Thursday, May 28, 2009

Upstate

Monday morning the boys went to pick up a rental car. We had reserved a van, but they didn't have one so we had a humongous SUV. We had crepes for Kevin's birthday, and packed up the car and were on our way. When Reuben walked up to the vehicle he touched it and said, "Oh, its so beautiful."

The children did surprisingly well, we didn't have to stop until we got to our destination in Niskayuna (which is near Albany.) We had a pleasant evening visiting Kevin's Uncle and his family. As soon as the door was opened Reuben walked in and said, "Hi, My name is Reuben. Do you have any toys here."

The next morning we were off to Palmyra. Our first stop was the visitor center, and the Hill Cumorah. The night before our good night story was about the places we would visit, and the one thing Reuben remembered in the morning was the "Golden Plates." As long as he got to see them he would be happy. Luckily we found them in the visitor center.


The next stop was the Sacred Grove and Smith Family Farm. We parked and decided to go to the grove before the tour. The only disadvantage to this was we didn't have a map of the grove, but it started to rain while we were in there. We all agreed it was the favorite spot. We saw a deer in the meadow around the grove. The tour of the homes was very informative and interesting. But it was pretty obvious that they don't get many investigators in Palmyra because all the information and the presentation was directed to people who already knew the basics, and even had a testimony.

We stayed at The Palmarya White House. A kitchen, huge living room, two bedrooms (with three beds). It was perfect. We put the kids to bed and watched "New In Town." Which is a story about Minnesota, but shot in Winnipeg. I'm not sure people who don't have a love for all things Minnesotan would enjoy it, but it was pretty good and made us laugh.

Wednesday morning visited the Grandin Building, where the Book of Mormon was first published. The risk Grandin took printing that book was pretty astonishing, even for a 23 year old. Seeing the machines, and knowing what I know about book binding was pretty interesting.

We drove past the Martin Harris Farm, the house is pretty neat because instead of bricks they are "lake stones." Next we went to the Temple, and then made our way to the Peter Whitmer Farm (which is in the middle of no where.) It took us 45 minutes, and we had a car. Imagine having to walk, or ride a horse or carriage there just to go to church. The visitor center/chapel is beautiful, we were all too young to remember seeing the General Conference where President Kimball spoke from there.

The cabin where the church was fist organized seemed much bigger on the inside than it looked from the outside, but still it is easy to understand why Mary Whitmer would be having a hard time hosting her own family, and all the extra people who had to come to finish the translation.

On our drive home we got to add Pennsylvania to our list of states visited. We even stopped in Scranton (you know, "the office") for dinner at Chick's Diner. We made it home around 9:30, managed to find a parking spot, and while I was staying at the car with the sleeping children, while the others had taken a trip into the apartment with the stuff, a big black SUV slowly drove past. The guy in the middle seat had a flashlight. It stopped a few cars ahead of where we parked, and a NYC Marshal, a guy with a Cyclone Jacket jumped out, and a tow truck drove up. By the time we had the car emptied there was another parking space available in front of our building.

All in all, it was a lovely trip. I've decided I live in the WRONG part of New York.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I LOVE Palmyra...I've wanted to go back to all of those places since being married. I'm a little jealous, I do have to say. You're having too much fun without us!!

emilysuze said...

What a great trip! Little R is too cute!

Tara said...

That sounds awesome! I'll have to pick your brain for advice when Jon and I make it upstate!

Bob said...

Sounds like your Memorial Day vacation to upstate New York was almost as fun as your vacation to D.C. last year!

Mindy said...

I should have looked at this post first and then guessed Palmyra instead of Central Park.
You would enjoy that part of NY much better wouldn't you?! It's beautiful. Hope I get there someday.

Tammy Lorna said...

Oh how wonderful! I would love love love to do church history tour! I read so much of it, it would great to see some of those places and feel of the spirit there.

You're all very lucky :)

xo Tammy