From Niagara to Palmyra

We live about 6 hours away from Palmyra, and trust me, 6 hours is a much easier trip to make then 8 or 9 hours to my parents house in Illinois or North Carolina. So when it's that close, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to see Palmyra once more. Ashley, Braden and I took a spontaneous road trip there last year while Trapper and Jackson were out in Utah. We had a blast, and ever since, I couldn't wait to share the experience with Trapper.

All the way up, we listened to Jackson's nursery rhyme cd's. "The Farmer in the Dell" and "Old King Cole" will forever be stuck in my brain. There's no doubt that everytime I get in the car, whether we listen to that particular cd or not, those songs will be the first ones I start to sing. I've become conditioned to it. However old it got, it kept Jackson preoccupied most of the way, so if anything, I should only be grateful. haha

Our first stop was Niagara Falls. It was really cold and windy, but the kids never seem to care about the weather. They're just happy to be out of the car.

A view of Canada

How much I wished we had a camera like Ashley's or even a smidge of her talent! I did my best with each photo, but of course, I am only an amateur.

I think Trapper took this one though. Isn't it beautiful?! The whole way to Niagara, Jackson kept asking if we were at the big waterful yet. At one point, I told him that it was "humongous," and after that he loved talking about how "humongous" it is. It's so cute when he says it. : )

The next day, we drove to Palmyra, and our first stop was the Hill Cumorah. I LOVE THIS HILL! It's beautiful in the fall and so steep! I love to think about the history of it and how the Lamanites and Nephites warred with each other. And Moroni, maybe in hiding or just passing through, hid the gold plates under a rock somewhere on this very hill. Even though it's clear of trees on this side, the other side is thick with foliage, and it made me wonder how anyone could even get through it! Maybe that's one reason why Moroni thought it was such a good spot: steepness and thick trees. Of course, I'm sure Moroni and other people in that day were excellent hikers, unlike me, so .....maybe I'm wrong....Either way, I'm rambling on with a ridiculous tangent.

This is also where the Hill Cumorah Pageant is held. That's an opportunity I wish we had taken.

The Moroni Monument

The Smith Farm and the Sacred Grove

We took a little tour of the log home and the frame home that the Smith's lived in, but the kids were a little too energetic and wouldn't stop touching the antiques, so our tour guide had to give us the quick version. Thus, we don't remember much about that part.

In the Grove, we tried to impress upon the boys that it was a sacred place and they needed to be reverent. They did really good about not yelling or screaming, but the ground was so thick with leaves that you could barely hear anything other than the crunch under our feet.

This is me doing my best to ponder. haha It looks like I'm angry.

I wanted Trapper to get the full experience of the Sacred Grove, so I told him to sit down and enjoy the peace and quiet, and I'd take the kids back to the visitor's center and get them some water. I thought we were pretty close to exiting the grove, so we took off.

Little did I know that to get out of the grove, you still have about 10-15 minutes of walking to do. lol When I left Trapper on that bench, I thought we had to go around a corner and then we'd be out, but we turned the corner and found that we had to go down a hill and then turn many more corners! After walking for about 10 minutes, and doing my best to keep the kids on the path, I saw Trapper catching up to us from behind. It was perfect timing, 'cause Braden was just beginning to get fussy. I think he was mad at me for telling him where to go and to stop picking up large branches. That kid has such an attitude; he thinks he's such a big boy already. :)

After the grove, we drove in town and ate at Mark's Pizzeria (the same place Ashley and I went last year). Yum, yum! We also bought some fudge and some candy for the boys and called the trip good! Trapper had been sick the whole trip with a sore throat and coughing, and Braden was starting to show the same symptoms, so we knew it would be a quick trip. It was lots of fun though and Trapper was really glad that he got to see it.