Road Trip Day 2

We slept in at the hotel and it felt great! That day was Lucy's first birthday, so we brought some of Lucy's presents along so she could open a few things on her actual birthday. We planned a party for the following weekend. She opened the presents and just loved them.

After presents it was time to go to the LDS Visitor Center at Independence. It was great being there and seeing the exhibits they had. The displays all revolved around pioneer life on the frontier. We really enjoyed hearing the missionary talk about the different things that had happened there, like temple lot being dedicated and the conflicts with their neighbors and what not. We learned a great deal and really tested the missionaries knowledge of the events of the second coming and what will take place at and around Independence. We also drove across the street to see the dedicated temple lot (currently owned by a church whose sole purpose is to guard the lot from the LDS Church).



We then headed over to Liberty Jail. It was only about 30 minutes away from Independence. Lucy fell asleep in the car so we had to take turns going into the visitor center there. We got to see the enormous, indoor replica they have of the Liberty Jail. The spirit was very strong there but you could feel how poor the conditions were. Joseph Smith received one of the most important revelations in the Liberty Jail, D&C 121, and while seeing the exhibit you couldn't help but feel grateful for the Prophet's perseverance and dedication to the Lord to have received the revelation while in such a horrible place.





The next stop was Adam-Ondi-Ahman. This was a great stop! We loved looking out over the valley. It was beautiful. I also had no idea what it was going to look like so I really enjoyed our quick stop there. It was a very serene environment. It is well off the beaten path, but a must see on the church history road trip.





We made one quick stop for dinner at an all-you-can-eat, family restaurant that served pure Iowan food. If you aren't familiar, that would be lots of corn and pork and butter in almost everything. It was actually pretty good, but it wouldn't be a place you could eat at every year. We then high-tailed it to Liz and Ethan's in Iowa!