OK, assuming that I haven’t scared away my loyal readers with three consecutive entries about Michael Moore, I promise that I’m done talking politics for a while. Today I thought I’d throw a bone to you armchair travelers looking for vicarious Mormon history-tour thrills by catching you up on Anne’s whereabouts…
So, without further ado, let us turn our gaze to the Midwest, where today we find Anne (according to the itinerary she gave me) checking out the Gateway Arch in St. Louis before driving through Mark Twain’s hometown of Hannibal, MO en route to Nauvoo, IL. That’s assuming that she and her family have been able to stick to their planned schedule, of course.
She called me Friday night from somewhere in Ohio and reported that everything had been going fine up to that point. She didn’t give me much in the way of traveler’s tales, saying that she wanted to wait and tell me everything when she got back, but she did give me a couple of highlights. She said that she did not see any of Manhattan on the approach into JFK International, which disappointed me. I visited New York City about eight years ago and I really hoped she’d be able to catch a glimpse of the Empire State or the Chrysler Building, while her mom really wanted to see the Statue of Liberty. Ah, well — c’est la vie, I suppose.
She reported that she and her folks were unimpressed by JFK when they did land. She said it looked pretty run down, which was also my assessment of La Guardia when I visited New York. In addition, I would guess that she and her folks — relative neophytes in the air-travel game — were intimidated by the size and bustle of the place, but I won’t presume to speak for her on that point.
Anne didn’t say too much about Palmyra — although her mother shouted from the background that it was “incredible” — but was very excited about having been to Niagara Falls. She and the fam rode the famous Maid of the Mist tourist boat, which takes sightseers right up under the falls themselves, and Anne said that the spray was so heavy it was like standing in a shower. She said that the Canadian town of Niagara was like “little Las Vegas,” with lots of neon and tourist traps, and then we got sidetracked talking about how her poodle was getting along with my border collie. (If you’re interested, the poodle’s fine but my Shadow may never recover from the trauma of having to share his home with a frisky little dustmop about one-fifth his size.)
On Saturday, Anne and the folks drove into Kirtland, OH, the significance of which I don’t know (I’m going to try and talk Anne into writing a “guest entry” for Simple Tricks when she gets back, so perhaps she’ll explain what this place means to Mormons), then on Sunday they moved on to Cleveland for an afternoon at the Football Hall of Fame. This was an concession for Anne’s father, and I’m certain both of the ladies were bored stiff. The fun of traveling with other people…
From Cleveland, the intrepid trio were supposed to take a short air-hop to St. Louis, with a layover at the Cincinnati Airport (which, oddly enough, is in Kentucky, a fact that baffled me when I passed through there a few years ago). Today, as I already mentioned, they’re in St. Louis and Nauvoo. Tomorrow will be a second day spent in Nauvoo and a visit to the Carthage Jail where Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon Church, and his brother were killed by an angry mob. After that, they’ve got a lot of driving and sightseeing ahead of them, culminating with their return to SLC on Friday night. As I said, I’m hoping that Anne will write a little something about her adventures when she returns. And I’m certain that Shadow will be more than happy to have our fluffy houseguest back at his own apartment…
Later today, I hope to post another entry in which I’ll reveal one of the dark corners of my psyche. Stay tuned…
Aw, are Shadow and Rusty not getting along? 😉
Anne’s trip sounds marvelous to me! Palmyra, Niagara Falls, Kirtland and Nauvoo all in one trip? Wow… I’ve never done an LDS Church history tour before, and I think it would be great, but I can definitely see that it would have little interest for you, other than being a trip to a different place. 😉
Kirtland is one of the places the Mormons settled to get away from persecution but ended up having to leave. They built their first temple there, which is now in the hands of the RLDS church. There’s a lot of great stories about the sacrifices, time and effort put into building the temple there. I’m sure Anne can tell you more about it when she gets back.
Thanks for clearing up the Kirtland confusion — I knew that there was a former LDS temple there (Anne and her folks were planning to visit it, according to the itinerary) but I didn’t realize it was the first one. I always thought the first was the one in Nauvoo. Tells you how much I know about my own heritage! 🙂
It’s not that I wouldn’t be interested in seeing these places, incidentally. It’s just that I don’t have the deep emotional or spiritual connection to them that I know a lot of people do. While Anne’s mom described Palmyra as “incredible,” I would be more likely to say, “it was nice,” if you get my meaning.
As for Shadow and Rusty, they get along fine in the sense that they don’t fight. But Shadow is essentially a very possessive, very spoiled only child who doesn’t like suddenly having to share his space, his toys and his humans. I try to give them equal attention so neither feels slighted, but you can see in Shadow’s eyes that he resents the attention being given to Rusty. Rusty, on the other hand, seems to be happily clueless of any tension and is loving his little vacation at “daddy’s house.”