Yes, it has been a while... a long while... since our last post. We've had an eventful summer, and just haven't taken the time to catch up. So, one event at a time we will do what we can to get you all up to date on what we've been doing.
Ever since we moved here to the east coast, we've been talking about going north to Palmyra to see the Hill Cumorah Pageant and a few other things in the general vicinity. In talking about it we mentioned it to my parents and so every so often they would ask us if we were for sure going. Once we decided it was going to happen, they decided to drive from Michigan to join us.
Adri and I drove up early Friday morning so that we could go see some of the church history sites in the area before the pageant that night. The only one we really took pictures of is the Sacred Grove. Which, thinking back, almost seems the most boring because it is a grove of trees. Not much to see in there other than plants and dirt.
Ever since we moved here to the east coast, we've been talking about going north to Palmyra to see the Hill Cumorah Pageant and a few other things in the general vicinity. In talking about it we mentioned it to my parents and so every so often they would ask us if we were for sure going. Once we decided it was going to happen, they decided to drive from Michigan to join us.
Adri and I drove up early Friday morning so that we could go see some of the church history sites in the area before the pageant that night. The only one we really took pictures of is the Sacred Grove. Which, thinking back, almost seems the most boring because it is a grove of trees. Not much to see in there other than plants and dirt.
This one is probably my favorite from the day because I just love to colors and the shadows on all of the leaves. This is probably one of the most humbling places I've been in my life. For anyone that hasn't been, you need to make it a point to go. To know what happened here and how it has affected my life is just inspiring!
After the Sacred Grove, we walked around the Smith Family Farm, drove by the temple and then went to grab some food while we awaited my parents arrival. We wanted to eat at the pizza place we always ate at when we would visit the area while I was a kid. Come to find out, one of the other shops in the building caught on fire, and so all of the business in the building had shut down for the time, or relocated. We didn't have time to go hunting, so no Mark's Pizzeria this time.
Finally my parents arrived, we grabbed some food at the show and walked around while we waited for the show to start. It was rather entertaining to go listen to the protesters and watch them try to engage people walking into the show so that they could "save" them.
The show was fantastic. They made some changes to some things since I last saw it, but it was better than I remembered. Before it started Adri kept asking me how it compared to another, not to be named, pageant was that we saw. The other one was pretty bad. I kept telling her the Hill Cumorah Pageant was better and she just needed to watch. She loved it!
The next day we drove up to Buffalo and Canada to see Niagara Falls and get buffalo wings where they all started.
If you ever go, go to the Canadian side. It is so much prettier, cleaner and just all around better than the American side. Plus, even though you are just over the border, you are still in a foreign country even though it doesn't feel like it.
It was a beautiful day to see the falls, and the mist felt really good as we walked around. After about an hour walking around and taking pictures we hoped back in the car and headed to Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario, Canada. It is this cute little town right on the boarder where the Niagara River splits off from Lake Ontario. It was fun to talk along the water front, get food and ice-cream and just enjoy the old buildings.
After a full day in Canada we had to hit Duff's in Buffalo on the way out so that we could get some original buffalo wings. They were sooooo good!
On the final day we split ways with my parents and headed back towards home. We decided to take a little bit of a different way home so that we could stop in Watkins Glen. It is essentially this gorge full of waterfalls that you can hike through. I think there are a total of like 17 waterfalls in the gorge. It was just awesome!
All in all it was a fantastic trip. It was short, but well worth it. And having my parents come over from Michigan made it all that much better. The scenery was great, the activities were wonderful, and the company was the best I could have ever asked for.
