Midwest Vacation - Day 1

Our vacation to the midwest was so spectacular and we took so many pictures and had so much fun that I will have to do installments. I can't cover everything in one blog posting. So, here we go. My parents are serving a six month mission in the Nauvoo Temple. Jared has never been to Nauvoo and I haven't been since I was little, so we thought that visiting my parents on their mission in Nauvoo would be a perfect opportunity to go and see all of the sights. Our friend Amy has also never been to Nauvoo and decided she would like to come along, too. Here is the story of our fantastic vacation.

We flew into Chicago and rented a car to drive down to Nauvoo. Amy was flying in from So Cal and we booked flights that would have as all arrive around the same time. Upon landing in Chicago, I checked voicemail to find out that Amy's first flight was late, causing her to miss her connecting flight. She was now on a later flight into Chicago and would arrive a couple hours later. Finding ourselves with some unexpected time on our hands, Jared and I decided to head into Chicago to see the sites there while waiting for Amy to arrive. We really only had time for a driving tour, but had a good time nonetheless. I think my favorite part was driving under the El (elevated train - Chicago's public transit)! It's not often you drive directly under train tracks.


Sears Tower

The Underside of the El

After our tour of Chicago, we headed over to the airport to pick up Amy and begin the 4.5 hour drive to Nauvoo. We had a great time and enjoyed our drive through rural Illinois. I practiced taking pictures with our new camera and even got an action shot of Jared right as he made the turn onto another highway.


Amy enjoying the ride

Illinois at sunset

Jared with his mad driving skills

Just when things were going so well, trouble hit. When we were about an hour from Nauvoo, we hit a detour. We were told that there would be a detour and that it was a bit lengthy, but it was better than trying to find our way through rural Illinois. After following the detour signs for an hour, we looked at a map and realized that the detour had taken us in the complete opposite direction that we needed to go and we were then a couple hours from Nauvoo. It was a frustrating setback and we had to listen to ABBA, Neil Diamond, and the Carpenters to cheer us up as we retraced our steps and figured out a different way into Nauvoo. We finally arrived at my parents' house at 12:30 am - about 4 hours later than we had originally intended to - but we were in Nauvoo and so excited to start our adventure. After a good night's rest of course. Oh wait. We had to get up and get ready to be to church at 8 am the next day. So much for the good night's rest. . .