We tend to take trips and do things spur of the moment, and at the last minute we decided to take a church history trip to Kirtland and Palmyra, and also stop at Niagara Falls. I picked up Lexi and Ashlee from Girls camp, and we left the next morning on our trip. Lexi was not happy because she had a date she had to cancel.
We stopped in Kirtland Ohio, the early members of our church gathered here and built the first temple. It has never functioned like the other temples do in our church, they had to leave because of persecution. We were able to go on a tour of the temple and visit many more church sites. The temple was amazing- to look at the structures that are still there, and to think that so long ago they built it and it still stands. The Community of Christ owns the temple, and they give the tours. Our tour was interesting, it seemed like we were just visiting a regular old history site. They asked for donations many times so they can continue to restore the temple back to what it originally looked like. I was kind of bummed to feel so eh about it. I know that Joseph Smith did indeed see angelic messengers besides the Savior in that building. That's kind of a big deal! Because of a vision he had there the Priesthood was restored. This is why I was bummed I was just feeling eh. Our tour guide just kind of glazed over the spiritual things and stuck to the structure and them needing more funding. But at the end of the tour he gave us music and a lady in our tour group volunteered to play the piano while we sand The Spirit of God. I felt the spirit so strong, and it was a great reminder to me that the spirit is in us, and we can feel Him near us if we are paying attention and allowing ourselves to feel Him.
Our next stop was Niagara Falls, and it happened to be the 4th of July. It was crazy busy there! We bought a pass for each of us to see everything there- which was well worth the price. Our favorite things were Maid of the Mist and Cave of the Winds. Maid of the Mist was almost overwhelming! You cram 600 people on this boat that takes you out to the Falls, and then the boat turns around and brings you back. It sounds kind of boring and underwhelming- but it's not! The sound of the Falls, and just being so close to them, you can feel the strength of the water.
Cave of the Winds was incredible, but as I said it was really busy. We had to wait almost 2 hours in the sun, standing... Baylee was not thrilled, honestly it was quite miserable. We had to deal with people shoving our kids aside to cut in front of us in the line over and over- it got really annoying. They give you snazzy sandals you have to wear and yellow ponchos- we couldn't wait to get soaking wet!
Baylee was freaking out and wanted off the stairs as quickly as possible, and then a couple people shoved her over and she about lost it. It was slippery and windy, and you're basically in the water fall- and she was DONE! I couldn't even give the ding dongs who shoved her a dirty look because it's so windy and my face was covered by my gorgeous yellow poncho. But, the rest of us thought it was amazing, so incredible!
Our next stop was Palmyra, New York. It is such a small quiet town, and we got there a few days before all the crowds came for the pageant. We were able to see all the church history sites and visit the Sacred Grove a few times. It was one of our favorite places to go- it was so quiet and calm.
We were able to meet up with my brother and his family- who happened to be visiting the same time we were! We love to see family!!
We were told the walk to the Hill Cumorah Monument was steep- but there's nothing that can prepare you for it! We finally go up there and were able to sit on benches to catch our breath and enjoy the view. When we started walking down Carly and Baylee were scared they were going to lose their footing and end up rolling down the trail!
Our friends the Judd's from Arkansas happened to be in Palmyra the same time we were- it was great to go on some of the tours with them.
All of our kids enjoyed the pageant, and all the history sites. It's so different traveling with older kids who are pretty self sufficient, it's much easier! We ended up being able to drive home a day early- and driving the whole thing in one day. We were about 15 minutes from home when Baylee got car sick. We had to pull off the road and get her taken care of- there was all kinds of drama. We made it and everyone was so thankful to sleep in their own beds again.
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