US History and LDS Church History Trip…and links to each days blog

This is a National Cemetery were many soldiers are buried from the Battle of Antietam.

Brigham Young’s Mill and Home Site

We visited 218 US History and LDS Church History sites in 47 days.  (That included visiting 54 different cities). Each day is blogged with information about places we visited, maps, photos and highlights of the day.

If you would like more information if you are planning a trip, you can email me at priceless6191@gmail.com.  I kept very detailed records including: budgets, trip plans, and calenders for the trip showing our day by day progress.  I also have tons of brochures and maps for specific places, although I did try to scan the most important details I have onto each blog page.  Below is listed each city we visited, and what we did there.  Click on a city and start exploring.

I made this blog because I realized I would have appreciated a site with more specific information.  I hope this is beneficial to anyone who wants to take a history trip.  It was our families dream trip, and we still refer to it often.

Here is a PDF with a summary of our trip. (If you would like an editable version, I have the spreadsheet version also.)
Trip Itinerary

** Just a side note as you look around the site…no my kids names are not Bazooka, Starburst, Jawbreaker etc…our kids just picked nicknames so they could have some privacy.  Have fun looking!!!!

Alcova, WY
Devils Gate, Church, Trek, Independence Rock

Custer, WY
Custer County Museum, City 4th of July

Crazy Horse, SD

Keystone, SD
Mount Rushmore 4th July Celebrations

Rapid City, SD
Dinosaur Park, Storybook Park

Wall, SD
Wall Drug

Omaha, NE
Winter Quarters Visitors Center, Winters Quarters Temple (E,B), Mormon Pioneer Cemetery, Glenn Cunningham Lake, Pioneer Courage Park

Council Bluffs, Iowa
Kanesville Tabernacle

Nauvoo, IL
Play “High Hopes and Riverboats”, Movie “Remembering Nauvoo”, Play “Sunset by the Mississippi”, Women’s Garden, Riser Boot Shop, Blacksmith Shop, Seventies Hall, Lucy M Smith Home, Brickyard, Heber Kimball and Wilford Woodruff’s homes, Movie “Joseph Smith-Prophet of the Restoration”, Joseph Smith’s Homestead, Mansion House, Nauvoo House, Red Brick Store, Smith Family Cemetery, Trail of Hope, Youth of Zion, Play “Old Anna Amanda” 2xs, Nauvoo Pageant 2xs, Carriage Ride, Pioneer Park Pastimes, Nauvoo Temple (B,E), Frontier Fair 2xs, Play “Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo”, Old Nauvoo Burial Grounds, Lands and Records Office, King Follet Discourse, Emma and Josephs Letters Vignette

Carthage, IL
Carthage Jail

Macomb, IL
Dinner with Steve -Guadalupes Restaurant

Petersburg, IL
Lincolns New Salem (camped there)

Springfield, IL
Springfield Vis Ctr, Lincolns Home Vis Ctr, Lincolns Home, Lincolns-Herndon Law Office, Old Capital, Lincoln Library, Lincoln Presidential Museum

Chicago, IL
Chicago Navy Pier, Magnificent Mile, Millennium Park, Cloud Gate, Chicago Temple (B,E)

Gary, IN
Just for Gas and Photos

Kirtland OH
Kirtland Ward, Ashery, Isaac Morley Farm, Newel K. Whitney Store, Whitney Home, Sawmill, Schoolhouse, Kirtland Temple RLDS

Parma, OH
Brian and Camilla’s Home

Hiram, OH
John Johnson’s Home

Middlefield, OH
Amish Country, Cheese Factory, Hiram College (where President Garfield attended and taught)

Kenmore, NY
Mags home, Keeners, Lindbergh Elementary, Pam’s Home

Niagra Falls
Niagara Falls, Cave of Winds

Buffalo, NY(2 sites or events)
Downtown Buffalo, Duffs Chicken Wings

Mendon, NY
Home built by Brigham, Early Meeting Home, Phineas Young’s Home, John Young’s Home, Tom Tomlinson Inn, Heber Kimballs home site, Camped at John Young’s Home, Site of Brigham Young’s Mill and Home, Baptismal Site, Tomlinsons Cemetery

Palmyra, NY
Palmyra Visitors Center, Palmyra Temple (B,E), Palmyra Pageant, Sacred Grove, Smith’s Log Cabin and Frame House Alvin built, Hill Cumorah, Martin Harris’s Home, Book of Mormon Publication Site (Grandin Building)

Waterloo, NY
Peter Whitmer home

Oakland, PA
Aaronic Priesthood Monument, Joseph and Emma’s Home Site, Grave of Emmas parents and son Alvin Smith, Susquehanna River

Jersey City, NJ 
Liberty Harbor

New York, NY
PATH Rail System, Site World Trade Center, 911 Memorial and Museum, Battery Park, Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, New York Stock Exchange, China Town, Little Italy, Noho, Washington Square Park, New York University, Empire State Building, Garment District, Bryant Park, Time’s Square, Theatre District, NBC Studios, Carnegie Hall, Central Park, New York City LDS Temple, Madison Square Gardens

Philadelphia, PA
Independence Visitor Center, Independence Hall, Congress Hall, City Tavern (restaurant), Carpenters Hall, New Hall Military Museum, Benjamin Franklin’s Grave, President’s House Site, Liberty Bell Center”

Hershey, PA
Hershey Amusement Park

Gettysburg, PA
Gettysburg National Park

WashingtonDC
Washington DC Temple (B,E), IKEA, Ford’s Theatre, Petersen House and Center for Education and Leadership, Spy Museum, National Archives, Washington Memorial, World War II Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, Thomas Jefferson Memorial, Holocaust Museum, Lincoln Walking Tour, Arlington Cemetery, United States Capital Building, a Session of Congress, a Session of the House of Representatives, Smithsonian Natural History Museum, Smithsonian American History Museum, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, White House, Holocaust Museum, Nationals Game

Alexandria, Virginia
Mount Vernon

Centreville, VA
Bull Run Regional Park (Camping), visit with Tamara and family, Atlantis Water Park

Manassas, VA
Battle of 1st and 2nd Bull Run (Manassas)

Harpers Ferry, WV
Harpers Ferry

Sharpsburg, MD
Antietem Battle Field

Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria, VA Pier and Chick-fil-A

Chantilly, VA
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Annex

Middletown, VA
Cedar Creek Battlefield (2nd Manassas Battle Reenactment)

Charlottesville, VA
Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, University of Virginia

Buena Vista, VA
Southern Virginia University

St Louis, MO
St Louis Temple (B,E), St Louis Arch and Musuem, Old Court House (Dred Scott Case), Outside Busch Stadium, Feet in the Mississippi, Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Park and Grant Farm, Home Town Buffet, St Louis Cardinals Game, St Louis RV Park

Cottleville, MO
Joel and Christy’s Home

Independence, MO
LDS Visitor’s Center, Harry Truman Presidential Library, Missouri Mormon Walking Tour (things we saw on the tour: Clinton’s Soda Fountain, Jackson County Courthouse, 1827 Log Courthouse, Bingham-Waggoner Estate, Church of Christ Temple Lot, Community of Christ Temple, Gilbert and Whitney Store, Printing Office Site (Evening and Morning Star), Governor Boggs Home Site, and Partridge Home Site and School) , Campus RV Park (next door to the LDS Visitors Center), Vaile Mansion

Kansas City, MO
Kansas City Temple (B)

Liberty, MO
Liberty Jail, Eight Witnesses Monument

Richmond, MO
David Whitmer’s Grave, David Whitmer’s Livery site (marked by with a plaque), Old Richmond Jail Location, Statue of General Alexander W. Doniphan, Pioneer Cemetery (Monument for the Three Witnesses, Grave for Oliver Cowdery, Peter Jr. and Jacob Whitmer’s Graves)

Farwest, MO
Far West Temple Site

Jamesport, MO
Amish Country, Amish Baseball Game, and Shopping

Jameson, MO
Adam-ondi-Ahman , Jameson Town Fair and Parade

Doniphan, NE
Mormon Island

McKinnon, WY
Little America

Boston, MA
11 years later we went back to add Boston to our list or US/church history travels. Here is a link to the beginning of that trip. Yale, Scarburough and Prospect Ave in Hartford, CT, Mark Twain’s Home, Boston Temple, Boston Aquarium, Faneuil Hall, Boston Massacre Site, Old State House, Boston Latin School Site, Park Street Church, Granary Burying Ground, New State House, Boston Commons, Harbor Cruise, USS Constitution, Bunker Hill Monument, Old North Church, Paul Revere’s Home, Old South Meeting House, Union Oyster House, Omni Parker House, Cheers, Prudential Tower Observation Deck, Trinity Church of Boston, Old South Church

Other Valuable Links:
Mormon Pioneer Trail Auto Tour Route Guide
mormontrails.org

DAY 16 – July 14, 2012 – Detour Through Chicago

I left 2 ½ days open for Kirtland, not knowing if we would need wiggle room on either side.  But we’ve been told Kirtland can be done in a day, so 2 days seems plenty.  We decided to spend our ½ a day free in Chicago.

Well, Chicago is not a motorhome friendly city.  We figured that, but the reality of it left Mr. S a little white knuckled.  Our goal, was to drive through Chicago and say we had seen it.  We also wanted a couple of photo opps to prove we were there.  One of them had to be the “Cloud Gate” at Millennium Park.

The logistics for this turned out to be quite complicated.  Since it wasn’t a planned stop, we had no maps.  So we typed in Millennium Park, Chicago in our GPS, and only one came up, so we headed that way.  You know something is wrong when Mr. S keeps saying, I never realized there are so many trees in Chicago.  I kind of under my breath said wouldn’t that be funny if we are just circling it.  Well that turned out not to be so funny because we did.  That darn GPS brought us to a tiny little Millennium Park 30 minutes away from Chicago (on the far side), so we did end up circling Chicago.  We pulled over, regrouped, got internet reception and refigured out what to do.

Since we were searching, we decided to call the Chicago temple.  It turns out our little tour of outer Chicago brought us close.  But they didn’t have opening for baptisms until noon.  So we headed back to Chicago.

The kids and I really enjoyed driving downtown.  We pictured a Los Angeles like city, because that’s what comes to our mind, but Chicago is SO much more that that.  The architecture was amazing.  The buildings were taller, and there was just more of it than in LA.  Which we knew in theory, but the reality is just different.  There were streets that looked like earth was just walls of buildings, you could hardly see the sky, just the street, and the sky scrapers neck to neck on each side of us.  Fireball asked if we could move there.

We saw the Chicago Navy Pier, and the Magnificent Mile. The GPS circled us forever, but eventually we made it to Millennium Park.  Our kids had seen Millennium Park in the movie “Source Code”, and wanted to see the Cloud Gate.  But there was absolutely no parking for motorhomes.  So we did the next best thing…Mr. S parked in a loading/bus zone blocking everyone, and we all jumped out in a sprint running through the park looking for the Cloud Gate.  Thank goodness that park isn’t too big.  We found it, took our pictures, and ran back as fast as we could to jump in the motorhome and drive away.  That was our Chicago experience.  It was fun, and silly, but for Mr. S it was stressful, so we jumped back on the freeway and headed for the Chicago Temple.

We were surprised to see the Chicago Temple looks so familiar.  It looks like the Boise Temple in the front, similar stone, shape and everything.  The boys did say it was very different inside.  They did baptisms while the kids and I played games on the lawn.

On the way out of Chicago we passed Gary, Indiana.  Well, I wanted to have Mr. S stop and get gas there so we could get a photo with Starburst and I in front of a Gary, Indiana sign.  Starburst loves musicals, and so I thought it would be fun since Gary is home to the movie “Music Man”.  It’s also one of our favorite friend’s hometown.  (We love you Allis P : )  But when we got there, Starburst was fast asleep, and the only Gary, Indiana sign that was anywhere we could park was Gary, Indiana Sanitation.  But I was there for a picture, so we took it anyway.  Us…at Gary, Indiana Sanitation (I whited out the Sanitation part and doctored the photo to say “Indiana” so we will remember the stop with fonder memories… : )  Such are the best laid plans…

Then we got back in the motorhome and to head towards Kirtland.  It was a great drive for all of us.  The kids were reading books, and we were playing card games.  About dinner time I put on my pajamas, pulled out the bed, and was sitting there playing cards with Fireball and Starburst, with the cool wind blowing in and thinking this was the life.  It was pretty great.

But Mr. S sure has had a tough day, while the rest of us are enjoying Chicago and the drive to Kirtland, he’s been driving all day.  He really is our Superman.  Hopefully Sunday will be more restful.

It turns out it’s hard to find campgrounds near Kirtland (that really exist).  I had seen that on the internet, but figured we’d find something.  Well that lack of planning, had us finding a very expensive something at midnight.  Kind of a cruddy way to end the day.  I will have to plan better next time.  So everyone’s sleeping, and I’m heading to bed, but we are excited to see Kirtland tomorrow.

Summary of Day 16 – will have to fill this in when everyone wakes up : )

Starburst in front of the Chicago Temple

Drove:  487 miles (97049-97536)

Places we visited or saw: Chicago Navy Pier, and the Magnificent Mile, Millennium Park, Cloud Gate, Chicago Temple, Gary, Indiana

Favorite thing we did today:

Everyone just loved seeing Chicago.