Friday, Mar.13th
  For it being March the weather is really very nice.  The mountains sure don't have much snow on them though.  We had to go down to Orem and here's a couple of pictures I took.  This one is of the mountains to the west.

 

You can barely see snow up there,

Then I took another picture in Orem of the mountains to the west.

There's a little more snow but not what it should be in March.

 

It was another great day for travel and we were glad to get to Laramie.  So good to see the kids.

 

Some more from our trip to Portland.  On our way down there we drove through Cascade Locks, where we lived when I went to high school.  Here's the school sign "now" and a picture of the school.  They gym is on the right end with the cafeteria under it.

My junior and senior years I worked in this little drive-in.  It was called Wanda's at the time.

 Working here was how I made enough money to go to business school when I graduated.  I started as a waitress and ended up as part time cook along with being a waitress.  There was a truck driver that drove for Hyster that came through ever week.  He would tell us that if it was raining anywhere in the state of Oregon, it was raining in Cascade Locks!  He was probably right. 

 One day he gave me a $50 tip and my boss was sure he made a mistake so she put it in the till, so she could ask him about it the next time he came through.  Next trip she asked, and he told her it was no mistake.  I don't know what I did but that was the biggest tip I ever got and I made sure he always got the best service after that.  

We got to Portland early enough that Dad took us on a tour of his childhood memories in north Portland.  Here's a picture of the house he grew up in.  His room was in the basement.

I should have taken a picture of the street.  Cars park on the right side and there is just enough room on the left for another car to go down the road.



He also got to visit for a few minutes with his best friend growing up.  He was known as "Fuz"

He's been sick for a couple of weeks and wouldn't have let me take a picture but Dad was really happy to get to talk to him and exchange numbers.  Maybe if we go back again we'll be able to get together for an evening.

 

After the wedding Saturday morning and on our way to Sandy for the lunch and reception we drove by our house in Beavercreek.  It has been added on to - A garage was added and the old one was made into another bedroom.  The front door was moved and is on the what was our garage.  We were driving by and Dad started to take a picture and a young mother came out the door and I told him we better go talk to her because she'd want to know why we were taking pictures of her house.  So he drove into the driveway and told her we built that house.  We lived in a single wide mobile home before we built the house.  She had some questions for us and it was really fun talking to her.  She had a little one in her arms, probably about 6 to 8 months old I'd say, and then there was a little boy I'd say was about 3.  Everything looks great and I thanked her for taking such good care of the place.  Our home in Aloha we don't even go see anymore because it's depressing how run down it is.

On Wed., January 22nd I took Mae to the Dr. and in the process of putting her wheelchair in the back of the car I threw my back out.  It didn't seem to be too bad and I did some adjustments and didn't think about it to much.  Then I woke up Thurs. morning and had a pain in my stomach so didn't go to the temple.  About noonish I boiled some eggs and ate a couple.  I was putting the others in the bottom drawer of the fridge and as I leaned over it felt like I had been hit in the back / right hip by a bolt of lightning.  I had to hang on to the handles of the fridge to keep from going down on the floor.  I made my way to a chair and then eventually to the couch.  I don't think I ever experienced so much pain, even in childbirth.  I think it was about 1:30 I called Jim and asked if her could come home because I needed help.  Then I called the chiropractor and got a 3:00 appointment.
  There was an inch difference in the length of my legs.  I didn't feel like the treatment relieved much of the pain and it was a very miserable night.  Friday morning I called my doctor and she prescribed a muscle relaxer for me.  I had another chiropractic treatment too.  I couldn't sleep on the bed so I set up on the couch. 
  Jodi had planned on being home for the weekend and it was a real blessing to have her here for a few days to help.
  Jim borrowed a wheelchair and that helped a lot.  We had been using a chair that had wheels on it but the wheelchair was much easier.
  I called Ann Bingham and she came over Sat. evening to do some massage and energy work on me.  She said I looked like I was going to give it all up. 
  The plan was while Jodi was here she was going to color my hair and give me a hair cut.  Well, there was no way I could do the color. 
  So here's me getting a haircut.  I could sit but that was about it.

  We took Don & Ellen to Portland for their granddaughter's wedding this last weekend (Gordon's daughter Chalyn). I'm posting our trip, getting in practice for our Nauvoo trip.
  
  So at this time of the of the year there still should be snow up on the blues.  So where's the snow?

 

Oh, wait, there is some snow way off in the distance!!!

So little you can't really see it but it's there.

 

We couldn't have had a better day for travel.  Sunny, no wind and a really nice day.

 

Then we get into Portland and spring has sprung,  Trees and flowers are all a bloom.

 

 

 

This was the sunset in the Willamette Valley Friday night

 

So here are pictures from the temple Saturday morning.

 

 \

 

Purpose of being at the temple was for the wedding of Don & Ellen's granddaughter,

Chalynn. Here's the happy couple.

 

We could not have asked for a nicer weekend weather wise.  It was beautiful and sunny and in the upper 60's,