Day 4 - Independence to Nauvoo

On day 4, we traveled from Independence, MO to Nauvoo, IL.  I had never seen the church history sites in Missouri so we planned on visiting as many as we could.  We read the Our Heritage book in the car to help us prepare for seeing the sites.

Our first stop was the visitors' center in Independence.  They had a neat exhibit in the basement that explained some of the history and persecution the saints experienced in their time in Independence.  Here's us outside of the visitor's center.

Joseph Smith prophesied that Zion would be built where Independence is today and that there would be a temple there someday.  The temple site is there (but its just a big field now) and the Community of Christ church owns the land.  Here Jeff and I are at the temple site.

For lunch we wanted to go to a Jack Stack BBQ place that my dad had recommended.  I used our new GPS to help me find the closest location, and off we went.  The GPS failed us, however, and took us to a business park in some underground caverns -- I'm not kidding.

Turns out, that's where the corporate headquarters is.  Who wants to work inside a cave?!?

We ate lunch at Panera bread instead.  It was really good.  I had never been to one before, but I'd always wanted to go.

We visited the Liberty Jail.  It was so awesome to see the jail and really understand how awful it would have been to be imprisoned there.  Being in prison and away from your family must be awful, but add to that the terrible conditions (cold, unsanitary, cramped, and crowded) and the fact that you're innocent and I think it would have been almost unbearable.  I think it was Joseph's refiner's fire and it really felt like a temple.

After Liberty, we went to Far West.  The only things really left there are the cornerstones of the temple that the saints wanted to build there.  They have it nicely landscaped and you can really feel the Spirit there.  Even though Far West is in the middle of nowhere, its really worth a visit.

Finally, we visited Adam-Ondi-Ahman.  It is such a beautiful valley.  I really enjoyed visiting and walking around.  It is so peaceful.

After that, we drove on to Nauvoo to our hotel.  We got there really late and went straight to bed.