The Sacred Grove

The sacred grove was so peaceful. I felt again what I already knew. Joseph Smith went out to pray, searcing for answers and guidance for his life. He received his answer as God and Jesus Christ appeared to him. I was very thoughtful as we walked through the grove. I loved the beauty and peace. I thought this is where I would come to pray too. When I really thought about it I wondered if that is true. Would I have taken time to go and pray in a peaceful place? Do I? This was a great insight I received on our trip.

Palmyra was our next stop

Our first stop was to get something to eat. This cute little italian place had a two hamburger special with fries and potato salad. He asked if we wanted it garbage lid style. We didn't know what that meant so he explained that the hamburgers are served on top of the fries and salad and it's covered with ketchup, mustard, onions, and hot sauce. He said that's how the locals eat it so we tried it. It was pretty good and a fun experience for sure.

Niagra Falls

One picture is from the top of the falls. The other is on a boat at the bottom with our "Souvenir poncho's". We were so close we could almost reach them (well, maybe Nate could have). It was awesome !

stop and smell the...grapes

We were driving along enjoying beautiful Pennsylvania when we started to see grapes...lots of them. After a little debating we decide to pull off the main road and look closer. Then we started to smell something... GRAPES. It was so cool. We stapped a picture of this train speeding through the vineyard. Did they see the beauty? Smell the sweetness? I need to stop and smell the grapes. :)

The temple in Kirtland, Ohio

We went on a tour of the Kirtland temple. We really felt the spirit there, especially while we sang "The Spirit of God" as a group.

NY trip

Aaron had a work conference the first of Oct. in NY. Judd and I tagged along for not too much morre. We decided to add on a few more days to see some of the church history sites. We flew into New York where we rented a car and got lost trying to get out of NY. Then we enjoyed seeing the fall colors and the beautiful scenery as we drove to Kirtland, Ohio. Next was Niagra Falls followed by Palmyra, NY. We had some great experiences along the way. We then headed back to the big city where we returned the car as fast as we could. The rest of the time we traveled by foot, bus, or Subway. We are so thankful Grandma Brown was able to stay with the other kids-I think they had as much fun as we did. We also appreciated getting the friends and family rate for the motels and car rental and using my dads GPS system (Maggie) which made some of our little detours possible and would have saved us from other detours if we'd used her sooner. THANKS everyone! Pictures and more details will follow.