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 7 – July 5, 2012 – THE KINGDOM OF GOD OR NOTHING

Today Mr. S woke up at 5:30am and we decided to skip the Badlands National Park and go straight to Winter Quarters in Omaha, Nebraska.  This was our longest drive so far.  Everyone has things they do in the motor home, so it was no big deal, but we did hit the wall of humidity, and it got pretty warm in the RV.  Omaha is the first place we’ve been to that is visibly different than Idaho weather.  Our kids have mentioned it a couple times today.

Camping in Omaha proved to be quite the ordeal.  I called Winter Quarters and asked them if they knew of any close camping spots and they told me the closest they were aware of was 40 minutes away.  I googled camping spots and nothing came up within 30 miles.  So we decided to play it by ear.

When we got to Omaha we used our GPS which told us there was a campsite within 7 miles, but only one.  So we tried to follow the GPS directions, got lost 3 times, and 40 minutes later found the campground up for auction.  At that point we were talking about just getting a hotel.  I called the “Mormon Trail Hotel”.  He didn’t have a room big enough to fit even half of us.  But when we told him we were trying to find a camp ground and he was our last ditch effort, he offered to help.  What he found for us was fabulous!  We are staying at Glenn Cunningham Lake (near 8000 Rainwood Rd.), which is only 4 miles from Winter Quarters.  It’s off a lake, with a beautiful park setting and only $15!  All that work, to find the best place in town, that no one seemed to know about.

After we set up camp, we went for a swim in the lake.  Wow!  The water was the perfect temperature, it was just what we needed.  Turns out you aren’t supposed to swim in it.  We saw the signs later.  Hope we don’t die from some crazy disease from swimming there.  It was pretty dirty, but we were so hot, nobody cared.

After we cleaned up ,we headed to Winter Quarters.  My favorite thing about Winter Quarters was how they immediately grabbed our little kids and involved them in the tour.  Starburst, Bazooka and Fireball were taken straight to a chest filled with pioneer clothes.  They decked themselves out in pioneer attire, and were brought to a place with little miniature wagons.  There the kids raced to see who could pack a pioneer wagon the fastest, and they talked to them about what a pioneer would pack.  Then the sister missionary walked us over to the window that overlooked the Mormon Pioneer Cemetery.  She talked to the kids about temple covenants, and told them the reason the pioneers were willing to give up everything they had, was so that they could make those covenants with God in the temple.  She then talked to them about the 2000 stripling warriors and pointed out that they were so great because they came from parents who made and kept their covenants with God.  It was a great explanation, and the spirit was strong as she was talking.

Here are some things I learned at Winters Quarters…almost 100,000 Mormon pioneers emigrated to Utah between 1840-1890.  During that time the church used the Perpetual Emigration Fund (which is similar to the Perpetual Education Fund our church has today).  They said that during the 38 year history of the PEF (Perpetual Emigration Fund) they received donations totally more than 12.5 million dollars in cash and goods.  This is in the 1800’s, with Saints destitute from being kicked out of their homes over and over.  That is so incredible!

They also talked about the trek from Nauvoo to Florence (Omaha, NE).  With the information the church had, they thought they could make it to Florence in 3 weeks.  But because of the weather and muddy conditions it took the Saints 4 months to reach Florence (to put this in perspective, we will be driving to Nauvoo in 5 ½ hours this week).  More than 340 deaths occurred at Winter Quarters from fall of 1846 to the spring of 1848, and half of those were children 3 years old and under.

From the Winter Quarters Visitors Center you can see the Temple, and the Pioneer Cemetery.  We were told that when the temple was dedicated, they didn’t just dedicate the temple grounds, but also dedicated the cemetery to be part of the temple grounds.  That is so neat…that those Saints who died trying to get to Utah to have the opportunity to be sealed in the temple, are now buried on temple grounds.

We walked over to the cemetery and walked around.  Bazooka was pretty emotional when he saw a grave that said the man died from a mob.  Fireball wanted us to read the names of the pioneers to him so he could tell his teachers and friends about the pioneers he knew from the trip.

It was a great visit.  We will be back tomorrow as it is across from the temple, and Mr. S and I want to do a session, and then the older boys will be doing baptisms later that evening.

We drove home to have icecream sandwiches and chase fireflies all night.  I thought the younger kids would be excited about it, but Spitz and Warhead (two of our teenagers) were just ecstatic.  They came in and took an empty peanut butter jar and were running through the park catching fireflies like crazy…very cute and unexpected.  It was a great day.

Summary of Day 7
Drove:  509 miles
Places we visited: Winter Quarters, Outside Winter Quarters Temple, Mormon Pioneer Cemetery, and Glenn Cunningham Lake