June 26, 2009 Friday LAKE MANAWA
OK, when you bring your house with you on a trip, even though you are on vacation, you still have to have a day that you do laundry and clean house. Today was that day.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
June 25, 2009 Thursday COUNCIL BLUFFS (KANESVILLE), IOWA AND WINTER QUARTERS (FLORENCE), SD
Today here in Council Bluffs we visited more pioneer sites. You really get a sense of who these pioneers were when you visit these places. They were so faithful and so strong. I’m sure I could not have done what they did. First, we went to the Kanesville Tabernacle (it’s a large wood building used for church meetings and other community gatherings such as voting, dances, etc.) It could accommodate about 1000 people. It is the building in which the announcement was made that Brigham Young would be the next Prophet and President of the Church after having a “Council of the Twelve type Presidency” for several years. His Councilors were Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards. This is also where the first “penned” revelation was given to Brigham Young (see section 136 of the D&C, thank you Steve Harper! Your book has been a valuable resource during this trip!) The building we visited today was actually a replica of the original tabernacle, but they built it like they did in 1847, using green wood from freshly cut cottonwood trees. The original building was unwittingly built over a spring and eventually flooded and was torn down. This replica was built in 1996 about 600 feet away on dryer land. Even today as the wood dries and shrinks, they are tightening screws and allowing for the shrinkage.
Kanesville is also the place where the government (which had so recently and illegally sent the Saints packing) came and asked for 500 men to fight in the Mexican-American war. The governments of Missouri and Illinois treated the Saints so horribly. They left their beautiful cities which they had built by hand and couldn’t even sell their stores or houses, took whatever they could fit in a wagon or hand cart and were forced out, but these same Saints still sent men to fight a battle for the US Government. Kanesville became a major outfitting place as pioneers continued to move west.
We then drove to the Nebraska side of the Missouri River to see the Winter Quarters Temple. It is a beautiful temple, located amid many trees and lush green lawns. It is also next to the pioneer graveyard. As we toured the Visitor’s Center a sweet sister missionary from Layton, UT told us a story of a family that was crossing the plains. The husband and father was paralyzed from a gunshot wound during the massacre inflicted on the Saints at Haun’s Mill. They had a young daughter and a teenage son. The mother prayed about sending her son to fight the war. It was revealed to her that she should and she was heartbroken, but the Lord promised her that he would return unharmed, which he did. It was also revealed to the Saint’s that it was important to the future of the church that they fight in the war against Mexico. Such faith these people had, and to be as noble as to as to fight for a government that had treated them so poorly. The graveyard next to the temple is on a beautiful hill, but most of the markers are gone and you can’t really read the ones that are left, just a date here and there. The missionaries gave us lists of the pioneers buried there. Ralph and Mike recognized a name of one of their ancestors. I found a “Weeks” and a “Thompson” on the list. May be relatives, don’t know yet! Today the temperature was 96 and the humidity was like 98! I don’t mind the humidity, but they can keep the heat! We ate lunch at a little Mom and Pop diner and the food was great. Then we headed back to the Park. Mike and Ralph had to go to Camping World because Ralph needed an extension cord. Betty and I had a good visit.
One other thing I might mention…Today we were almost in a car accident. I have felt that we would be safe on this trip and it’s interesting how faith works. Mike was in the process of running a red light when he slammed on the brakes and stopped just before T-boning the car coming across the intersection. It’s hard to drive and watch for directional signs and watch for the traffic and lights, etc. But when it happened I was totally calm. At the time I was looking down at the map and I looked up, saw the car we were about to hit and the shocked expression on the lady’s face that was in the passenger’s seat, and I simply looked down at the map again. My heart didn’t even skip a beat or race. I just knew it was going to be alright and we weren’t going to hit them and we hadn’t even stopped yet. It was an amazing feeling I just had to share here, not because Mike made a mistake, but because of the amazing feeling I had. I love you all very much!
Today here in Council Bluffs we visited more pioneer sites. You really get a sense of who these pioneers were when you visit these places. They were so faithful and so strong. I’m sure I could not have done what they did. First, we went to the Kanesville Tabernacle (it’s a large wood building used for church meetings and other community gatherings such as voting, dances, etc.) It could accommodate about 1000 people. It is the building in which the announcement was made that Brigham Young would be the next Prophet and President of the Church after having a “Council of the Twelve type Presidency” for several years. His Councilors were Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards. This is also where the first “penned” revelation was given to Brigham Young (see section 136 of the D&C, thank you Steve Harper! Your book has been a valuable resource during this trip!) The building we visited today was actually a replica of the original tabernacle, but they built it like they did in 1847, using green wood from freshly cut cottonwood trees. The original building was unwittingly built over a spring and eventually flooded and was torn down. This replica was built in 1996 about 600 feet away on dryer land. Even today as the wood dries and shrinks, they are tightening screws and allowing for the shrinkage.
Kanesville is also the place where the government (which had so recently and illegally sent the Saints packing) came and asked for 500 men to fight in the Mexican-American war. The governments of Missouri and Illinois treated the Saints so horribly. They left their beautiful cities which they had built by hand and couldn’t even sell their stores or houses, took whatever they could fit in a wagon or hand cart and were forced out, but these same Saints still sent men to fight a battle for the US Government. Kanesville became a major outfitting place as pioneers continued to move west.
We then drove to the Nebraska side of the Missouri River to see the Winter Quarters Temple. It is a beautiful temple, located amid many trees and lush green lawns. It is also next to the pioneer graveyard. As we toured the Visitor’s Center a sweet sister missionary from Layton, UT told us a story of a family that was crossing the plains. The husband and father was paralyzed from a gunshot wound during the massacre inflicted on the Saints at Haun’s Mill. They had a young daughter and a teenage son. The mother prayed about sending her son to fight the war. It was revealed to her that she should and she was heartbroken, but the Lord promised her that he would return unharmed, which he did. It was also revealed to the Saint’s that it was important to the future of the church that they fight in the war against Mexico. Such faith these people had, and to be as noble as to as to fight for a government that had treated them so poorly. The graveyard next to the temple is on a beautiful hill, but most of the markers are gone and you can’t really read the ones that are left, just a date here and there. The missionaries gave us lists of the pioneers buried there. Ralph and Mike recognized a name of one of their ancestors. I found a “Weeks” and a “Thompson” on the list. May be relatives, don’t know yet! Today the temperature was 96 and the humidity was like 98! I don’t mind the humidity, but they can keep the heat! We ate lunch at a little Mom and Pop diner and the food was great. Then we headed back to the Park. Mike and Ralph had to go to Camping World because Ralph needed an extension cord. Betty and I had a good visit.
One other thing I might mention…Today we were almost in a car accident. I have felt that we would be safe on this trip and it’s interesting how faith works. Mike was in the process of running a red light when he slammed on the brakes and stopped just before T-boning the car coming across the intersection. It’s hard to drive and watch for directional signs and watch for the traffic and lights, etc. But when it happened I was totally calm. At the time I was looking down at the map and I looked up, saw the car we were about to hit and the shocked expression on the lady’s face that was in the passenger’s seat, and I simply looked down at the map again. My heart didn’t even skip a beat or race. I just knew it was going to be alright and we weren’t going to hit them and we hadn’t even stopped yet. It was an amazing feeling I just had to share here, not because Mike made a mistake, but because of the amazing feeling I had. I love you all very much!
June 24, 2009 Wednesday TO COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA
Today we drove from Sioux Falls, SD to Council Bluffs, Iowa. Mike missed several turn offs and it was a mess in general. It is very hot here and humid. I like the humid but they can keep the hot! We are staying in a campground next to a lake called Manawa.
Today we drove from Sioux Falls, SD to Council Bluffs, Iowa. Mike missed several turn offs and it was a mess in general. It is very hot here and humid. I like the humid but they can keep the hot! We are staying in a campground next to a lake called Manawa.
June 23, 2009 Tuesday TO SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTAToday we travelled from Keystone, SD to Sioux Falls, SD. It was about 370 miles clear across the state. We were hot and tired when we arrived and pulled into a Wal-Mart parking lot with several other “campers.” It was very humid and hot and we walked across the street to the KFC to grab a bite. Their new grilled chicken is really good! Usually I never want to go to KFC because of all the fat and breading and frying, but now I really like it! We fired up the generator (thank goodness we brought it!) and turned on the air. We lost an hour because of time zone so it seemed funny we were going to bed at 8:30, but it was really 9:30 to us so we did it anyway!
Monday, June 22, 2009 CRAZY HORSE, BEAR COUNTRY
Today we drove through the mountains to the Crazy Horse Monument. It is going to be beautiful when it is finished. So far they have only carved his face in the mountain, but when finished he will be sitting on his horse and pointing out over the land. The monument is depicting a quote from Crazy Horse when the white people asked him where are your lands and he said, “Our lands are where my people are buried.” They have a museum there and a lot of drawings and paintings done by Indians and a lot of Indian artifacts. Beautiful exhibits of beading and jewelry. There are a lot of Native Americans here selling their art and crafts. When you read some of the stories about how the US government treated the Indians it makes you ashamed.
The original sculptor who started the monument in 1948 has since died and his family is carrying on the work. They say the federal government has offered them money but the family has refused it. Good for them! We went to lunch at a little dinner in Hill City, another cute town in the beautiful mountains.
Next, we went to Bear Country. Ralph and Betty’s son Brent had been here recently and highly recommended it. It was so much fun. Sort of like a driving safari. We drove through these hills where they had large containments of different animals. They had mountain goats, mountain lions, arctic wolves, elk, reindeer, antelope, and of course bears. The bears were all around, some sleeping some walking down the road, some mating (ha! no really. Some were sitting in the ponds and they were so cute with just their heads sticking out of the water. Then we parked and when through an area that was like a zoo. It was the “baby section” and had baby raccoon, mountain lions, fox, otters, porcupines, wolves, and of course bears. The baby bears were so cute. Some of them were climbing up a pine tree and playing in it. It’s amazing how good their balance is and how good they can hold on. One little black bear was running up and down and hassling all the other bears in the tree . Then we went back to our trailer to check on the poor old dog who doesn’t get to take these trips (it would only make her nervous anyway).
Today we drove through the mountains to the Crazy Horse Monument. It is going to be beautiful when it is finished. So far they have only carved his face in the mountain, but when finished he will be sitting on his horse and pointing out over the land. The monument is depicting a quote from Crazy Horse when the white people asked him where are your lands and he said, “Our lands are where my people are buried.” They have a museum there and a lot of drawings and paintings done by Indians and a lot of Indian artifacts. Beautiful exhibits of beading and jewelry. There are a lot of Native Americans here selling their art and crafts. When you read some of the stories about how the US government treated the Indians it makes you ashamed.
The original sculptor who started the monument in 1948 has since died and his family is carrying on the work. They say the federal government has offered them money but the family has refused it. Good for them! We went to lunch at a little dinner in Hill City, another cute town in the beautiful mountains.
Next, we went to Bear Country. Ralph and Betty’s son Brent had been here recently and highly recommended it. It was so much fun. Sort of like a driving safari. We drove through these hills where they had large containments of different animals. They had mountain goats, mountain lions, arctic wolves, elk, reindeer, antelope, and of course bears. The bears were all around, some sleeping some walking down the road, some mating (ha! no really. Some were sitting in the ponds and they were so cute with just their heads sticking out of the water. Then we parked and when through an area that was like a zoo. It was the “baby section” and had baby raccoon, mountain lions, fox, otters, porcupines, wolves, and of course bears. The baby bears were so cute. Some of them were climbing up a pine tree and playing in it. It’s amazing how good their balance is and how good they can hold on. One little black bear was running up and down and hassling all the other bears in the tree . Then we went back to our trailer to check on the poor old dog who doesn’t get to take these trips (it would only make her nervous anyway).
Next, we took off to see “needles.” These are granite rock formations that stick up out of the ground like tall spires. There is one they call the eye of the needle because it looks like a needle with the eye and everything. Spent hours driving through the mountains on very narrow and windy roads. It is so beautiful here. The mountains only go up to about 7000 feet, not like our mountains in Utah, but I have to admit, they are even prettier than our mountains. Beautiful, green, millions of pine trees and quakes’. We got home pretty late and shared a roast I had put in the crock pot.
Sunday, June 21, 2009 Father’s Day! KEYSTONE AND MT. RUSHMORE
Unfortunately we didn’t make it to church. Further unfortunate is that I forgot to bring Mike’s Fathers Day present with us on the trip. I had it all ready and wrapped and everything, but had it hidden in the closet, so forgot to bring it. So sad. We drove from Lusk, WY to Keystone SD today. Wow! What a beautiful place. Very touristy and cute, kind of like park city, up in mountains, pine trees. So pretty. After we got settled, we did a little looking in some of the shops, then we drove over to Mt. Rushmore (it’s only about 2 miles up the road from where we are staying) and looked at it and the visitor’s center and saw a short movie of how they carved the faces. They used a lot of dynamite! It was very interesting. The only bad thing about this area is that there is no phone signal and we haven’t found any Wi-Fi.
Unfortunately we didn’t make it to church. Further unfortunate is that I forgot to bring Mike’s Fathers Day present with us on the trip. I had it all ready and wrapped and everything, but had it hidden in the closet, so forgot to bring it. So sad. We drove from Lusk, WY to Keystone SD today. Wow! What a beautiful place. Very touristy and cute, kind of like park city, up in mountains, pine trees. So pretty. After we got settled, we did a little looking in some of the shops, then we drove over to Mt. Rushmore (it’s only about 2 miles up the road from where we are staying) and looked at it and the visitor’s center and saw a short movie of how they carved the faces. They used a lot of dynamite! It was very interesting. The only bad thing about this area is that there is no phone signal and we haven’t found any Wi-Fi.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Saturday, June 20, 2009 MARTINS COVE AND LUSK, WY
Today we went to Martin’s Cove north of Rawlings. It was a stopping point for pioneers as they crossed over to Salt Lake City. The area was much bigger than we expected. We spent most of the day there. Many artifacts from the Pioneers, many stories of people involved. Many missionary couples there and such nice people. They have lots of art depicting the crossing and one whole wall of names of people who passed through and their ages. The names were in white and the ones who died were in yellow. So many died and it was sobering to read their names. The pic above of a statue of a man holding a child was really neat, but I was disappointed that on the computer what you can't see is the infant in the crook of his right arm. It was really cool. The pic of the river is the Sweatwater. This is the second one the had to cross in the freezing water. And of course you recognize the other Wright couple, Ralph and Betty!
While here we heard an impressive story about Ephriam Hanks. He was out on the plains in the snow and cold and was very hungry. He knelt down to pray for the Lord to help him find food or shelter and when he finished his prayer and opened his eyes there was a buffalo right in front of him. He shot it and cleaned it, packed up the meat and wore the buffalo skin for warmth. As he started to travel again, suddenly there was another one in front of him. He shot and cleaned that one also. He travelled a short way and came across the cold and starving Saints near Martin’s Cove. He had about 700 lbs of meat he shared with them. They say at first he was cutting pieces off and handing them to people in a line. Then he said “this is too slow.” He handed the knife over and the saints and they helped themselves. He remarked how impressed he was that these starving people only took small pieces so others would have food also.
We also heard about a widowed woman who had her two children travelling with her. When they came to the half frozen Sweetwater River she didn’t wait for help but took her 5 year old boy in her arms and crossed the freezing water placing him on the other side. When she turned to go back across and get her 2 year old daughter, the boy was afraid she was leaving him and started to follow into the water. She went back to him and tied him to a tree using her apron. Then she crossed, got her daughter and crossed again. Remember this is ice water! Such amazing stories we heard about amazing people.
After Martin’s Cove, we drove on to Lusk, WY and spent the night. Cute little tiny town. The RV Campground had about 10 or 12 spaces and was clean, grassy and pretty. The owners were really nice too. We had the most expensive (but delicious) Pizza for dinner.
Friday, June 19, 2009 TO RAWLINS
Well the Wrights are traveling again. We are off to see parts of the US, especially the ones that relate to the Church History. We got as far as Murray, Utah before being pulled over by the Highway Patrol!! Seems we had a propane tank that was a little loose on the back of the trailer. Could have been a bad scene, but we were blessed to have the law right behind us. We were so shocked at the attitude of law enforcement here in Utah. It’s not at all like Zambia! He wasn’t laughing and didn’t want to take a bribe! Just kidding! Mike didn’t offer one, however we will be paying anyway. Today we went as far as Rawlings, Wyoming.
Well the Wrights are traveling again. We are off to see parts of the US, especially the ones that relate to the Church History. We got as far as Murray, Utah before being pulled over by the Highway Patrol!! Seems we had a propane tank that was a little loose on the back of the trailer. Could have been a bad scene, but we were blessed to have the law right behind us. We were so shocked at the attitude of law enforcement here in Utah. It’s not at all like Zambia! He wasn’t laughing and didn’t want to take a bribe! Just kidding! Mike didn’t offer one, however we will be paying anyway. Today we went as far as Rawlings, Wyoming.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)