Last Minute Overnight Road Trip

I found out that the KC 3rd ward girls were going on an overnight trip to Nauvoo only a few days before the trip. But I still really wanted to go. So I called and asked. The answer was yes except for one thing. There weren't any seats left in any of the cars. So I was put on the waiting list just in case someone decided that they couldn't go. It wasn't until the night before that I got a call saying I could go.

So next morning I was in the church parking lot at 6. I was put in the car (er truck) with only 3 seats in the back. So I got to sit with my friends Meagan and Laura all the way there. Brother Stephens (the driver) became everybody's best friend when he let us use his iPads. (Sample in the video below...um way below)

When we got to Nauvoo (about 5 hours away) we stopped at the Pioneer Pastimes park for lunch and tried walking on stilts, stick pull (I found out I wasn't too good at it), and bear puppet races or whatever they are called.

Then we headed over to the visitor center. Everyone signed up for a wagon tour of the town. We all went up and petted the pretty horses before we went on the ride. It was so slow and peaceful I could have fallen asleep.

After the ride the bishop and his family, Laura and I want to the show "High Hopes and River Boats" inside the visitor center. Everyone else went site seeing. The show was pretty funny and I wondered why more people hadn't stayed to watch it. When the show show was over the bishops family disappeared. Laura and I couldn't find anyone. So we sat in the lobby area for a while waiting for everyone to come back. We had no idea where they could be and when the meet up time was so  I didn't feel like we should leave. Bad idea. I didn't see any of the sites apart from what I saw from the wagon ride. It wasn't that big of a deal because I've already seen a few of them before but I was still a little bummed. Well anyway, while sitting there the actors from the show came out and sang a couple songs a-capella and we enjoyed it because we weren't doing much else.

Finally a few people we knew came into view. After regrouping everyone headed over to a park for dinner. This whole hoard of carzy teen-aged girls took over the playground. Sometimes its fun to play like kids again.

 All any of us really wanted to do was go swimming and take a shower because it was so hot and humid. But with some persuasion the leaders got all of us to one last show called "Sunset on the Mississippi" which is more like a variety show than anything.

Turns out it was fun. When we got there the band was playing and we got up and danced and sang and made fools of ourselves because we were so hyper by then.

 

 This act caught our eye before it had even started. Some of those mustaches were pretty funny looking!

It was a very informal show. Like I said we were pretty crazy. We would make comments on each performance out loud (all nice ones of course). In the below picture the cast was waving so I waved back.

Here is a little overview of what the day looked like. From the car ride to the last show. It kind of skips dinner because I didn't get any footage of that but I guess that's OK.

So finally we got to our hotel and dragged all our stuff in. Then everyone quickly got on their swimsuits. Unfortunately I had no idea that we'd be swimming so I just had to go in clothes. I was so grateful that I had brought extras. When we got back there was the excitement of figuring out where everyone was sleeping. Fitting 14 girls in a 3 bedroom suit is tricky but not impossible. Somehow everyone got a bed to sleep on. And even more amazing I didn't have to share a bed. And the whole time I had been worried that I would have to sleep on the floor.

The next morning I got up early hoping that I might be able to go see something to make up for the previous day of not seeing anything. Unfortunately for me I couldn't find anyone to go with in time before we had to start getting ready to go to the temple.

And one thing I'm grateful for is that at least I got to go to the temple since that is the greatest site of them all. Its such a beautiful place. And even though its only been rebuilt for a few years you can still feel the history inside it. If the pioneers would have built castles this is what they would have looked like. In fact they did build some. And yes. This is what one of them looked like.

After that amazing experience was lunch which we ate at yet another park across the street. During lunch I got my traveling buddies to help me with this skit. Its short and kinda weird but it was all I could come up with.

Yeah anyway I really wish I had come up with more than that...but what ever.

Alright after lunch was load up time. Long story short my friend Emily got left behind by her group. I had traded cars earlier and was now in a suburban with the bishops family so it was a little bigger which meant that we got to squish her into in with us. Yup I had great traveling buddies! Not only 3 of my firends but also these cute little kiddos.

 The little guy (well I should probably call him a big guy or else he will be after me for life) didn't really like me for reasons unknown to me and I gave him a hard time about it all the way home. But the little girl is my new best friend. She is so adorable!

Oh great times.