The Monsons Move East

On our move out to Fort Leonard Wood Missouri we wanted to pay a visit to some of our roots (we'll Jake's ancestors).  So we visited a lot of the Mormon Pioneer Trail.  Our first stop was Omaha.  This is often a site that is passed over, but a lot of significant events happened here.

Winter Quarters, the location where the Mormon pioneers first took refuge for the Winter before heading out to Utah, is located there.  At winter quarters there is a small cemetery that represents the lives that were lost due to bad weather conditions and cholera.  It is a special place where you can feel the faith and strength of those pioneers.

The church recently built and dedicated a temple there, which includes the most beautiful stained glass windows.

Also, across the river in Council Bluffs, we were  able to see the Kanesville tabernacle.  It was here where the first presidency of the church was reorganized after Joseph Smith died, and Brigham Young was appointed the new prophet of the church.

While we were in Omaha we were also able to see some of the other sights.

Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge.

Two states at once.

Durham Museum. (This is a very cool train station, turned museum).  It even had an old fashioned ice cream soda shop.  Yum!

Some soldiers chatting.

Train robber Jake.  This is actually at the Union Pacific Museum in Council Bluffs.

The next day we traveled over to Independence, MO to see the sights there.  While there we visited the Independence visitor center, Liberty Jail, and Haun's Mill.

Liberty Jail

Mill Stone from Haun's mill

Location Memorial for Haun's Mill Massacre victims.

We were also able to see the old town sights of Far West and Adam-Ondi-Ahman.

Far West temple corner stone.

Adam-Ondi-Ahman

Also in Independence we were able to see President truman's home and the Community of Christ's spiral temple.

The last day of our trip we went to the new Kansas City temple.  It is beautiful and we were glad we got to stop by.  We made it to Fort Leonard Wood, MO in the afternoon with a lot of questions about our new home.  All those adventures will be included in another blog post (since this one is pretty long).