Summer Vacation 2009

Fairly early on Monday morning, July 27th, we packed up the van and embarked on Family Vacation 2009. Day One: Drove to Gettysburg, PA, one of our favorite places to go, had a picnic lunch and spent the better part of the afternoon at the new Visitors' Center. We didn't have time to follow the auto-trail to see all the monuments and follow the progression of the three days of battle, but we'll go back and do that another time. (It's not as if we haven't done it numerous times before! Even so, it stirs us every time.) Before we left the Visitors' Center a stop at the Gift Shop was a must, and both Jeffrey and Gregory spent hard-earned mowing money on Vermont maple sugar candy (which they didn't share with us at all!)

Back on the road, we drove to Carlyle, PA where we checked in at a Fairfield Marriot Hotel. Gregory talked us into eating dinner at a Chinese Buffet, and we're glad we did. The next day, Tuesday the 28th, we went to Hershey, PA to play at Hershey Amusement Park for hours and hours. Gregory and Mom did loads of roller coasters, but not as many as Mom wanted! We started off with the tour/ride through the chocolate factory showing how Hershey chocolate is made. Before we left the park that night, Gregory had to buy some homemade fudge (which he did share a little bit!)

Bright and early on Wednesday the 29th, we packed up the van again and headed north through Pennsylvania into New York. It rained and was cloudy all day, which kept the van cool while driving. Not so good for eating a picnic lunch, though. When we arrived in Niagara Falls, NY, the rain had slowed down a bit. We stayed on the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station at the Air Force Inn. Our rooms (had to have two of them, one for the boys and one for us) were in the newly completed building, and it was fantastic. Each room had its own refrigerator, "kitchen sink", and microwave, and that made it handy for us and our meals. The flat-screen TV's had DVD players, too, so we had fun watching some movies at night. Our days were spent seeing as much as we could at the Falls and its environs. Niagara Falls was the most amazing sight I've ever seen in my life! We took the Maid of the Mist boat right up close to the Falls, and it was so immense it completely filled your field of vision. The sound was tremendous, and the spray would have completely soaked us but for the rain ponchos we were given to wear. We enjoyed the Visitors' Center also, and saw a movie there about the legends surrounding the Falls. One story was about a 7-year-old boy who went over the falls (accidentally, of course) wearing just his bathing suit and a life jacket. He miraculously survived with hardly any injury, and was picked up out of the river by crewmen from the Maid of the Mist boat. All of this was Thursday the 30th.

Then on Friday the 31st we went to the Niagara Power Plant to see how they channeled the water power from the Niagara River to make electricity. That was fascinating to me. Gregory said he knew all about hydro-electric power from science in school. But it was all pretty new to me! After that we went to the Niagara Falls Aquarium. It was a fairly small aquarium, not to compare with Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg or the National Aquarium in Baltimore, but nonetheless it was very interesting and we enjoyed it.

Canadian Power Plant on the left.

That afternoon, Val and I drove to Palmyra, NY to attend a session in the Palmyra Temple (leaving the boys in their room watching movies and eating leftover pizza from Pizza Hut.) It was so exciting to be in Palmyra and drive by the Church History sites on our way to the Temple. We had a special session there. I was surprised at how small the temple is. The grounds were beautiful and the temple itself so beautiful and peaceful.

The next day, August 1st, we left Niagara Falls and drove to Palmyra to spend the day sight-seeing with the boys. We stopped first at the Hill Cumorah and spent quite a bit of time there in the Visitors' Center and walking around the Hill and up to the top to see the monument. We saw the film "Joseph Smith--Prophet of the Restoration" and viewed the exhibits in the Center. I was struck by the lush foliage and flowers around the grounds, not only at the Hill Cumorah, but at the Smith Farm and the Temple. So many beautiful flowers ands shrubs! Pictures don't even do them justice. We spent so much time at the Hill Cumorah that we arrived at the Smith Farm at 6 pm. We had "lunch" (we sure were hungry by then!) at the picnic tables by the parking area. Then we had a tour of the log home and the frame house, followed by time to ourselves walking through the trails in the Sacred Grove. It was wonderful. Only one problem, though: At dusk in the summer there are about a million mosquitoes in the Sacred Grove, and we were bothered quite a bit by them. I had a flyer about the Sacred Grove that I used to swoosh them away, but Dad and the boys got a lot of bites. That made it a little hard to concentrate on feeling the Spirit, but we tried! Next time we come to Palmyra, we'll go to the Sacred Grove first, and then the Hill Cumorah!

At the Smith Farm

Gregory, Mom, and Jeffrey in front of the Palmyra Temple.

On Sunday, August 2nd (which was Dad's 57th birthday!), we drove to Fayette, NY to attend Church in the chapel that is next to the Whitmer Farm house where the Church was organized on April 6, 1830. There is a Visitors' Center right in

the Church building, so after the block of meetings we gathered in the Center and had a tour from one of the missionaries about the pictures and exhibits there. Following that he took us outside, short walk to the farmhouse and took us inside. That was most impressive, very spiritual, and a wonderful experience. Next we drove back to Palmyra and went on a tour of the Grandin Press where the Book of Mormon was published. Again, a very interesting and impressive experience.

Dad, Jeffrey, Gregory, and Mom in front of the Palmyra Temple.

After another restful night at our Fairfield Marriot outside of Rochester, we packed up for the final time on Monday morning, August 3rd, for our drive back home to Woodbridge. It was a GREAT vacation!!!