Day 46: Home!

I didn't take any pictures on the way home.  I know it like the back of my hand.  So I will share with you some of the things we talked about on the way home.
We couldn't wait to:
Sleep in our own bed's
Sleep on our own pillows
Not have to drive the next day
How sore our behinds were
Use our own washer and dryer

Thing's we didn't look forward to:
Getting up for Seminary
Making our own food again
Having to clean things

What we couldn't wait for the most though was to see George and of course Rocky!  As soon as we got home it was just overwhelming, soooooo nice to see George and poor Rocky was beside himself he was so happy to see us!  This trip was so amazing, so many amazing wonderful things to see in our country.  I'm so thankful Hope invited me and didn't put me on a plane back home, I know for a fact she wanted to :)  I love that I was able to experience this with them and I hope they enjoyed spending the time with me.

Day 45: Yellowstone & Jackie and Tyler

 We spent the night at the Yellowstone Valley Inn.  It was in a pretty little valley with lot's of rock formations everywhere.  We headed to Yellowstone as early as we could because we wanted to see some animals, and we figured they would be more active in the morning hours.  We were driving around a corner and this Buffalo was just walking down the side of the rode, not in the middle or in our lane or the other lane but on the other side of the white line, I thought that was funny.

 Big herd of Buffalo's, the only animals we saw while we were there.   I've been to Yellowstone a couple of times now and still haven't seen a bear.  I guess if I ever encounter a bear maybe I will be glad about that :)

 When we got to the Old Faithful area, it was forecasting the next eruption to be at 12:20, so we headed out and waited and waited.......

 and waited some more, took pictures of other waiters :)  Took lot's of pictures of the almost eruptions :)  Then took more of the actual eruption, a park ranger said that on average the geyser will go 130 feet in the air, it kept going for a good 3 minutes or so.  Pretty impressive and on a schedule, can't ask mother nature to be more accurate than that I guess :)

 We walked around and looked at some of the pools, they really do look cool.  Kind of scary to think how hot they are.  I'm glad we made it to Yellowstone, it is a fascinating area.

After Yellowstone we went to Jackie and Tyler's house.  We walked around the BYU-I campus and just enjoyed being with family.  They made us yummy pizza and Tyler made us snickerdoodles, one of my all time favorite cookies :)  It was fun to see my kid's all together and having a good time.  Tyler and Jackie are in school now and so we didn't stay long, they needed to study.  We headed back to our hotel and talked about how happy we were that this was our last night in a hotel :)  One more day and we will be home!

Day 43& 44: Driving, Driving, Driving and Mt. Rushmore

 Sunday we drove all day long.  I really missed how close all of our destinations were on the East Coast.  Monday we went to Mt. Rushmore!  I have always wanted to go here.  It is something I would say was on my bucket list if I had one :)  So I don't need to write it down when I make my list :)  It was pretty cool to see.  Very memorable.

Emma, Tayler and Hope

 This mountain goat was inside a fenced area when we first saw it, well I guess it didn't want to stay there.  I thought it was funny to see it walking through all the tourist like it was no big deal.  I guess to it, it probably wasn't a big deal.

 We also went to the Crazy Horse monument.  I didn't know it wasn't finished, it was kind of a let down.  Now when they finish it, that will be cool.  The story was interesting and it is huge, I guess all of Mt. Rushmore could fit inside the head area of the Crazy horse monument.  So that is cool, maybe I will go back when they finish.  I think Emma said I would be 105 by then, maybe we will go together in a few years ;)

Day 42: Kirtland and Chicago

We started the day off with breakfast with some of Ryley's family.  His Uncle and Aunt and Cousin are so nice.  We really enjoyed our time with them.  We headed to Kirtland Ohio.  I thought it would be cool to see the Kirtland temple even though our church doesn't own it anymore.  It was interesting to see but it was like looking at any other old building around the area.  Absolutely zero spirit there.  I was sad that we had gone to Palmyra first.  I missed the spirit I felt there at the sacred grove and on the temple grounds.

 From Kirtland we zoomed across the states and headed to Chicago.  We knew we weren't staying here long so we didn't do much.  We saw the skyline though.  Hope was telling me what she knew of the Sears tower.  Sounds scary, it was cool to see though.

Day 41: Family and Niagara Falls

We went to visit with Amanda Kinsman today.  She is married to my nephew Jordon, he is deployed to Afghanistan right now but will be home soon.  Amanda was kind enough to put her life on hold for a little while and let us play with her darling Nolah and just have a good time with family.  It was so nice to see her and we are glad we took the time to stop and see them.  We felt bad that we missed Ellie, she had to go to school early and didn't get home until later in the afternoon.  We sure do miss family.

 We headed to Niagara falls next.  Really I think the pictures speak for themselves.  It was beautiful and awesome.  I hear that the Canadian side is prettier but I was very pleased with the American side and I don't feel like we missed out on anything.  Beautiful day!

Emma and Lora

Day 40: Palmyra, New York

Angel Moroni on top of Hill Cumorah

 We are finally headed across the top of the United States.  First stop was Palmyrah.  I was so excited even though I had no idea what to expect.

Emma and Tayler on the Hill

Smith Farm House

 This is a replica of the house that Joseph Smith grew up in.  The foundation is the original foundation and they did build it to be an exact look alike.  They didn't even use power tools to build it.

 This is the were Joseph talked to his mother about what he had read and prayed about.

 Looking out the back of the house is the Sacred Grove, it was so pretty here.

 This is the room that Joseph knelt and prayed in and had the Angel Moroni appear to him.

 On our way to the framed house that Alvin built we stopped in one spot and we looked left and saw the Temple (above) and then looked to the right and saw the Sacred Grove (below)  it was very cool.

 This is the Framed house that the Joseph and Emma lived in.  This is the house that Joseph brought the plates to.  Below is the fireplace where he hid some of the plates.  80% of this house is the original house, the bricks below are the original ones.

Original bricks

 The box on top of that dresser in the corner is a replica of the box Joseph hid the rest of the plates in.

 The kitchen where some of the translation was done.

 This is a barrel shed that Joseph also hid the plates in.  He had them hidden under the floor boards, but one day he had the thought that he should move them so he put them on a shelf up above the tools.  A mob broke in and ripped up the floor boards and found nothing, they didn't look up either so the plates were safe.

 The Sacred Grove was so peaceful and beautiful.  I sat and tried to imagine all those years ago.  All the amazing things that happened here that made it so we could have the restored gospel in our lives.  I'm so thankful for all that Joseph Smith did. So thankful for my Heavenly Father.  He loves us all so much.  It really is very amazing.

I'm thankful I am sealed to my family.  They are mine, if I continue to do all that I have been taught to do.  What a great day.  I am so glad we came here.  It was just so special to me.

Day 39: Salem, Massachusetts

We are in Salem Massachusetts today.  Hope has always wanted to come here and see some of the Salem Witch history.  We started off at the house of Nathanial Hawthorne.  His Great great Grandfather was one of the judges of the witch trials.  I have to admit I couldn't place where I had heard of Nathanial Hawthorne until someone, probably Hope told me he wrote the Scarlet Letter.  It is much better to know who someone is when touring around his house :)  His house had a cool secret passage, up through an old chimney.  I want one of those in my house, just for fun :)

Hawthorne house

 Look how pretty the view is from his house.  It is really relaxing and peaceful looking.

 We had some time after the tour to go get some candy.  I bought some cashew turtles, so so yummy!  This place is the oldest American candy making company.  The tour guy told us that a man by the name of Spencer owned this place until his family came into some money back in England.  So he sold the company and moved home.  Spencer is the name of Princess Diana, imagine if they had stayed in America, she could have been a candy maker lol.

 Look we could have fun at Waikiki beach.  Water temps get as high as 68, doesn't that sound heavenly :)

 We toured a Witch dungeon.  I thought it was a little creepy.  I read a book called the Heretics daughter, it painted a pretty good picture of how things were back in 1692.  I'm glad I had read it, it helped me get a better feel for everything.  Amazing the things people suffered and just because some one didn't like them or for other selfish reasons.  One man wouldn't say anything at all, so they couldn't legally take his land from him unless he confessed or denied being a witch.   So they pressed him, which means they put him in a shallow ditch and put a board on his chest and slowly put rocks on top of him, hoping to get a confession.  Well he wouldn't confess and was crushed to death.  Lovely huh.  Most were hung.

 This is a Memorial to all those who died during the Witch Trials.  I think 19 people were hung, 15 women and 4 men, oh yeah and two dogs.  Each ledge is for a person.  It tells the persons name and how they died.

I couldn't get this picture to turn and got impatient.  I just wanted you to see what it looked like.  It was sobering to see.  On the threshold to this memorial were the people's denial to being a witch.  The really strange thing is that if they had confessed they would have been allowed to live.  Such a sad 14 months in our American History.

Day 38: Boston

We are on the road again, this is Connecticut, I really thought the drive was so beautiful.  The tree's are changing colors here and there.  It was a nice drive.

Welcome to Massachusetts

 As we were driving into Boston it was raining, uugghhh seems like we have to deal with rain everywhere we go.  Other than the rain, it was a beautiful city.  We always talk about where we would like to live or visit again and I think Boston is one of those places.

Hope, Tayler and Emma moving a replica boat through a lock

Tayler and Emma in front of the USS Constitution

 It was pretty cool to pull to a museum area and have this ship sitting there.  It was like we were back in time.  The USS Constitution was used in the war of 1812.  She was built in 1797.  It was fun to walk around on it and to see some of the areas on board.

Below deck

Captains chambers

Cannon

 We went to a the museum and here are the kids trying to put together a puzzle.  Love that concentration :)

What is that?  The Washington Monument in Boston lol.  I actually don't know what it is for but thought it was funny.  We enjoyed our little bit of time in Boston, once again it is somewhere I will go back to if I get the chance.