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The big trip is here!  Left Nauvoo around 7 AM this morning headed to Adam-Ondi-Ahman and other historical sites.  And it's been a long day...  First stop was:

Entry sign to the 4,000 acre site in the middle of nowhere.

But, brother Dunn had to do some repairs to the muffler first before we could move on.

This is a brief view of what we first saw at Adam-Ondi-Ahman when we stopped for lunch.  This is one end of the valley.

A missionary lunch.

Map of Adam-Ondi-Ahman.  The church now owns 4,000 acres here with the final 500 acre purchase in the last couple of years.  Joseph foresaw the need to acquire the property.  They farm it and lease it out to locals for farming.  There are a lot of crops growing everywhere that we looked.

Visual of the valley.

The story at the site.

What it really looks like.

Bro Dunn talks about the valley and it's history/future.

Bro McDonald played his bagpipes for us as we talked about Joseph Smith and his role in Adam-Ondi-Ahman.  The valley is behind.

Moving on, this is the site that Adam and Eve prayed from each day.   It is the concrete square in the center of the picture.

The site caption.

The spot that Joseph Smith spoke from to hundreds of people.  This small valley has near perfect acoustics.  Brother Shaw is about 150 yards away from the rock Sister Simons and Brother Dunn are standing on and they are talking in a normal voice and can hear each other.

Bro's Shaw, Simons, McDonald, and O'Brien standing on the speaking rock.  This is the rock that Joseph Smith spoke discourses from down to the valley below when he was in the area.

After a stop at Gallatin, we moved on to Far West and a nice little LDS gift shop.  

This was a painting in the gift shop that is about the Saints being driven out of Nauvoo in the winter of 1846.  It depicts them using the long boats and the temple in the background, is a really great painting.  An unusual perspective.  The artist had several pieces of work in the shop and all of them were very well done.

Next stop was the Far West Temple Site a little further down the road.  Although dedicated and there were plans to build a temple here at one time, persecutions made it impossible to ever build here.  The 4 cornerstones were laid and are still here today.

This is the erected monument at the site.  One day, I suppose, they will build a temple here, but due to it's location, it will probably not be anytime in the near future.  Like Nauvoo, it's in the middle of nowhere so it would be hard to staff it.

The South East cornerstone.

Who the South East cornerstone was dedicated to and is always dedicated to at all temples.

This is pretty much the whole area with the cornerstones in the grassy corners.  It would be a good sized temple when completed. 

This was, at one time, the town square where the head of the military was ordered to shoot Joseph Smith and Major Doniphan convinced him otherwise.  Managed to get him not to do it with threats of considerable legal action if he did.  Doniphan play an integral part in keeping Jospeh Smith alive a good portion of his last years.

This is the infamous site where Joseph Smith rebuked the jail guards.  The jail is long gone but they managed to find the site, purchased it and a small sign erected to mark it.

Of course, you need to read the sign, right?

Next to the three witnesses monument erected in 1912.

Last stop was Liberty Jail where Jail where Joseph was incarcerated for many months.  It's not the real jail as a good portion of it was huge wooden timbers and had rotted away but it was rebuilt and placed inside this building.

This was an artist conception of what the jail looked like when Joseph occupied it for the winter he was there.

This was our tour guide.  She was very knowledgeable, 32, and had about 2 weeks left on her mission.  She was pretty special to listen to.

The upper section of the jail.  Note the small hole in the middle of the floor.  That was access to the lower section for the prisoners.  Those timbers were about 12" on the square.  

The only door in or out and there were no door knobs on the inside, only on the outside.

This is the lower section where the prisoners were held.  Joseph Smith on the left.  That small slit on the right is one of two used for ventilation.  The restroom facilities were, well, limited to say the least.  This was not a good place to be under any conditions.

All of us watching the presentation.

A view of the whole jail.

How would you like to carry these around with you at church?

Well, it's been a long day...time to head for the hotel and some much needed rest and dinner.  We are heading off to Applebee's for dinner.  Tomorrow is another day and a few more sites to see.  I will post tomorrow's stuff on the next day's blog.  I mean, really, how many pictures can I post on one day on this blog?