Losing Wisdom

One last post for the day, I promise.
Yesterday I got out my wisdom teeth! I've never had any kind of surgery before, so I was a little nervous, but it went well. I am very swollen today (much more than yesterday), but it doesn't hurt too badly, so we're good.
Isn't it weird to think about how major surgery--digging under bones to pull out extra teeth--has become so normal? Everyone gets out their wisdom teeth. How strange.
I will give you one picture to laugh about, and that is all.

Don't you think I'm nearly as cute as a Precious Moments picture?

Or maybe Alfalfa?

Perhaps not. Oh, well.

Eastern Escapades: Day 6--Homeward Bound

We were all sad when we reached our sixth and final day. We had had so much fun! It was such an amazing trip and we didn't want it to be over.
The first thing we did was visit the beach of Lake Erie at Fairport Harbor. It was a beautiful morning, and the beach had a lot of perfectly white, beautiful, little rocks. We had fun being barefoot in the sand. There is a lighthouse there that is also pretty cool. This is a Harbor where a lot of saints sailed in on their way to Utah, or out from to their missions, so it is a church history site, too.

Then we drove to finish up Kirtland. First we visited the Morely farm, and then the Johnson farm in Hiram. Joseph lived on both farms at different point in time, and received revelations in both places. Between the two of them, they lay claim to a large portion f the Doctrine and Covenants, and quite a few important revelations. It was neat because the Johnson home is mostly original. It is the site where Joseph was tarred and feathered and still taught a sermon on the front steps the next day. It was amazing to be standing on the very floors that witnessed such strong emotions--here, Emma lost another child, Joseph saw God the Father and Jesus Christ, mobs attacked, many important, amazing revelations were received, and so on. If only floors could speak.

Morely farm. Rachel biffed it right after this picture.

Johnson farm. Probably the room where Joseph had revelations.

A cute farm on the hill in Hiram.

Then we drove to the airport to head home. On our way we grabbed lunch in a chic Mexican restaurant (yes, that is possible). We flew from Cleveland, Ohio to Denver, Colorado and had a short layover. Then we flew to Salt Lake City. We all got to sit next to each other on these flights, which was nice.

On our last flight we rode in a tiny plane. It only had 13 rows, and only 4 people per row. That is less than half of the other planes we rode in. We had to put tags on our carry-ons because they didn't fit in the overheads.

The flight was beautiful. We flew straight into the sunset. Everything glowed orange. There was the perfect number of clouds to make it even prettier.

The best I could do out of a plane window.

We landed around twilight. We swooped over Provo on our way in, and I could see campus, and even could pinpoint my old apartment! I waved hello to all of my friends down there, and got a weird feeling in my stomach about not going back for two years. It is very strange to think about.
We got home around 11. It is nice to be home.
(whew! We made it through all six posts! I hope you skimmed most of that, because that is a lot of reading. But now I have it all recorded! Yay!)

Eastern Escapades: Day 5--Kirtland

On day 5 we finished the drive from New York to Kirtland, Ohio. Dad let me drive part of the way. I love driving. :)
We first went to the LDS Visitor's Center. They gave us a two hour tour of the part of Kirtland that the church has bought and restored. It included the N. K. Whitney Store, which is really amazing. That is where the school of the prophets was held, and many amazing visions happened. Most of the building is original, which makes it even cooler. The Word of Wisdom was revealed here, and on a different occasion Christ himself appeared. We stood on those very floors. It was really amazing. We also got to see the Whitney home, and replicas of the saw mill and ashery. We ended in the Johnson Inn.

Looking around in the front of the store.

In the School of the Prophets room.

The cute Whitney home.

The Sawmill--replicas of making the pulpits for the temple.

The ashery.

Us and the Sister missionaries. I liked these ones a lot. The one on the far left met our cousin Derin in the MTC, because he is headed to her homeland, Ukraine!

Next we drove to the Kirtland Temple. It is so crazy to me that it is still standing! What an amazing site! It is owned by the Community of Christ (formerly known as the RLDS church). We started the tour in their visitor's center by watching a film about the beginnings of the church. It was interesting because it was about the history we had in common. Their account was very similar to ours, but with a larger emphasis on the failure of the Kirtland Safety Society as a reason for the saints leaving. They also said that only Christ appeared to Joseph in the Sacred Grove. That might have to do with their belief in the trinity. They also emphasized the fact that the church splintered after Joseph's death, which is true, but failed to recognize what a huge fraction ended up in Utah as Latter-day Saints. It was interesting.
After the video, The Spirit of God started playing over the speakers. The problem was that it was a super fast version by a funny choir. As it was playing, the movie screen rolled up and the curtains rolled back to reveal a huge window view of the Kirtland Temple. It was pretty, and a cool way to end the movie, but I couldn't help but laugh later because it felt like a carnival ending. Like, "Ta-da!!" Can't you imagine it? Kinda fast in a dinky voice: "the spirit of God like a fire is burning" "brrrrr...brrrrr" (the curtains rolling back) ta-da! I can't seem to stop laughing about it.
But really, the tour was good. The tour guide was nice and really knowledgeable. She definitely wasn't a sister missionary, but she did well.
It was really neat to tour the temple. So much of it is original! It was really neat to think of the things that happened there. I love D&C 109, which is the dedicatory prayer, and it is also neat to think of D&C 110 where Moses, Elias, Elijah, and Christ all appeared in the temple. Really the Kirtland Temple was a preparatory temple so that we could receive the keys necessary to do ordinances in later temples. I feel bad for the Community of Christ, because they don't seem to understand what a temple is for. The ordinances! They built a temple in Independence, but they don't really know what to do with it, besides hold meetings. It is really tragic. I love the temple so much.

In front of the temple's green doors.

The best we could do with a timer camera.

After that we were all ready for dinner. Mom had had it with bland food. She wanted something good. We ended up at the Longhorn Steakhouse. It was a little more expensive, but oh my goodness. That was probably the best chicken I have ever had. Rachel and I shared Parmesan Crusted Chicken, and it was amazing. It came with salad and the best mashed potatoes I've ever had. Mom got Grilled Chicken & Stuffed Portabella, and dad got steak. It was all delicious.

On our way back from dinner, I went to the Salvation Army for the first time ever! It was way better than the DI.

Then we went and relaxed in our hotel. By far it was the nicest of all of the hotels we stayed in. It was the cheapest, too! It even had a little living room, a kitchenette, and two TVs. Dad was happy.
We also discovered my blonde moment of the trip. Please don't laugh at me. Because I had had a runny nose, my upper lip was pretty chapped. When we went to a Walmart on Tuesday I bought a travel sized Olay lotion to put on it to help it feel better. On Friday, it wasn't better--my face felt like it was on fire!! Rachel took the lotion from me and read the label. It wasn't labeled very well, but it was definitely body wash. No wonder it hurt so much! My cure was worse than the disease! My face pealed for days. I looked awful on Sunday. How embarrassing. We laughed and laughed (it's feeling much better today, by the way).

Eastern Escapades: Day 4--Watkins Glen

On the fourth day we went to the Sacred Grove one more time before we drove away from Palmyra. It was even prettier the second time. There are benches everywhere where a person could sit and contemplate, and we took advantage of them. It is just beautiful.

We also wandered the grounds around the Palmyra Temple (maybe one block away from the Sacred Grove) for a few minutes.

Then we hit the road again, heading west. We decided to spend a few hours in the Waterloo Outlet Mall (right near where the Amish sell their fireplaces and gazebos that are made by hand). I found so many clothes for my mission! It was a very successful trip, and I even had room for them in my suitcase (which was a carry-on).
Meanwhile, dad drove off by himself to go see a lock on the Erie Canal. I think that was his favorite part of the trip. To each their own. He is a water guy after all.

One of the many cute houses.

Then back on the road toward Kirtland. By this point we knew we wouldn't make it their before nightfall, so we called ahead to a hotel along the way in Salamanca. This made it so we had enough time to take the scenic route. We ate at a country diner, which was fun. Mom got a chicken wrap, but it was cold and pretty bland (she swears they just boiled chicken and put it in there). As her third yucky chicken experience on the trip, she wasn't very patient with it. She asked the waitress if she could microwave it for her to heat it up. We heard the chef grumbling in the back, with the waitress telling him to shush. It was pretty funny. Mom had offended the cook. We all got a good giggle out of it. I felt like we were definite (snooty) outsiders.
And back on the road. I love upstate New York soooo much! It is so beautiful! There are rolling hills covered in forests for hours and hours. They are filled with big, healthy trees of kinds that don't grow in Utah. The weather was perfect for us. I also love the people. Everyone was talked to was very friendly (perhaps not the cook, but we didn't talk to him in person). They are all kind, safe drivers (except the truck drivers--scary!). Most of them dress modestly out of habit and not because they are members, and when we walked past they would smile and say hello. I guess we didn't go to any big cities, but I just thought everyone was so nice.
An interesting observation Rachel made is that everyone out there had pretty nice cars. Not flashy ones, but we rarely saw a junker like we do in Utah all the time. Interesting.
Dad says that I can't live there because it is too far away from Utah, but I want to at least visit there again.
Our waitress at the diner told us of this gorge we needed to go to on our scenic route. It fed into one of the finger lakes (which are beautiful on their own. I wouldn't mind honeymooning there).
The gorge was in a place called Watkins Glen. They bragged of 19 waterfalls in the first mile. The gorge was lovely. It seemed to be the east coast version of a canyon. There are stairs built along the whole thing, so we could hike through it with ease (plus a bit of huffing).
The gorge is made of layers of solid gray rock (not like our red sandstone) worn through by the water. There were waterfalls every hundred feet or less. There was plant life everywhere--moss on the walls, trees above, and some bushes and vines clinging to the wall. It was humid and cool, and the light that trickled down from above was tinted green. We saw several frogs hopping along.

The beginning of Watkins Glen Gorge.

Behind a waterfall.

Sooo pretty.

It really was glowing green.

Then we kept driving through lovely wooded hills with the occasion lake or river for the rest of the day. Salamanca was less pretty, and had a huge casino. It was still nice to crash once again (after catching up in my journal, of course.)

Eastern Escapades: Day 3--Palmyra

On the third day of Christmas... I mean of our trip... we went to see all of the sites in Palmyra. It is the cutest little town ever! I think they must have a law there that everyone has to have cute houses because everyone does! They understand that that the garage should not be the focal point of front of your house. But that is a rant for another day.
First we went to the visitor's center at the Smith farm and the Sacred grove. This was the first time I saw sister missionaries on this trip, and it was interesting. I paid close attention to all of them on the trip. I'll comment more on that later.
I was also still pretty sick, but improving.
It was neat to be where everything happened. The Sacred Grove is beautiful. I always thought when I saw the restoration movie that the grove couldn't actually look like that. I thought there would be more weeds and underbrush and rotting logs and ugly trees. But it actually looks just like the movie. There are weeds and underbrush and rotting logs, but even they are pretty. The trees are tall, with most of their thin branches at the top with all of their leaves, so everything glows green. The forest feels reverent with the beautiful sounds of nature (birds, crickets, little clicky bugs). We loved it. There were so many paths that we could have wandered around there for hours.

The Smith home

In Joseph's room where Angel Moroni appeared.

The second Smith home where Joseph Smith Sr. hoped to retire.

The path leading to the Sacred Grove.

My parents being cute.

My parents being even more cute in front of the Palmyra Temple.

 Then we went to Hill Commorah. One of the sister missionaries there was my FHE daughter a few years ago! Crazy! It was also beautiful.

The Hill Cummorah Visitor's Center

The monument at the top of Hill Cummorah.

On our way down dad showed us an indent in the ground. What if the plates were buried here?! Just kidding. :)

Next we headed to downtown Palmyra where the Book of Mormon was printed. First, we got to drive down the street where the four churches still stand on opposite corners from each other, standing as a memorial to the Second Great Awakening and its impact on the "Burned Over District" in New York--the place where Joseph Smith started asking questions. None of the churches are small either, even though originally only the Presbyterians had a building. The rest used to be tents. Now they are all beautiful buildings.
The sister missionary in the visitor's center around the print shop was my favorite. She was enthusiastic, sweet, and sincere. I hope to be like her.

 We used the kitchenette in our hotel room to heat up leftover pizza, then headed to Fayette. We got to see the David Whitmer farm where the church was founded in 1830. What a cool place! The church is still standing, still growing, and still true. I loved it.

The David Whitmer home.

The church was organized in front of this fireplace (or one that stood here).

  

A funny failed family picture in front of the Visitor's Center there.

This sign is near the Whitmer farm. We thought it was pretty great.

That night mom, dad, and I did an endowment session in the Palmyra Temple. It is so small! It was very beautiful, though. All of the windows in the entire building were stained glass pictures of the Sacred Grove. The celestial room has an amazing chandelier, and the main window has a larger tree that clearly is the tree of life. It was pretty late and dark when we finished, so all of the windows glowed beautifully from the inside.