Weekly Date: Nauvoo Babymoon

Have you ever heard of a "babymoon"? The idea is that it's kind of a last hurrah for a couple before their first baby comes, a romantic vacation for the couple to bond and relax before their impending doom bundle of joy arrives. I've been feeling pretty good lately, so we decided to spend some time together in Nauvoo last weekend before things get crazy with the holidays and third trimester and everything.

Nauvoo is about a four-hour drive from Madison, so we just left on Friday after work. We drove through Iowa, which was a state we'd never been to, so that was kind of interesting. The Mississippi river was cool, anyway. We stayed at a hotel in Iowa that Tygan found a good price for. It was kind of a small, old building that was like halfway between a hotel and a bed-and-breakfast.

The next morning we crossed the river and did a session at the Nauvoo temple. That was our favorite part of the trip! It was so beautiful. There are things that I don't understand about the temple that feel frustrating, but I love that I can choose to keep going, and this time I felt I learned a lot.

Also, how handsome is Tygan in these pictures?! I love it when he wears the tie from our wedding.

We then drove half an hour away to visit Carthage Jail. I thought it was interesting that the jailkeeper's family actually lived in the jail back in the 1840's, and it was a sobering moment to look at and feel the bullethole in the door of the upper room.

We ate lunch at Los Charros, one of two restaurants in Carthage. The pictures online didn't look promising, but it was actually very good! For under $20, we shared the "molcajete" dish (basically fajitas) and couldn't finish it. I'm no expert, but it seemed pretty authentic, especially judging by how sick we felt afterward...

We didn't get to Old Nauvoo until around 3:00, which meant we only had a couple hours to visit the historic sites before they closed. Tygan says we'll have to go back again (and again) until we see everything. Honestly, I'm not that into history, but I think road trips are fun so I guess, sure. We chose to visit the rope-making demonstration, the candlestick-making station, the bakery, Brigham Young's home, the brickmaker, the blacksmith, and the print shop.

Making rope

After that, we attended the "Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo" performance. And...wow. It was sillier than I expected, and it was so fun to watch the missionaries singing and acting on stage. Corny, but a nice relaxing way to end the day.

We wanted to take advantage of some of the Christmas-y things in the evenings (caroling, Messiah sing-along at the Catholic church, etc.) but we found out our rear running lights are out, so we tried to limit our nighttime driving. However, the sites were decorated with wreaths and pinecones and red ribbon, and we got a gingerbread cookie at the bakery, so it was still very Christmas-y and lovely that way. I brought some of our favorite treats and sparkling cider, like we had on our honeymoon in McCall (which I hear is also quite lovely this time of year).

The next morning, Sunday, we planned to leave early enough to get to church at 1:00. Although the forecast predicted rain in Iowa and snow in Wisconsin, we woke up to a lot of snow. It wasn't anything we hadn't handled before. At least, until we ended up in a ditch.

Up close and personal with the shrubbery.

 It was scary in the moment, but after we took a breath and the tow truck was on its way, we realized it was really about the best sliding-off-the-freeway situation that could have happened. We didn't spin, we just kind of gently sliiiiiid across one lane, there weren't any other cars in the way, and then we softly landed in the ditch padded with snow. We had cell service there, had our insurance roadside service number handy, and had Google maps on our phones to figure out exactly where we were. In the process of texting someone to sub for us at nursery, we found out church was canceled because of the snow, so no need to worry about that. There was barely a scratch on the car, no harm done to ourselves, and the airbags didn't even deploy. I'm pretty sure Baby Trouble was still taking a nap or something. I should probably tell my doctor about the incident, but I think I get more roughly jarred when I do my weekly runs.

Sitting in the tow truck, looking down on our car off the side of the road.

We had to wait an hour and a half for the tow truck, while every twenty minutes some kind soul would pull over to make sure we were all right. The tow guy let us sit in his warm truck while he did all the work, our car was out of the ditch in about an hour, and then we were on our way.

Funnily, it was just that morning that I was contemplating whether prayer actually does anything. Well, I haven't completely figured it out, but I know I'm not going to stop anytime soon!

And that was the exciting end to our Nauvoo trip, very little of which was actually spent in Nauvoo. Maybe not as relaxing as we would have hoped, but definitely a bonding experience and a great story to tell Baby Trouble someday.