Upstate New York

We spent a few days in Northern New York.  We didn't stop by NYC at all (that will have to be a trip of its own someday).  Now, this part of New York is what most of New York is like: green, spacious land!  It was so beautiful! 

Palmyra Temple: What an astounding temple!  It's small, but it has many unique features.  Such as, all the windows are stained glass depicting the Sacred Grove.  Also, it is the ONLY temple with a window you can see out of.  That window has a direct view of the Sacred Grove.  It was wonderful to be in it and able to enjoy its beauty!

Smith Log House: We saw the Smith Log Home (below)- where Joseph lived when the Angel, Moroni appeared to him.  I could hardly believe that over 10 people usually occupied that home at a time!  It was very small!

The Sacred Grove: We walked through the Sacred Grove - where Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph.  It was so peaceful in there!  The bees were humming and the birds were singing, just as the song goes.  The mosquitos were also taking over due to all the rain, so we didn't stay still in there, but we did enjoy walking around!  This Grove has such significance to our religion.  Just as it is named, it truly is Sacred.

Grandin Printing Shop: Probably one of my favorite sites!  It is the original building and many artifacts most likely used during printing of the first copies of the Book of Mormon were on display.  The neat part was the many missionaries in there who had so many neat stories to tell of how miraculous the printing of the Book of Mormon was!  It was stories like these that reminded me over and over that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us! 

Eerie Canal: You sing songs about it.  You hear of how hard it was to build.  You hear of the ingenuity of it.  And now I've seen it!  See how green it is there?!?

Chill and Grill: Jared came to Palmyra when he was 15 years old.  One of his favorite memories was eating at "The Chill and Grill."  It became a tradition on this trip.  Their burgers were delicious and their ice cream was the best EVER!  And it was HUGE!  My two scoops equaled half of a small!  They had peppermint patty ice cream!  I fell in love!

The Whitmer Home: In the Whitmer's home, the church was organized - starting out with a handful of members.  Now our church has about 14 million members!  So neat!

Hill Cumorah: The city of Palmyra is small.  Pretty much all of the city's traffic is in the summer from tourists.  That meant that the Hill Cumorah pageant was one of the main attractions (it's only held for about 2 weeks each summer).  That being said, we spent a lot of time there saving seats!  Jared started getting a bit bored (as you can tell)!  The Hill Cumorah is pictured behind us.  We drove to the top and saw the monument of Moroni.  How neat to think the plates containing the words of the Book of Mormon were buried here!

Hill Cumorah Pageant: The pageant is filled with families from all over North America who audition and then "camp" in Palmyra for a three weeks.  It was inspiring talking to some of the cast members beforehand.  They were so happy to be there and be a part of this pageant!  It was very well done - as it told highlights from the Book of Mormon and how it was brought about.  So glad we were there when it was going on!

Canada: For about 45 minutes of our trip, I, Kourtney, was in a DIFFERENT country!  Yes folks, I finally left the country!  I had to show my passport (although they didn't stamp it, and I'm only slightly bitter).  It was fun to see speed limit signs in kilometers and to see Canadian flags everywhere!  We really just went for a better view of Niagra Falls though!

Niagra Falls: Look at all that water!  Because of ALL the rain, the water was flowing more forcefully than normal.  We were even getting wet from this point!  The mist was so thick that we could hardly get a decent view of the falls!  Pretty astounding!  

New York was wonderful!  It is a place filled with lots of history and significance to me!  I am so grateful we were able to go to these sites!