We're Here! After five LONG days of driving, Caleb and I pulled in to our new home: West Lafayette, Indiana. Here are a few highlights from the trip...
Our first pit stop (minus the bathroom breaks every hour. pregnancy is cruel for the traveler) was at the Little America somewhere in Wyoming. They had 50 cent ice cream cones; hence why I made Caleb stop. We found a random dinosaur, and I tried to climb on top. The belly got in the way, so I settled for a photo in front of it.
Next stop was at the Martin's Cove historic church site. This is a (terrible) photo of us up at the cove. We were supposed to hike there, but pregnancy again got in the way. I had a rather bad flare up of my sciatic nerve, and could hardly walk, so the nice senior missionaries gave us a ride up in a golf cart. Caleb was so embarrassed. Poor thing.
We decided that it's hard to take pictures on a road trip because there is never anyone around to snap the photo. We used the hood of our car a lot, which is why we lack any quality pictures.
I couldn't hike to Martin's Cove, but there was no way Caleb was going to let me stop him from climbing Independence Rock. He literally dragged me up, which I am thankful for now. I loved seeing all the old names carved into the rock of people passing through from hundreds of years before.
I don't have any photos from Casper, WY, but that's where we spent the first night of the journey. Caleb's cousin Brittany was gracious enough to let us stay with her, even though her bathroom and kitchen were undergoing a remodel. We had a great time playing with her kiddos and getting to know her better.
Day two of the journey was a NIGHTMARE. We left Casper at 6:30am and didn't get to Kansas City until 9:30pm. Why? Oh, because every river in Nebraska and Kansas was flooded. You can't cross a bridge if the river is flooded, even though Emily (our less-than-helpful-at-times- GPS) told us too. We ended up driving two hours out of the way trying to find a way across the Missouri river. Finally, after three different bridges, we finally got across. We stayed the night with the Larsen family, friends that used to live in Temecula. I'm sad I don't have any photos of them either. On the way out we hit up Liberty Jail and went by the new temple being built in Kansas City.
The next stop was Far West, MO. We had lunch there and really enjoyed the calm, peaceful surroundings.
I hate being the only person in a photo, especially when I'm 15 pounds heavier than usual. Caleb made me do it.
We also stopped at Adam-Ondi-Ahman, which was very nice, but I don't have any photos to prove it. After that we went onward to spend a day in Nauvoo--my favorite part of the trip.
We stayed at the Chief Motel in Keokuk, a city right next to Nauvoo. I wouldn't recommend it, but I would recommend the restaurant we ate at called "Angelinis." I'm sure we got some looks when we ordered an Extra Large pizza for just the two of us. So good.
Caleb and I both really enjoyed visiting all the little homes along Historic Nauvoo. I think Caleb wanted a picture of him under a yoke to symbolize his burden of supporting a wife and soon-to-be child.
I put my shoulder to the wheel.
Caleb met his long lost twin. Seriously, I don't know if this picture even does it justice. They looked SO MUCH ALIKE. We had people coming up to us all day asking Caleb why we wasn't wearing his missionary tag and costume, and why he wasn't with the band. Once we saw this guy--a young preforming missionary who plays the drums for the Nauvoo Brass Band, we understood why, and asked him for a photo. It was fun.
We camped in Nauvoo the second night. I wouldn't recommend that either. This picture captures an embarrassing story of me. You look at the water pump and think, "You need to pump it, right?" Nope. Caleb just laughed at me while I was furiously pumping the handle, wondering why no water was coming out. Turns out you just had to lift the handle. Maybe being in Historic Nauvoo for a day made me revert back to the primitive ways of life. We were, after all, camping.
We stopped at Carthage Jail on our way out of Nauvoo. That was another favorite part of the trip. I gained a new appreciation and admiration for Joseph and Hyrum Smith.
After approximately 1900 miles, we finally passed into our new home state! We've been here for a week now, and are still trying to settle in, which is hard because we don't have a permanent home yet. We are looking at buying a house, and are staying at Caleb's grandparent's in the meantime. We found a duplex that we really like, and are meeting with a realtor on Monday to get the ball rolling.
