Eastern New York and western New York are so different! Eastern is filled with the big cities, the craziness of the New-York minute, the hustle and bustle of the fast life, and the western part is full of huge fields, small towns, and is just peaceful.
It was great to get the small town feel as we came up to Palmyra. We first stopped at the Hill Cumorah Visitor's Center, where I was told I had to give the missionaries a referral, so I dutifully did so. We watched the wonderful short film of the Restoration, and as I was sitting pondering in front of the Christus, I was cornered by a lady that was informed I was a teacher. She rattled off a few places I "absolutely had to visit" so I could be authorized to teach U.S. History. Well, we didn't visit any of them, and I blame Tom, since he was the driver. :) Anyway, walking around the Hill Cumorah was exhilarating, especially looking down from the top at the thousands of chairs set up for the Hill Cumorah pageant. Sadly, we were there on their day off, so we didn't stay around long.
We made sure to visit the Palmyra temple grounds and feel of the spirit there. The whole area just demands a sort of quiet dignity, it's an amazing feeling. And that was even before we went to the Sacred Grove and the Joseph Smith homestead.
If I thought it was cool BEFORE we visited the Sacred Grove, I was severely underestimating the word, 'cool'. Wow, it was a transcendent moment in time, so tranquil and full of love that place is. Take away the mosquitos and I could walk around the grove for days, just pondering on the things of eternity.
As with practically all spiritual experiences, it made me crave ice cream, so we went into town to the local ice cream parlor. I looked at the prices and said, "I'll take a large." "That's 8 scoops," replied the server. "Nevermind!" It took over 30 minutes to pound through my 'medium', which was 6 heaping scoops of awesomeness.
The ice cream held me over almost to Kirtland, where we took a nice tour of the Kirtland temple. It was a beautiful day, so that made up for the tour guide's 'umms' and 'likes'. Yikes, it was bad - I couldn't even pay attention to the girl giving the tour, so I snuck in some pictures :)
It was great to get the small town feel as we came up to Palmyra. We first stopped at the Hill Cumorah Visitor's Center, where I was told I had to give the missionaries a referral, so I dutifully did so. We watched the wonderful short film of the Restoration, and as I was sitting pondering in front of the Christus, I was cornered by a lady that was informed I was a teacher. She rattled off a few places I "absolutely had to visit" so I could be authorized to teach U.S. History. Well, we didn't visit any of them, and I blame Tom, since he was the driver. :) Anyway, walking around the Hill Cumorah was exhilarating, especially looking down from the top at the thousands of chairs set up for the Hill Cumorah pageant. Sadly, we were there on their day off, so we didn't stay around long.
We made sure to visit the Palmyra temple grounds and feel of the spirit there. The whole area just demands a sort of quiet dignity, it's an amazing feeling. And that was even before we went to the Sacred Grove and the Joseph Smith homestead.
If I thought it was cool BEFORE we visited the Sacred Grove, I was severely underestimating the word, 'cool'. Wow, it was a transcendent moment in time, so tranquil and full of love that place is. Take away the mosquitos and I could walk around the grove for days, just pondering on the things of eternity.
As with practically all spiritual experiences, it made me crave ice cream, so we went into town to the local ice cream parlor. I looked at the prices and said, "I'll take a large." "That's 8 scoops," replied the server. "Nevermind!" It took over 30 minutes to pound through my 'medium', which was 6 heaping scoops of awesomeness.
The ice cream held me over almost to Kirtland, where we took a nice tour of the Kirtland temple. It was a beautiful day, so that made up for the tour guide's 'umms' and 'likes'. Yikes, it was bad - I couldn't even pay attention to the girl giving the tour, so I snuck in some pictures :)
I'm glad we got in some good spiritual experiences on our trip, cause heaven knows we needed it :)
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