Friday, June 8, 2012

Church History Trip

So I know we went to Palmyra months ago, but I said I'd post pics from our trip so here they are! Since I am pregnant, my doctor said that I need to get out of the car ever couple hours to stretch my legs. For this reason, we made a couple detours on our drive. The most anticipated detour we made was to ERIE, PA!!!!! Now, if you know the movie, "That Thing You Do" then you will understand why I was stoked to stop here. I'd been watching this movie since childhood and had a special place in my heart for the Wonders and Lenny and Erie, PA. First Stop: town of Erie As we drove through the town here is a typical house: I even tried to see if there was a Patterson electronics store on our GPS....nope...sad Even though Adam didn't grow up watching 'That Thing You Do' regularly, he was excited to stop in Erie just to see Lake Erie. After my quick stop at Erie, PA we drove straight to Palmyra, NY. Now, Adam has never been to any of the church history sites in the east (and I haven't been since I was 16) so we definitely had our priorities of what we wanted to see. However, we wanted to cram in as many sites as possible since who knows when we'd be able to come out here again. It was Adam's spring break and I got a few days off work for a Jewish holiday. So, even though it was March and freezing we really wanted to go. Besides it being absolutely freezing, it was a really wonderful time to go. No one else was there yet so we had every place to ourselves. The best experience we had was in the Sacred Grove. It was really special to be there - and the only ones there - it was perfectly quiet and sacred. Here is a helpful map of the layout of the Smith farm and the Sacred Grove Adam walking through the Sacred Grove. I wasn't expecting it to be so leafless at this time of year. At the log home: After the Sacred Grove, we ran over to Grandin's Bookstore before it closed. I loved seeing where the Book of Mormon was first published It was amazing to see ink splots that have been on the wall since the 1830's The next day we drove down to Fayette to the Peter Whitmer Farm and, again, since we were the only ones there he let us take a picture behind the railing where Joseph would have stood to organize the church, and where Spencer W. Kimball broadcast from for the 1980 General Conference. We were able to do a session at the temple that night, but we stopped by the next morning to grab a picture of it. One of my most vivid memories of being here at 16 was doing baptisms for the dead and the sweet temple worker explaining the significance of those temple windows. When President Hinckley described this temple he made sure there was a set of clear windows on the side of the temple that overlooks the Sacred Grove. He said it was one sacred spot looking onto another. Here is the view from the top of the temple hill that looks onto the Sacred Grove....it was FREEZING! Then, before we drove out of town we ran by the Hill Cumorah and snapped some pictures. Every other time Adam and I went to the Hill Cumorah it was pouring rain so it wasn't exactly the 'special' experience you hope for there.

2 comments:

Stephanie said...

That is such an awesome trip! It is so cool to just see pictures of all those cool places you visited. I wish so badly we could come out and visit you!! I'm so glad you guys are making the most of living there and doing fun outings before the baby comes.

Stephanie said...

I forgot to mention Erie!! That's so cool! I got so excited reading about it. Too bad there is not any movie memorabilia there for you to see.