DAY TWO- ARRIVE IN NAUVOO!

We all awoke refreshed Sunday morning and headed just 15 minutes away to our first church history stop - Winter Quarters.


I know - it's kind of out of order, since the pioneers were in Nauvoo and THEN went to Winter Quarters but it was on the way and we weren't coming back this same way.

We went to the Visitors' Center and were greeted by a sister missionary.
There was an excellent video presentation and then the sister missionary gave us a wonderful tour and told us all about the pioneers who settled there.
She said that there were 12,000 pioneers who came there or maybe 1,200 or something with 200 in it, but then her voice trailed off.  I'm going to look it up right now.


Darn it!  Wikipedia said it was home to 2,500 people.  That's not a number with 200.  And it said there were 800 cabins.  I could have sworn someone (the sister missionary) said 500.  But there were so many numbers thrown around. I guess it doesn't really matter but I hate it when I forget stuff like that because I was trying hard to remember.


Anyway, Winter Quarters was beautiful and peaceful and we all enjoyed this stop.  We walked over to the cemetery to see some of the bronze statues that serve as memorials to the pioneers. 

Then we hopped back in the car and continued our journey to Nauvoo!

Let's see, We arrived about dinner time in a one street tourist town, at the end of tourist season on a Sunday and everything that isn't closed because of lack of tourists is closed because IT'S SUNDAY!


We check in to the Hotel Nauvoo.........not to be confused with Nauvoo Hotel.

The boys swear it's haunted.  But don't listen to them.  Just because it's an old house built in 1841 or 1865 - not looking it up, and the whole town is deserted and it's dark and blustery outside with leaves blowing past the screens and the stairway creaks as you go up it and you are the ONLY ones in the hotel but you think you hear voices outside your room but there is no one there when you open the door.....IT IS NOT HAUNTED!

They have two rooms with two queen beds but both of those were taken when I made the reservation.  (Although I don't see another LIVING soul). So we get the room with four, yes that was FOUR, queen beds.  But don't be fooled.  There is still only ONE bathroom.  I'm not complaining.  I'm not.  I'm just saying that there was one bathroom about 2 feet by 3 feet with no counter space and it was remodeled in 1972 but I could be exaggerating.

Anyway, it was dinner time.
We headed across the street to Dotties' Red Front for dinner.
I don't know what it was - Dottie's Red Front - Door?  Wall?  Room?
It was open.  They were serving dinner.

Guess what the boys had?
Yes........Chicken Wings!

They were not the buffalo style chicken wings that we were on tour for, but fried chicken wings.
They liked them.
Dinner was good.

We went back to our four queen sized beds and crashed.