Hill Cumorah Pageant

We got home LATE on Sunday night, July 10th, from our trip to Utah.  After a busy four days at work, we left on Friday morning for another trip!  I'll prepare you upfront.  This was a quick trip - left on Friday morning, came home on Saturday night.  But I have a TON of pictures!

We drove out to Palmyra, NY for the annual Hill Cumorah Pageant that highlights stories from the Book of Mormon.  It's a really neat experience and since we were so close this year (only an 8 hour drive), I didn't want us to miss it!

So we drove out Friday morning and got to Palmyra around 4:00pm.  We first stopped at the place where the Book of Mormon was first printed and published.  We took the tour and got to see how it was printed, which was crazy time consuming!  (The original process, not the tour)  We also got to see an original copy of the Book of Mormon! 

There was such a special spirit there, and at each of the sites we visited in the area.

After grabbing some pizza and shakes for dinner, we headed out to the Smith Family farm.  Here's their original log cabin.  This is where they were living when Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in the Sacred Grove.  

Looking out their "back door".  It was all so green!

This is the family's nearer home, built a little later, just a stone's throw away from the log cabin.

This is the fireplace where Joseph Smith hid the plates during a period of intense persecution, to keep them safe.



This is the kitchen in the frame house.  A little different than my kitchen!  I don't know that I could handle it.  Also, since I was wearing my Canada shirt that day, people kept thinking we were from there.  I suppose that's a logical assumption on their part.  Better that than my Vegas shirt, I guess :)



This is the view from the path between the homes across the street to the Palymra Temple. How special that on this scared ground there is now a temple!



After touring the homes, we took a walk in the Sacred Grove.  Minus Eve's fussing, it was a peaceful and uplifting experience.  We didn't walk very far, but took the time to sit and think.



After the Sacred Grove, we crossed the street to the temple, walked around the grounds, and took a few pictures.



This is the view of the Sacred Grove from the temple grounds.



Some pretty flowers on the temple grounds!



After that whirlwind afternoon, we headed over to the site of the pageant, a couple of miles down the road.  This is the Visitors' Center at the Hill Cumorah.



This is the Hill Cumorah and the stage for the pageant.  The pageant started after dark, so I didn't take any pictures of it.  Plus, they asked us not to :)



The pageant was awesome and Eve slept through the whole thing, so Andrew and I could actually enjoy it!

After it ended, we drove 30 minutes back to Rochester, NY where we had reserved a hotel.  We had planned it so that Andrew's brother, Eric and his girlfriend Kayla - NOW FIANCEE!!!!! - could stay with us that night when they got in late from their drive up from DC.  They were coming up to watch the pageant on Saturday night. 

So we got to our hotel around midnight, walked in and SURPRISE!  There was only ONE bed!  I could have sworn we reserved a room with two beds.  And before you ask, one bed was for us, one for Kayla, and Eric was going to sleep on the floor.  They got in around 1am and luckily had brought two sleeping bags, so they both had to sleep on the floor :(.  By they time we all got settled and got Eve back to sleep, it was 2am. 

We had a rather rude awakening at 4am.  Or, rather, Kayla and I did.  The guys didn't wake up at first.  We woke up because someone was trying to get into our room!  They tried for several minutes before they gave up and left.  Or so I thought.  No - they came back a minute later with a key to the room!  They opened the door in an attempt to come in - thankfully we had slid the little chain lock into place before going to bed!  Andrew and Eric woke up at the point - I think I woke Andrew up with a frantic, "Andrew!  Someone's coming in!"  They dashed to the door, peaked out, and saw someone walking away down the hall (a large guy).  Apparently, he thought our room was his and the desk clerk had given him our key when he asked for it!?!?!?  They got an earful the next morning, I can tell you that!

Anyway, after only a few hours of sleep (if I remember right, Eve got up around 6am), we headed out.  Kayla reminded us that we needed pictures, so we took a few in the parking lot!

The now engaged couple!  As of last weekend!  Congrats guys!  Can't wait for the big day in November - in Orlando!!!!!  That will be such a nice break from November in Michigan.....



Even though we were only with them for a few hours, Eve had a blast!

And of course you always have to take advantage of being with other people so you can get a family picture!



Bros before....nevermind.  That doesn't really apply here.



We all went out to breakfast at Denny's together, then Eric and Kayla headed out to Palmyra to do all the things we had done the day before, and we started our drive home - with a couple of key detours!

Our first stop was at Niagara Falls!  We unfortunately did not have our passports, so we were confined to the American side, but I got a nice picture of Canada.  Hello Canada!



It was hot, crowded, and expensive (and we were tired), so we only walked out to this point and took a few pictures.  I think we spent more time in the bathrooms (there was a long line) and gift shop (I collect Christmas tree ornaments everywhere we visit) than we did at the actual falls.  Oh well, we got to see them!



The last time I was there it was around 11pm (remember that Marinda!?) so it was nice to actual see the falls this time. 

After that stop, we got back on the road and headed south - right along Lake Erie.  This is the best I could do out the window.



But we weren't done yet!  Our drive home took us RIGHT PAST Kirtland, OH - another Church history spot - so we couldn't not stop!  It was about 6pm by this point, so tours of the Kirtland Temple were closed, but we walked around the outside and took pictures.



This was the first temple built by the saints in this dispensation.  It's not owned by the Church, but you can take tours (if you get there before they close).



It's hard to imagine the sacrifice that went into building this temple.  We were glad to have the chance to see it!



Just down the street, they Church owns some property and their tours were still open.  We were in a hurry to get home, but we did get to join the tour just for the portion that went through the Newel K. Whitney Store.  This is where the Prophet Joseph Smith and his wife Emma lived for awhile and where many revelations were received and where the School of the Prophets was held.  And many other neat things I'm forgetting at this point. 

This is the sitting room in the upper floor of the store.



This is the room where the School of the Prophets was held.  Such a small room, but so many wonderful things happened in it.  I won't go into detail for the sake of the length of the blog post, but there was a very special spirit in this room.



The beautiful grounds around the store and the other historical buildings.



After that, it was back in the car, and back on the road.  We got home late (again), but in time that we could attend church the next day.  We had already missed the last two weeks while we were in Utah and knew we would miss the next week (see the upcoming post about our trip to NJ), so we wanted to keep this trip short enough that we could attend church.  I had just been called as the organist and am teaching a Primary class - the 5 year olds. 

So there you go - our jam packed two days out to Palmyra!  We had a great time!