Hannibal, Missouri

Today we got up and headed straight for the St. Louis, Missouri LDS temple. We didn't know it when we booked our room, but the temple was only 10 minutes from our hotel. Moreover, it had just re-opened that morning after being closed for a 2-week maintenance period. I guess you could say that stars aligned for us to be able to go. I love going to the temple. I love feeling like I can take all the weight off my shoulders as I enter...and only pick up a third of it as I leave. The temple allows me to put things in perspective and gives me a greater feeling of strength to endure the bumpy roads of life.

After doing a session at the temple, Jeff and I headed to Hannibal - birthplace of Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. I read several books as a child, but there are only a few of which I can actually recall details. Tom Sawyer was one such book. I think I loved Tom Sawyer because he was just a normal, curious, adventurous kid. I guess I kind of envied his imagination and ingenuity. In any case, it was so much fun to visit the town and learn about the actual people who inspired the characters and stories of the book. We saw the house Mark Twain grew up in, which was right across the street from Laura Frazer's house (who inspired the character of Becky Thatcher). We learned about the boy who became Huckleberry Finn and saw the caves that Mark Twain played in as a child which then became a part of his book. It was a fun way to spend our first full vacation day. 

Mark Twain museum

There were 16 original Norman Rockwell paintings of Tom Sawyer in the museum.

Mark Twain's father's office. (He was Judge Thatcher in the book.)

Laura Frazer's (Becky Thatcher) house

They were refurbishing the exterior of his house so I took a picture of a postcard of his house (the white one).

Tom and Huck statue

Mark Twain lighthouse overlooking the Mississippi River that he loved so much. 

Inside the cave were thousand of signatures of people who had explored the cave from the late 1800's.

Jesse James was one of the individuals who used the cave to hide out.

After we finished exploring there, we headed to Keokuk, Iowa where we stayed for the next few nights. Before we checked into our hotel, we drove a few miles up the Mississippi River to the town of Montrose, Iowa. From there, we could see the beautiful Nauvoo temple. This was most likely where the early pioneers crossed the Mississippi River and was where they had their last glimpse of the beautiful temple they sacrificed to build. I can imagine the tears of those early saints. I can imagine their heartache at leaving their homes. I can imagine the apprehension of the unknown future, but, more than that, I can imagine their unconquerable faith that led them out west. 

The small white structure across the river is the temple.