Sorry about the delay, I'm a procrastinator (David is not which is awesome, I need to learn from him). We really did actually go on an entire trip, not just day 1. So we left off at the top of the hill cumorah.

Then we all hopped in the car and drove to the motel that was on our way. That night we looked up church buildings and times for the next day. I forgot about Father's day in the wake of the trip (sorry Dad and David), but the kids at the ward we went to actually did a great father's day program. We were super impressed; they didn't even need prompter posters.

Then we hit the road again so we could stop off at Niagara Falls on the way to Kirtland.

(Disclaimer: I only brought my Ipod here because the camera was dead. On day 2- great planning I know)

Since I couldn't get a passport in time for the trip, we were planning on staying on the American side... that was the plan anyway. But we found ourselves sitting on a bridge going, "Why does that sign say welcome to Canada on it?" and figuring we would be denied entrance and sent back. 

But nope, the Canadian gatekeeper just checked out our licenses and sent us on our merry way. She did however say it might be hard to get back (great, I was imagining a bureaucratic nightmare with hours of waiting when we tried to go back to the US).

But we reasoned that since we found ourselves on the side with the better view anyways we might as well enjoy it. And we did- we found free parking, got soaked on the bow of Maid of the Mist, felt like Pam and Jim from the office... it was a blast.

When I think of it now I remember Nathan yelling at us on the boat over the roar of the falls "Look through the hood! It shields your eyes and then you can see!" Haha, classic.

After we got off the boat we made the trek back to the car and headed back to the U.S. Other than the crazy street maze to cross the bridge it really wasn't all that hard to get back in. The U.S. gatekeeper just had us pop our trunk, looked at our licenses and said that the lady probably let us into Canada so easily because we look so obviously American. (In what way? How do you look American?).

This is how you look American (or just awkward haha)

Back in New York, we hit this really delicious Italian place that was on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives for dinner. It was famous for its lasagna but what really wowed us was this yummy chicken dish. It was breaded with cheese and a tomato on top with a great lemony sauce. We left feeling good and ready to settle into our drive towards Kirtland.

This was the only day we didn't book a hotel in advance, we figured we would drive until we were close to Kirtland since we couldn't tour until the next morning anyways. Nathan and Colleen were the amazing driving/navigating team in the front while David and I were in charge of the snacks. Which actually means we napped...snuggled... and ate in the back. Ha, we really contributed- woops! Here's some of David's shenanigans to avoid the hot sun in the back.

My sweater came in handy to shield us from the sun.

We eventually got off the freeway and drove down this scenic highway that was lush and green with large farm houses interspersed along the way. And sometimes there were amish people outside of the houses. We saw a group of youth playing volleyball outside their church building. The girls were on one side and the boys on the other. It was so much fun to see!

We got to Hiram and got laughed at when we asked around for a hotel. No kidding. A police officer and lady he was chatting with laughed at us outright when we asked where a hotel was when we saw them in front of the station in town square (town square!!! water tanks and gazebos and flags and cuteness).

But when they stopped laughing they suggested a few places and we ended up at the cutest inn, The Red Maple Inn. We were reluctant about the pricing but when we asked the lady at the front desk about a room with two beds she offered us two separate rooms for the price of the bigger one with two beds.

This was out in front of the Inn.

We dropped off our stuff and explored around town a bit. We walked around the historical site next to the Inn which felt church history-esque and then walked around town square. David spotted some fireflies which was fun, I'd actually never seen any before.

Then we headed back to enjoy the nice amenities at the inn and the chocolates on our pillows.

I instagramed David's favorite feature of the hotel: the valet. He immediately hung his clothes on there and reiterated his longing for one in our room at home.

Also at the inn I won the bet I made with David that one of the places we stayed at on this trip would have robes (he loves having matching robes as well). 

Look at this view! This is Ohio for you, it was as lush as New York. At this point I was feeling really sorry for the saints for having to end up in Salt Lake.

And I had to add the beaver I saw from our porch running across the lawn. David was taking a shower and I was inordinately excited about seeing this beaver so of course I had to grab the camera. Everything at the Red Maple seemed so cool- the amish women who cooked breakfast, the library, the cookies up for grabs on the front desk, the jacuzzi tubs. It was awesome and a nice break from the non-stop pace of the three previous days.

Here's Colleen's post about our second day (with way better details/pictures).

Here's day 1 of our trip in Palmyra.

Catholics make pilgrimages to Rome, Muslims go to Mecca, and Mormons... well Mormons take big tour buses and travel all across the U.S. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints moved across the country starting in Upstate New York where the restoration happened all the way to the Salt Lake Valley and so we like to follow that path and see the history along the way.

We had the amazing opportunity to take one of these trips (not on a tour bus thank goodness). We were excited to go and we got to spend some time with David's sister Colleen and her husband, Nathan as well. This is what we did the first day of our trip- and it's a long post because we toured Palmyra in one day.

The first day we flew into Rochester, New York late Friday night and walked to our hotel. Here's us at the Chicago airport during our layover where the guys had some Italian sandwiches. We later went back through Chicago and had some deep dish pizza that was very yummy by the Chicago temple.

The next day (Saturday) was so much fun and busy- we learned a lot and felt the spirit in each place we visited. And New York is gorgeous. Green, leafy, back-eastern glorious. Dang you west for being a dry barren desert.

Our first cabin experience... I lost track of how many we had been in by the end of the trip. It was crazy how many people packed into this small room for the first meeting. The Whitmer cabin is not original- they did find the original foundation and build on that though.

Here's a cute little dairy/cheese making farm that was on the road on the way to Palmyra from the Whitmer farm. We stopped off and checked it out. 

Isn't this cute- a real live dairy barn! Not a huge factory, but a family run business.

Here's the owner wearing a "we cut the cheese" shirt. He was very nice and said they transitioned from just selling milk to making cheese because he was trying to put a couple kids through Cornell (he's pretty proud of them). We got to sample all the different flavors of cheese they made there.

We couldn't help but take a million pictures here. This part of New York was so pretty- it was like the small town America of your imagination. Brightly colored houses with wrap-around porches, American flags everywhere and main streets.

Then we went over to the Palmyra temple. It's very pretty, tucked behind some trees. 

Nathan and Colleen brought family names from Nathan's side so we did those during our trip which was special. 

You can see the glass on the doors is of trees- the glass throughout all the temple has tree designs because of the sacred grove. 

In fact, it was kind of strange to see a clear window in the temple that you could look outside through. We later learned this is the only temple with a window that you can see outside from and what you see when you look out is the sacred grove. 

Afterwords we headed over to Smith Farm and Sacred Grove visitor's center for a tour. A cute sister missionary from Spain who was still learning English gave us that tour. She kept calling the Smiths "da family Smeeth" in her cute accent.

This was the Smith family kitchen in the log cabin. They lived in the log cabin until they moved into the frame house that is just down the way. The log cabin is where Joseph lived when he was 14 and where Moroni first appeared to him upstairs.

This is the view out the back door of the cabin- straight to the sacred grove. This cabin is not original, but was reconstructed on top of the old foundation.

Us in the loft where the boys slept where Moroni appeared and taught Joseph.

This is the view of the temple from the Smith farm.

This is the frame house that Alvin was working on when he passed away. He actually didn't build it for the entire Smith family. He was engaged when he passed away (from appendicitis they think) and was constructing the house for his new wife and for his parents when they got old since he was the eldest son.

I *think* the frame house was 85% original- we couldn't go upstairs because of that, since the floors were all original. This was the front room and the oil painted rug on the floor is a example of what mother Smith used to do to earn money for the family. (I'm mostly recording new things I learned on this trip, sorry if you knew any of this).

Then we went out to the threshing barn where they separated the wheat. Colleen is listening to the explanation :)

Then we all got to walk around the grove at our own pace which was really beautiful. The church has created all these paths through the grove with benches to sit and ponder. We got lucky and the day wasn't too hot, there was no rain and it was just slightly muddy in the grove.

This was one of the parts of the trip I was anticipating the most. It was so quiet except for the birds chirping. And so peaceful. It was like being back in the temple.

I thing I would recommend though is to bring scriptures with you. I would have loved to read the first vision here. But it was still great to sit and think.

Our second-to-last stop of the day (very long day at this point) was to the Grandin Printing Press building. This is where the Book of Mormon was first printed by Mr. Grandin.

They kind of built the visitor's center around the original building so they do have some original elements, like the brick here. This is how they hoisted materials from the Erie Canal up to the third floor where the typesetting and printing took place.

They did all the typesetting on the third floor where all the natural light is. You can see all the ink on the floor- that's all original. It was crazy to see how small the type was! And the letters were backwards. Printing was so arduous and detailed- no wonder you had to apprentice for years before you could do it yourself.

Tools used in the binding of the Book of Mormon. Our older missionary tour guide said that Joseph wanted the Book of Mormon to be bound in leather because the Bible was always bound in leather.

We were also told that Gardin originally turned Joseph down and Joseph tried a few other printers before going back to Grandin. Grandin changing his mind was kind of miraculous. And I didn't know this but Gardin was only a printer for about three years before changing professions. And the originally printing was three thousand or five thousand- I don't remember. But that amount was kind of crazy for the time. Edgar Allen Poe was also publishing books at that time and he never published near as many copies and he was a well-known author.

And of course they had a first edition Book of Mormon there to see.

By this time we were pretty hungry and the couple missionaries directed us down the road to a popular local stop, The Chill and Grill.

It was a pretty popular stop. We all decided to get ice cream and head over to the hill cumorah visitor's center. David and I decided to share and ordered a large. Little did we know a large could have feed a family of 6! haha.

And last but not least we visited the hill cumorah where they have the pageant in July. We walked to the top and looked at the memorial they have at the top of Moroni.

David and I spent this week re-adjusting back to the reality of going to work everyday instead of road-tripping and seeing sites with Colleen and Nathan. Look out for some posts about our trip.

But this wonderful Friday is my mom's birthday. She's been an excellent mother for more than 20 years now, but not only that, also a wonderful friend. This week she patiently waited on the phone while I searched high and low for a book in the library. She is always excited to hear from me and brings me nice reupholstered chairs every time she sees me (thanks!!). Basically she's the best. And I'm grateful there's a day to tell her I'm so glad she's here! Love ya mom.