Midwest Road Trip 2024: Part I - Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, and Minnesota

For the last couple weeks of July, we took a nearly two week mid west road trip before the kids went back to school at the beginning of August. Our first stop was Independence Missouri to see the kids' cousins. On our first full day we went to Adventure Oasis water park. I had fun taking James on his first 48+ inch slide. He was a little hesitant at first, but soon he was doing it all on his own. I was also happy to see my kids enjoying their 12 ft deep pool. They'd never been swimming in a pool deeper than 5 feet, so it was comforting to see them swimming in such a deep pool without a struggle. 

We spent the next day playing games, eating yummy food, and making snow cones with cousins. The kids had a sleepover there on Friday and Oscar and I went to the temple Saturday morning. We got in one good game of Cities and Knights with Tyler and Dillan before we had to start our drive to Nauvoo.

Tyler had to use the bathroom along the drive, so we stopped in a tiny town at a park that was several decades old. I'm surprised it still exists with play equipment so outdated. The only picture we got was for the workout equipment they had, which said it was made in the early 80's. The play equipment seemed much older than even that!

We got to the Nauvoo pageant fair around 7:30pm. It was super fun! They had all sorts of games and activities the early saints would have played back in the 1830's and 40's. Allison did a little scavenger hunt finding all the street names on her map. Tyler worked on it too, but he didn't complete it since he waited in line to try the stilts and log sawing. She earned a wood piece with the pageant stamp on it while Oscar and Tyler sawed one out of a big log themselves. 

The pageant started as it was starting to get dark. I would have loved to have seen it all, but the kids only lasted about 40 minutes before they were having a hard time staying awake. It was late and it'd been a long day, so we drove to our hotel in Fort Madison, Iowa. 

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel after getting some good sleep. Allison found someone to roar like a dinosaur with while Oscar went out for a walk. Once we were fed and dressed we went to the local ward.

After church we went back to Nauvoo. Our first stop was touring the temple grounds. 

After that we went to the Joseph Smith homestead where we found Sister Dahl. Sister Dahl is the oldest daughter of Jasmine, my bestie growing up. She and her companion gave us a tour. These are new properties the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints purchased from the RLDS church just this past March.

After our tour we went down to the visitors' center where the kids grabbed their booklets for a scavenger hunt. After completing them they each earned a Nauvoo brick and a stamp on their booklets.

While the kids worked on completing their books and earning their bricks, I went and watched the performing missionaries put on a concert. It was a beautiful, spiritual concert with numbers all about Christ. I liked that the orchestra stood up and sang with the choir during the a'cappella numbers.

The next day we checked out of our hotel then took a tour of Carthage jail. 

We learned that the men had originally been assigned to the criminal room because of being accused of treason. It's pitch dark without the lights on, which is what it would have been like even in the daytime back in 1842. They were later moved to the petty theft room then to the jailer's personal bedroom. The jailer could tell these men were good people, and he and his family tried to make them as comfortable as possible. The door is the original one from the night of the martyrdom and still has a bullet hole in it. 

There were many tender moments knowing this is where the prophet Joseph Smith was killed by an angry mob while trying to escape out this very window. 

We read several quotes of Joseph Smith's mission as we walked back to the car.

From there we drove to Nauvoo where the kids had fun playing at Pioneer Past times

I walked the Trail of Hope while they played. This was the trail the pioneers were forced to walk in the middle of winter when they were forced to leave their homes. There are several quotes to read from those early pioneers along the way. It was a very poignant walk for me.

After that I met up with the family at the Oxen ride before we started our drive up to Waterloo, Iowa.

After getting lunch at an A&W we drove to Waterloo where we met up with my mission companion Rachel and her husband at an outdoor family fun center. The kids jumped on the jumping pillow then we all went mini golfing.

Here's Tyler at the final hole he'd accidentally skipped.

The kids then used their tickets for the Go Karts. They were big fans of it!

Then they had a few more minutes on the jumping pillow before we went to dinner then continued on to a hotel about 45 minutes north. 

The next morning we continued our drive to Bloomington, Minnesota where we went to the Nickelodeon Universe indoor theme park at the mall of America. Unfortunately we didn't arrive until 12:30pm and hadn't known the theme park would close three hours early for a private event. We had limited time, so we raced to do as much as possible. Our first rides were Avatar Airbender and Spongebob's Rock Bottom Plunge. Both were very fun!

There was a haunted shooting game that was really well designed, though Allison's gun didn't appear to be working properly. This is one I would have loved to repeat if we'd had more time. Oscar was able to get himself spinning on the Shredder's ride, but the rest of us couldn't figure it out. We then went over to The Fairly Odd Coaster, which is like other spinning coasters we've done before, like Spinning Dragons and Pandemonium.

We ordered food online at the Sbarro inside the mall. The kids rode Boot's Banana Swing while we waited the 25 minutes it told us to wait, only for us to arrive and find out nothing had been prepared for us. They just dished up our pizza and bread sticks on the spot, and they didn't even have the white cheddar Mac and cheese we'd ordered. There was zero point to online ordering, and the food was just okay. There were other food court restaurants I would have rather tried instead.  

Allison and I finished before Oscar and Tyler, so we got in line for the Log ride. It's a great log ride with two big drops and great themeing, but the line was long and slow.

Oscar and Tyler did the Pepsi Orange Streak then the Log Ride. We got in line for Pepsi Orange Streak just as they were getting on it. 

I then took Allison over to Appa's Flying Bisons and the drop ride before we met back up with Oscar and Tyler. I videoed the group before us since the bison looked pretty neat from below. You can't really see all the details on them unless they're in the air because their heads are pointed down. 

We did one final family ride on Avatar Airbender then Tyler went to a different ride, Allison took Oscar back to Appa's, and I went back to the Log Flume.

The line was longer than I'd expected for the park being about to close, and I barely made it on. People not far behind me were turned away after waiting 40+ minutes. I've never seen a theme park do that. Typically theme parks let anyone ride who made it in the line before the line closed, but the employees here cut it off  entirely and sent people away just I was finishing up the ride.

The kids wanted to play at the Lego store. so we took them over there after grabbing some treats.

It was a bit hazy, but there was a pretty sunset on our way to the hotel.

The next day we went to Valleyfair where we met up with our new friends Nigel and Bernice, the couple we'd hung out with at California Adventure who'd also done the Pirate run with Oscar in Huntington Beach. Bernice had even gotten us free tickets for Nickelodeon Universe with a rewards program she has through her work.

Allison got to do her first 52 inch ride - Steel Venom!

The kids then went on The Monster, which is similar to The Spider we have at Elitch Gardens. I would have gone with them except that I really needed to use the bathroom, and the line for the ride moved pretty quick. They load it much more efficiently than Elitch Gardens loads their similar ride. 

Coaster time!

After some fun coasters Allison and I went on Xtreme Swing. We did it again later with Tyler after going to the water park. Like Tidal Surge at Sea World Antonio, it helped to unclog my ear after swimming. I LOVE these types of rides. 

The water park was just okay. We did one slide, the lazy river, and the wave pool. The wave pool was pretty good though. The waves were on more than they were off, and I bobbed up and down in the deep end. Here are our sad attempts at a selfie. 

Tyler's glasses went missing after we changed. We went to Lost and Found and couldn't find them, but it turned out someone had turned them in to the nearby concession stand and she hadn't had a chance to take them to Lost and Found yet. Thankfully someone checked there and got them back or he would have been miserable the rest of the trip.

We'd bought the meal plan and were due for another meal, so Tyler tired the cheese on a stick. It was awful! We then rode a few more rides and got the kids pretzels for our final meal. 

The adults were still hungry, so we went with Nigel and Bernice to an Indian restaurant near our hotel. The kids just had mango lassis and naan and we let them play their tablets, but the rest of us enjoyed some tasty Indian food.

And the next morning we were off to South Dakota. More about that in the next post.