Palmyra Trip

In July our family made a trip up to Palmyra, NY to visit some church historical sites. The girls had become interested in the Joseph Smith story and when we told them we could visit those places, they got very excited!  

Carmen in the Smith Log Home - at one point the Gold Plates were hidden under the bricks of this fire place.

Hill Cumorah visitors center

 

In the Sacred Grove - this is where Joseph Smith went as a young boy and prayed to know which of all the churches in the area he should join. He was visited by Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and had a remarkable experience in which he was told to join none of the existing churches, for the church Jesus Christ had established when he was alive was no longer on the earth. Throughout the remainder of Joseph's life, he was given instructions on restoring the original gospel of Jesus Christ. Inside the grove there is definitely a feeling of peace and sacredness. The girls recognized that feeling immediately. It was so special for all of us to be there together.

The entrance of The Grove

After visiting The Grove and Smith family home sites we also visited the Grandin Press where the first Books of Mormon were printed. Then we visited Hill Cumorah where anciently Moroni, of the Book of Moron, buried the gold plates to keep them safe. It was here that Joseph Smith found the plates and later went on the translate them to English. The Gold Plates contained the record of the ancient people who came over to America from Jerusalem, before it was destroyed. They inhabited North and South America. The golden plates are a record of their people, which was later translated into the Book of Mormon. 

 

Then we waited and waited and waited for the pageant to start! It was hot and we had already had a really long day, but we still had about 5 hours before the show would start. It had to be completely dark.  But it was fun to see all the characters walking around in costume. They were from all over the country, and each shared a different story of their pageant experiences. It was fun to talk with them and the girls loved their costumes.

The show finally did start and was amazing as always! It is so touching to see the entire story of the Book of Mormon and of Joseph Smith come to life.

The next day we headed north up to Niagara Falls. A visit here isn't complete until you've gone on Maid of the Mist! This boat ride takes you right up to the base of the falls and can feel pretty intense - you also get soaking wet, despite the lovely rain ponchos!

 It was so hot that the mist felt really nice.

After Niagara Falls we headed back to Washington DC where we met up with David's sister Rebecca and her family. They were about to move to Germany with the Air Force and we wanted to see them one last time. They also have 3 girls!

 That's a lot of PINK!

 We spent most of the time monument hopping along the Mall. I've been to DC many times, but it had been a long time since I'd been to this end of the Mall. We saw the Lincoln Memorial, WWII  memorial and the Vietnam Memorial among others.

This was such a fun trip and we were able to pack a lot of things into just a few days. It was time to head home and repack our things for our trip to Georgia!