U.S.A. Roadtrip Day 1 & 2

Yes, there was another fantastic road trip across the U.S. of A., this time with my awesome mother-in-law, Anne.  Brad's brother [Logan] drove from Utah to Maine in June with one of his MTC [Missionary Training Center] companions from England and then worked the rest of the summer at a pool club.  He wanted to stay and work as long as he could so Anne and I decided to drive his car back.  Once our amazing 10 days in Maine were over, Brad and I, Anne, and Angela drove down to Boston [about 5 hours away] where we dropped Brad off at the airport to fly back to Utah and Angela off at her adorable apartment; then headed to Brad's uncle's, Keith, house [about 2 hours from Boston] to stay the night.  Thus ended Day 1 of U.S.A. Roadtrip 2012.

We woke up bright and early and began our "trek".  Our goal was to visit as many church history sites as we could on our way across America.  Our first stop of the day was the Peter Whitmer home/farm, where the church was organized in 1830.  

It was hard to think about the whole of the church fitting in the tiny tiny room.  The missionary that was giving the tour told us that people from all around brought chairs from their own homes so that they would have a place to sit.  Such a sweet spirit was there.  The visitors center was connected to a functional chapel which was supposed to be similar to the Kirtland temple (more so inside...but we couldn't take a picture of that).

From here, we went into the city of Palmayra and first visited the Hill Cumorah.  This is where Joseph Smith found the gold plates that contained the writings of the Book of Mormon [another Testament of Jesus Christ], which he was instructed to translate and print for public distribution to parallel and support the teachings and divinity of Christ in the Bible.  It was great to hike up to the top of the hill to the monument and reflect on the amazing teaching opportunities Joseph received in that area.

At the Hill Cumorah visitors center.  I love the mural of the Sacred Grove behind the Christus statue.

Next on the list was the Book of Mormon printing press.  On the way over, we drove through Confusion Corner where there still is a different church on each corner, similar to what Joseph Smith described in his history and desire to find religious truth.  The building has many parts that are still original, including wooden floors and bricks.  

Anne folding a few pages of the BofM

I never realized ALL that went into printing a book in the early 1800s, it took forever in comparison to today's standards!  

The final pit stop in Palmayra was the home of the Smith family and the Sacred Grove.  This was probably the highlight of the day for us and I'm glad we saved it for last :) It was interesting to learn that the foundation of the original home was just excavated in the last 10-15 years; before that, the missionaries that gave tours would just say it was somewhere in the area.  It was really neat to see exactly where it had been.  

The original home of the Smith's where Joseph was visited by the angel Moroni and commanded to go  find the gold plates containing the writings of the Book of Mormon.

The original house [from above] was to the right of where this picture was taken

The 'A' frame home; the Smith's were 1 month away from owning this house when the landlord took it back to give to his daughter who was soon to be married.  If you stood looking out the red door, you were looking towards the Sacred Grove.

The Sacred Grove; this is where Joseph went to pray about what church he should join.  Here, he received a vision where he saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and was told that, although the churches he had been "investigating" contained pieces of truth, the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ had been taken from the earth due to disbelief and wickedness.  Joseph would later be called as a prophet and restored the Priesthood [power to act in God's name] and other ordinances that had been lost over time back to the earth.

There was such a peace in the Sacred Grove.  I love how there isn't just one paved path but lots of little worn, dirt paths throughout the Grove.  It made the experience very personal and unique.  What struck me the most were the thoughts that I had the whole time I was there. I've always had a consistent testimony of the restoration of the church but I still felt a strong impression that the events that occurred in the Sacred Grove were real and true as soon as I walked in.  The rest of my thoughts were mostly directed towards the Young Women that I get to work with.  My desire for them to know of the realness of the experiences of Joseph and restoration were so strong.  I had a prayer in my heart the whole time that, either through my testimony or frequent spiritual experiences, they would gain a firm realization and knowledge of the restoration in their lives now.  

From there, we then made our way to Niagra Falls [about an hour detour off the route but SOOO worth it]. We missed the boat by about 15 minutes but that's ok.  We still had a great time seeing as much of the natural wonder as we could...from the American side.

I have wings!!

If you look closely, you'll see a black speck between the two buildings.  That was a  tight-rope walker.  Anne and I both agreed, the Toronto side looked a LOT more fun than the American side.  Go Canadians!  ;)

Originally, we were going to stay the night in Buffalo or Niagra Falls but we were both feeling great and decided to see how far we could make it before stopping.  We ended up driving through Pennsylvania and into Ohio.  We did a drive-by (camera) shooting of the Kirtland Temple around midnight so that we could say we visited it along the way too.  

Then, with the help of my sister, Ayrel, we were able to find a hotel just outside of Cleveland to stay for the night (too bad they had just moved about 1 week before we drove through...).  The next day, I texted Ayrel and told her that Anne and I both thought we were going to get shot at the hotel [it probably didn't help that we got there at about 1 am but that's a minor detail].  She responded by saying they had stayed there once and felt very comfortable and safe...ha!

There's the end of Day 2 :)