Roadtrip Summer 09

Last Wednesday we started our much anticipated "road trip" by driving and driving, and driving, and driving, and driving

up to Palmyra, New York.

Davis used the time to catch up on all of his summer reads.
We stayed in a great family friendly hotel (LOVED it), The Palmyra Inn.Hanging out in the hot tub was just what we needed after a long day in the car.
Thursday morning we headed over to "The Smith's House" for a tour.
It was amazing to go through these humble homes and think about the miraculous things that happened there.

My favorite part was the Sacred Grove.

While I was in the sacred grove I found myself snapping pictures right and left trying to capture the beauty but more than that to somehow capture the overwhelming peace that I felt as I walked through the grove in photographs.

Here are two of my favorite pictures and every time I look at them I can't help but wonder if maybe just maybe one of those spots were where the vision occurred.

Next, we headed up to Niagara Falls.

What can I say? The falls are amazing!

We wanted to get a closer look so we put on our blue ponchos and jumped on "The Maid of the Mist".
There were a few terrifying minutes when the boat captain kept trying to get closer into the "horseshoe" of the falls where Trevor and I looked at each other and made a quick plan just in case we capsized ("You grab Campbell and Megan and I'll grab Davis and Hallie"). Luckily we all survived but even with the ponchos we were SOAKED!

Check out Campbell in this picture. I'm pretty sure a two-year-old with a plastic bag over his face is a bad idea.

The next day we found a great park by the river and stopped to take pictures, pick wildflowers, throw rocks into the river, and pet stranger's dogs.

Then onto Cleveland to visit our dear friends.

And see their sweet new baby. (not the baby above, he is all mine)

We had front row seats to the city's firework show in Dave and Marla's front yard and the kids enjoyed some sparklers too.

PERFECT!

We also met some of the local wildlife as this little guy kept sneaking in the back door in search of the bag of peanuts.

Saturday we toured the Kirtland Temple.

I thought a lot about all that the saints sacrificed to build this temple. It really stands today as a testimony of their faith.Love this pic of Campbell and DaveyNext, we toured the church owned section of Kirtland. The Newel K Whitney Store was so neat. Almost all of it was original including a lot of the furniture upstairs where Joseph and Emma lived for a time. The table where Joseph sat and recorded some of the revelations was so cool to see. There was a sign that said, "please do not touch".

Trevor touched it anyway but I did not... I wish I had.

Here are all of the girlies. They had such a great time together.

Our road trip of summer '09 was so memorable and totally worth the 22+ hours we spent in the car. It won't soon be forgotten.

I wonder where our road trip summer 2010 will take us.