Niagara Falls & Palmyra

This weekend was a big one --- I traveled to New York! Let me start from the beginning of the trip.

{Friday}
After Leanne got off work on Friday, she stopped by my place to pick me up. (This was convenient since she works just off of Fleet Street down from where I live.) We drove to her place where Christian picked us up, and the weekend began.

Friday evening was spent driving to our hotel near Buffalo, New York (I am not sure what city it was in). That took us approximately 7.0 hours. After a good time of snacking on pretzels and Oreos, laughing, and a few pit stops for gas and dinner, we arrived at Super 8 at 1:30 a.m. I slept like a rock that night.

{Saturday}
After eating a complimentary breakfast, we made our way to Niagara Falls.

It was absolutely breathtaking! My first view of Niagara Falls even had a rainbow to complete it. It was absolutely fascinating to look at and watch the water surge over the rocks.

I could hardly believe that I was there! Here is a picture of me just happy to be there. Proof that I made it almost to Canada. :)

There were a lot of tourists, which makes sense, but I was amazed at the amount of Asian Indians around. There were a few gift shops and restaurants that were Indian --- my personal favorite was one called Bollywood that was playing music reminding me of "Bride and Prejudice."

I could see Canada just across the water. All I would need to do to be in a different country would be to cross over the bridge. Since I did not have a passport, this was not an option. In any case, that was the closest I have been to another country!

I asked a guy to take a picture of the three of us. From left to right: Christian, Leanne, and me. We paid a dollar to go out on a deck that had been built to better observe the falls. It actually looks like you get the best view from the Canadian side, but we did not go over there for reasons previously discussed.

There is a trail people walk up
to get closer to the falls, but you
definitely get drenched going up!

Our view of the stage from our seats.

 After we decided that we had had our fill of the view, and enough of the mist to cool us off, we left Niagara Falls and found Leanne's uncle that lives in Buffalo for lunch. She had not seen her uncle in several years, or met his wife yet (they had been married for three years), so it was convenient for her to catch up with them. They were very friendly, and extremely hospitable. It was a pleasant experience. As we left, I felt like I had just visited with family.

We drove to Palmyra for the Hill Cumorah Pageant. We arrived there that afternoon, so we saved our seats for later with a blanket.

A close up of the stage hours before the pageant began.

We then took a hike up the actual Hill Cumorah and admired the view from the top as well as a monument placed there. A statue of the Angel Moroni was a reminder of the events that took place nearly two hundred years ago.

The view of the stage on
top of the Hill Cumorah.

 Leanne told us that the artist that carved the statue had modeled the face of Angel Moroni after her great grandfather. (If not great grandfather, then a direct ancestor i.e. great, great grandfather, etc.) Naturally, we had to get a picture showing the family resemblance. :)

After we hiked back down the hill (which was very steep by the way), we headed over to the Joseph Smith farm area also in Palmyra. A visitor center is built there, but just outside of it a man stopped us and told us that they were not giving tours due to the pageant. I guess the pageant brought in too many visitors for the staff to handle in previous years, so they discontinued the tours during the weeks of the pageant. However, there were missionaries stationed at some of the stops to explain a few details of each building or structure.

Here I am in front of the log home of Joseph Smith Sr. It was quite small. I could hardly imagine fitting so many people in such a tiny space.

As we walked along the Smith property, I could see the Palmyra temple peeking through the trees. It was neat to see it from that location.

We walked around and saw several other buildings including the Smith frame home, and a barn from the same era.

After learning about beehives in the hollow stumps of trees, we walked through the Sacred Grove. It was a peaceful place, and I enjoyed listening to the sounds of the birds in the trees. I felt totally comfortable there.

Throughout the grove, along the pathways are benches placed for anyone to sit and ponder. If chance would permit, I would love to spend more time there; if I could, I would go everyday.

We stopped by the printing shop where the Book of Mormon was first published. Missionaries were again stationed to explain and answer questions. It was a big job to publish 5,000 copies of one book and it took them about 23 months to complete the job.

We got dinner and made it to the pageant about an hour before it started. The performers were out and about dressed in their costumes greeting everybody they could talk to. It was fun to see the variety of costumes and ages of the actors. Some were grouped in families, others by twos; some carried a Book of Mormon, other held programs and pass-along-cards. Many were eager to talk and make a contact.

As we waited in our chairs, two boys came and talked to us and gave me a program. Later, two girls talked to us and shared a favorite scripture. The last 25 minutes or so of waiting, we played Uno cards. A little Hispanic boy named Adrian wandered over when he saw the cards and asked to play. I helped him play on my team. Of course, as soon as he joined me, we began winning. He was cute and enjoyed talking to us. Before the pageant started, his mother called him over and thanked us for playing with him. 


I smiled when he came back to show me his angry birds pillow that he proudly displayed. 


The Hill Cumorah Pageant started as soon as it was dark. It was a beautiful performance. I learned earlier that everyone auditioned and began practice only a week prior to opening night (Friday). I was amazed that so much could happen in such a short period of time.

The pageant was about an hour and a half long, but we did not get out of the parking lot and to our hotel until midnight. My eyes were irritated and red by that point, so I wore glasses all of Sunday.

{Sunday}
The next day we woke up early and ate breakfast before driving down to Fayette for church. We went to Sacrament meeting in this building which serves as a church and a visitor's center at the Whitmer farm.

There were missionaries that gave details about the artifacts in the visitor's center.

 Outside of the church is a little log cabin where the church was first organized on April 6, 1830. (If I remember my dates correctly.) What a neat location to be at on a Sunday. I can only imagine what those saints were thinking as they knelt in that humble home, most likely unaware of how big this church would grow to become.

We left Fayette and drove along the Finger Lakes down to Harmony (Oakland), Pennsylvania. We wanted to hit the site of the restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood.

We made it. Here is the monument showing Joseph and Oliver Cowdery kneeling. Just to the left of this is a cemetery were Joseph and Emma Smith buried an infant son. The grave was difficult to find at first, since we had no idea what to look for, but we found it on the far left hand back corner of the cemetery.

Along the way, I found a cool headstone that I liked, so I took a picture of it. 

We looked at a map to get over to the river, but we missed it the first couple of times. It was really hard to find in that it was not very well marked. We made it though. For future reference, turn right on the very next road past the cemetery (by the barn) and drive down the dirt road on the other side of the railroad tracks. At the end of the dirt road is a trail. It's a short walk, and it might be muddy. The view is beautiful.

It started to rain and we made it back in our car just in time. We drove home to Baltimore. It was a long drive. At one point along the freeway, it was like a parking lot for an hour. A couple of ambulances had passed us, so I assume it was because of a wreck.

Just after we got through the slow traffic, it started to rain again. This time it poured. It was like it came down in sheets of rain so thick that it was difficult to see. All we could make out was the car's tail lights just ahead of us.

The rain also slowed traffic considerably. Our drive home was a little longer than we had hoped or anticipated. 

It was difficult to believe our luck when we happened upon another accident just before we reached Maryland. It did not look pretty.

I am so glad that we made it home safely. I even talked to my family on the phone on the drive back. Well, I talked to Mom, Dad, and Jacob, so not the whole family, but some.

It was a good weekend. I am glad that I had the opportunity to go, as well as return, safely.