On Halloween weekend we decided to take our first trip to Nauvoo. I found a cheap hotel with an indoor pool about 9 miles away, so we packed up the kids, the costumes and the cooler and headed out for the 5 hr drive. We got there just in time for the Friday night trick-or-treating and Nolan was SOOO excited! He didn't even complain one bit about the freezing gale-force wind that shocked us the second we stepped out of the car! (That explains the Buzz Lightyear costume with new winter parka ensemble he's wearing.)
We trick or treated to as many stores down their main street as we could stand and then promised him that we'd take him again the next day (on Halloween).
The next day we hit the visitors center and then toured all of the sites that we could with our two kids in tow. The weather was still pretty chilly, but at least there was lots of sunshine. Note to everyone: if you ever want to check out Nauvoo and practically have the whole place to yourself, do it on Halloween weekend!! It was so great to be the only ones in every site and get to ask all of the questions and sit and chat with those sweet elder missionaries as much as we wanted! Plus we got all of the great 'handouts' at each station and Nolan thought that was a pretty cool trick or treat experience too.
Then after we saw as much as we could of the sites, we caught a quick buffet dinner at Hotel Nauvoo (everything was really good too by the way), and then grabbed the kids costumes again for the big Halloween parade and pumpkin festival. The town members carve and display over 300 pumpkins and the line them all down the main street, have trick or treating and the church sponsors a bunch of fun things for the kids in the pioneer village shops like cake walks and bean bag tosses, etc., just too much fun!
Nauvoo was even nice enough to put on this gorgeous sunset by the temple...Wow right?
The next day we were able to find one of the curious 'fruits' that our friend Katie Lindner told us about. They grow on some trees in the area and apparently people used to put them near their front and back doors to keep pests (bugs, spiders, etc.) away. The man I asked gave me the name...but I can't remember what it was.
Finally, on our way home we drove by Carthage and toured the jail. That truly is a very humbling experience. It's amazing to feel the power that is in that building. I'll be honest I was expecting to cry and be more emotional that I actually was during the tour. I was surprised at the sort of peace that was in that building. I guess it was just a confirmation from the Spirit of the what an amazing man the Prophet Joseph Smith was, and how admired and loved he was by the men that served in that jail and died with him. We were so glad that we were able to spend the weekend enjoying each other's company, watching our kids experience a one of a kind Halloween, and seeing for ourselves the testimony building sites and sacred places that our church has so wonderfully preserved and shares with everyone. It was by far a Halloween weekend that we won't forget for a long time!
