Mark and Victoria: Camping in Kansas City, Missouri

Two weeks ago we went cabin camping outside of Kansas City, Missouri for 4 days. On our way there we stopped at a tiny town called Lindsborg, which was settled by Swedes and to this day bears its Swedish heritage very proudly. We have a friend who is from Lindsborg who lives here in Norman and he says he even learned some Swedish in school in addition to celebrating "hyllningsfest" in the summer (something the first Swedes brought with them and has been a tradition in Lindsborg ever since) and Lucia in the winter. The kids really loved that. We bought Swedish candy and some other little trinkets, including a Swedish geography puzzle at a store called Hemslöjd where they also have a Dala horse factory. When it came time for dinner we stumbled upon a fund raising dinner at the Methodist church with a great home-cooked spaghetti meal (with salad and dessert) complete with live music. I think this may have been Mark's favorite part of the entire trip.

Outside "Hemslöjd"

Inside Hemslöjd.

Methodist Spaghetti Dinner.

Then we drove on to our cabin outside Kansas City. It was just a step up from camping in a tent, which was the point. In the front room there was a double bed for Mark and me, and in the second room were two bunk beds - perfect for our family with 4 kids. It also had a refrigerator (!) and we used the bath and shower in the main/common building. We cooked outside on the grill and ate at the picnic table. Walmart was 3 minutes away. We were not exactly "roughing it," but then we had to be somewhat clean and showered to the places we visited.

Hot dog dinner and "smores" for dessert.

The front room.

There was a bunk bed against two of the walls in the back room..

The porch swing was popular. Isak even took a nap here.

First on the agenda Saturday morning was the Kansas City Temple Open House. Before the dedication of a Temple anyone and everyone is welcome to tour the temple and see all the rooms - something that is not a possibility to anyone but adult, worthy church members once it has been dedicated. The kids were very excited about this, and surprised at how "fancy" it was inside.

The Kansas City Temple.

Sealing room (weddings).

Celestial room.

Baptismal font.

Oxen underneath the baptismal font (there are 12) - the MAIN REASON we came to see this temple.

Elina has been absolutely incessant about wanting to see them!

We also visited Historic Liberty Jail - a prison where Joseph Smith and several other leaders of the church were imprisoned for "treason" for many months in the cold winter. (Liberty is the name of the town - I always thought it was a terrible name, "Liberty" jail...)

"I didn't know Joseph Smith was still there," Anja said when we first entered...

Four foot thick walls including a layer of "rubble." Should prisoners dig through the log layer they would have to remove stones by hand which would cause the ones on top to fall down, alerting the guards upstairs.

Liberty Jail entry.

Elina liked the plates replica.

On Sunday we went to Independence - another place of some significance for church history where they have a nice visitor's center with lots of pioneer stuff.