Hill Cumorah...

On the morning of July 17, right after breakfast at the hotel, we headed for the Hill Cumorah so we could mark off some good seats for the performance that night.  We were fortunate enough to see a bit of the rehearsal.  Our nephew Dustin is in the dark blue shirt just in front of the actor playing The Savior.  We didn't know it at the time that Dustin & Larah had saved us even better seats. They were the best!

 We had several hours to see more sights in the area before Tricia and McKay had their appointment at the Palmyra Temple.  Here is a picture of the group standing in front of the monument at the Hill Cumorah with the Angel Moroni on top.  It was quite windy and Steve's hat blew off and went down into the shrubbery.  After a few requests and phone calls, we were able to get permission for McKay to go off the path down the back of the hill to retrieve it.  Since it was sunny and very hot - about 104 degrees, Steve was very happy to get his hat back.

 Here is a picture of the seats and the stage area looking down from the top of the hill.

Hooray!  Steve has his hat back.

 The red brick building directly behind McKay's minivan is the Grandin Building where the Book of Mormon was first printed.  Many parts of the building are original and it was fascinating to hear the story and see the demonstrations regarding the original printing of the book.  It was an amazing accomplishment at the time and everything had to come together just right for it to be completed so quickly.  You can see the Lord's hand in bringing forth this book of scripture. What a treasure!

 Here is the Martin Harris farm house.  It was rebuilt by a more recent owner who added the rock exterior.  It was not available for an interior tour.

 We took the kids for lunch and back to the Visitor's Center for videos while Tricia and McKay attended the temple.  This photo was taken outside of the temple.

 An important part of the Palmyra settlement and history is the Erie Canal.  I wanted to see it so we found an area with benches and relaxed while the kids played and tried to skip rocks.  At last it was time to head back to the Hill Cumorah for the famous Hill Cumorah Pageant.

 We arrived plenty early so we could support the local Rotary and Lions clubs and eat the food they were selling.  Pageant attendees buy enough food to provide them with their budget for the year to accomplish their local charity work.  It's a win/win for the community, the Church and the pageant attendees.

We were so excited to see Dustin, Larah, Cassidy and Parker as actors in the pageant.  It was an overall awesome experience that was greatly enhanced by knowing some of the cast members.

Dustin played the part of John the Baptist.  He thought it was well worth growing a beard to get the part.

 Steve took this picture of our group in front of the stage.  Our seats were fabulous!!! Thanks Dustin and Larah.

Here are two cast members who played the parts of Laman and Nephi.

 There were lots of fantastic special effects-fires, lightning, storms, earthquakes, etc.  I believe this is the fire where they burned Abinadi to death.  The pageant was extremely well done.  There were approximately 800 cast members, plus crew, many extra missionaries and volunteers from all around the area helping with parking, etc.  Thousands of people come every night for the performances.  This was an extremely memorable experience.  I highly recommend it to one and all.

Palmyra Ponderings & More

On Monday, July 16, we packed our snacks and headed north, anticipating a 4-5 hour drive to reach the Church History sites in upstate NewYork. 

 Our first stop was the Peter Whittmer farm where on April 6, 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was organized.  There is a beautiful white chapel there now with a re-constructed log cabin nearby which is a replica of the original meeting place where the first saints in the latter days gathered.  We were fortunate enough to coordinate schedules with Dustin, Larah, Cassidy and Parker who were in Palmyra as cast members of the Hill Cumorah Pageant.  Here we pose in the upper room of the log home owned by Peter Whittmer.

 Next we traveled to the Joseph Smith Sr. farm.  There are two homes on this property--the original log home where the family lived when Joseph Jr. had his first vision and visitations from Moroni.
The second home is a larger two story home mostly built by Alvin Smith for his parents.  The Smiths did live in the larger home for a time.  It was during this time that Joseph Smith Jr. was translating the plates.

 These are photos of the larger Smith home.  Below is the exterior of the log home.  The Smiths were unable to make the final payment on their mortgage and lost their home.  They moved back into the log home and rented it for a time before moving to Ohio.

Behind the log home and across the meadow is the sacred grove.  We loved our walk through the grove.  The birds chirped their welcome and the leaves rustled in a slight breeze but the feeling was one of reverence and awe.  You knew something very special happened t here.

 After our tour of the Smith farm, we headed to town for some dinner.  We were directed to the Athena Restaurant.  That was quite the eatery.  The locals love it.  The adults in our group, not so much.  The kids devoured their meals and some of ours, however, and just watching them enjoy the experience made it fun for us.

After dinner, we went to the highly recommended Chill & Grill for ice cream.  Now that was a TREAT!  We liked it so much that we stopped by again the next day.

Pennsylvania Countryside

After our big trip to NYC on Friday, we checked out local Pennsylvania points of interest on Saturday.   Our first outing was driving through what appreared to be the countryside but ended up at a small local zoo.

The kids spent quite a bit of time at the zoo playground.  It was a pleasant day and not too hot so we just enjoyed watching their fun.  The zoo was hosting a special ice cream day for members.  Tricia quickly figured out that for only an extra $20 or so, they could have a year long membership to the zoo and therefore, join in the ice cream event too.  That was a big hit for all the kids.  They LOVE ice cream.

Here we join in the line for ice cream - chocolate or vanilla.  The vanilla was scooped by Miss Teenage Pennsylvania.  Makes you want to win a beauty pageant, doesn't it?

 Here the kids try their hands at milking the cow.  Of course, we walked through the exhibits and saw the animals.  One of the most interesting was a special discussion about the kangaroos.  After spending several hours at the zoo, we headed to the local pick your own farm.  We picked blueberries. Yum! Yum!  Tricia has been there for strawberries and raspberries.  Blackberries come next. You pay $1.80 a lb instead of $1.80 for about 3-4 oz at home.

 We got a lot of blueberries, some fabulous corn for Sunday dinner and some "sho fly" muffins all for about $15.  The muffins were very moist and heavy and tasted kind of like molasses.  I liked them.  We just had to sample the traditional local food. 
That evening Steve and I babysat while Tricia and McKay had a date.  We took the kids grocery shopping and let them choose some snacks for our trip to Palmyra.  We loved watching them each weigh their options since each was allowed to pick one snack item to share with everyone.  They loved getting to choose some things.  It was a lot of fun. 
Of course, they all read every night before bed.  I couldn't resist taking this cute picture of them reading together. That was a delightful evening for me.

New York City, Here We Come...

Shawn returned to Texas, Tiffany dropped Steve and I off at the airport for a trip to visit Tricia, McKay & kids, and she headed north to spend a few days with each of her sisters, Hilary and Heather.

Steve and I spent most of the day enroute to Pennsylvania.  Our trip went smoothly. The next morning, Friday the 13th, we drove into NYC.  First McKay drove us by the Manhattan LDS Temple and then we drove towards a parking garage in the vicinity of Battery Park.  From there we walked.  First we headed for a cruise around the harbor.  We had never experienced seeing Lower Manhattan, Ellis island, The Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge and other nearby sites from a harbor cruise.  It was very enjoyable.  Our thanks to McKay and Tricia for arranging and hosting this experience.  Thomas was originally nervous about being on a boat, but he settled down and we all enjoyed it.

The tallest building in the background is the new Number One World Trade Center Building.

The rest of our afternoon was filled with an eating experience in a little restaurant called Flavors of New York.  It featured freshly made sandwiches, soups, pasta dishes and salads where you picked your own fresh ingredients and they prepared it right in front of you to suit your tastes.  It was very tasty and we were starving so it hit the spot.  In addition to the restaurant we managed to maneuver around to visit Wall Street.

 It was basically blocked off to traffic except for those who worked in the buildings.  A security officer directed us to go around a couple of blocks and approach from another direction other than off Broadway.  It added to our walk but was interesting to see.  We especially loved the huge American Flag hanging over the entrance to the NY Stock Exchange.  We also thought the 25 people protesting for the Occupy Wall Street movement were pretty much a joke.  Their speeches didn't make any sense and interestingly enough, they disappeared at 5 p.m.  Now you guess who might have paid them for their services that day.

 Here's the big occupy crowd.  We tried not to laugh at their talking points.  They don't have a clue.

 At 5:30 we had tickets to see the Ground Zero monument pools. We arrived about 5 p.m. and we started into the security line to enter the monument area which is very protected.  You have to walk over a block, weaving in and around varies security checkpoints.  You need your ticket and ID and of course they have to check all your bags, etc.  It was a free event but you have to register on-line and print out tickets. Every day thousands of people go through this security process to see the Ground Zero reconstruction area.

There are two huge pools that are the footprint of the twin towers which were destroyed on September 11, 2001.  The pools flow down huge water falls to the center and you can't see the bottom from the edge.  All around the edge, the names of the victims are engraved in bronze.  It is very sobering and difficult to imagine so many people who lost their lives that day.  They represented many nationalities from at least 90 countries. Of course their are other buildings being built including the Number One World Trade Center which will be 1776 stories high and one of the tallest buildings in the world.  It is currently under construction and I posted a photo in this post.

 This tree is a miraculous survivor of the tragedy.  The stump, which is at the top of this picture survived the fall of the towers.  It was moved to another place and nutured so it could be returned to this park.  During the time of its recovery, it survived a huge storm. I believe  hurricane force winds  uprooted it and it was hit by lightning. Once again it survived.   It was recently replanted back in the park and is still being braced by support cables until its roots are stronger.  It represents the American Spirit and the will to survive difficulties and hard times.

 On our way home to PA, we took I-80 West so we could drive by our old home in New Jersey.  Here McKay stands next to the sign for his old elementary school in Mt Olive Township, Flanders, New Jersey.  Does this bring back any memories to any one?

Tricia took a picture of us in front of our house on Kevin Dr at dusk.  This was definitely a trip back down memory lane.  We drove through Hackettstown too but it was to dark to get any pictures.  We need to plan a time to get photos of the hospital there where Taylor was born.