Welcome to part one of The Odyssey: To San Francisco and Back Again (in an Odyssey).
We decided to sleep in and leave at our leisure on that first Thursday (5/24)...why not start this thing off well-rested? So we found ourselves headed west on I-40 just after lunch time. The engine was tuned-up, the brakes were new, our hopes were high.
The week before we left I'd done a little searching around online for car game ideas. I skimmed a few blogs that took great pride in how little they relied on electronics for road trips. But their road trips were only a few hours, one day at the most. We were gearing up for states and states of driving time. I take great pride in how well-stocked we were with our electronics and how effective they were at keeping everyone happy. (I mean seriously, when they have to be strapped in for 12 hours at a time, I'm totally cool with non-stop screens). Look: no fighting, no whining...
We stopped for gas in Metropolis, IL. We'd heard there was a huge Superman worth checking out.
Late that night we made it to our first stop: Nauvoo, IL. We spent all day Friday touring and learning about what life was like there before the LDS pioneers were forced to leave. The demonstrations were fun and the history was interesting...the kids were the perfect age for our visit.
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| Looking beautiful in the Monument to Women Garden. An older sister missionary stopped us here and with tears in her eyes told the kids she could see Christ in their faces and encouraged them to keep being good. |
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| We made our own rope just like the pioneers did. |
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| We got a nice mini-devotional about how families are stronger when we're bound tightly together like the rope. |
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| We took a carriage ride and got to pet the horses. |
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| We spent the afternoon in Carthage. Loved that the kids got to see a place in real life that they've heard so much about. |
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| Got to walk right up to the stunning Nauvoo Temple as the sun was going down. |
Coming up next time...why we love North Platte.
5 comments:
She could see the light of Christ in their eyes....how sweet! And so true! Can't wait for the next installment.
FANTASTIC POST!!! I am amazed! Great pictures. Everyone looks so happy and excited and like they are truly having the time of their lives.
And I have to say I did a double-take when I saw the pix of the kids in Superman's phone booth. Was that a World's Fair T-shirt Lydia is wearing? That's almost as cool as the entire post. :)
Your kids are so beautiful!
This sounds like such a cool trip. The giant Superman is the BOMB.
Nothing like plugging in to the Matrix to keep the kids happy...
Aw, man! We are going to have to drive to Illinois and get our picture with Superman!! I love your Odyssey! And your sweet family! That is SO SWEET about the Sister missionary-although makes me nervous what she might say about mine! LOL!
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