Years ago we had talked about taking the boys to do a church history tour the year before Tanner became a junior. So, when MCO planned a tour to Carnegie Hall that same summer, we thought that would be a perfect excuse to get us out to the East to take our Church history trip! Tanner made a vlog for each day of the trip, so I included that link for each day.
NEW YORK CITY
We had an early, early morning at LAX...
Finally, the boys, my mom, and I made it to NYC. Our hotel was just across from Carnegie Hall. So cool to see the posters of their concert up on the streets of New York!
We headed to Times Square the afternoon we arrived...
On Day 2, we toured the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. It was a very sad, but important experience.
On our tour, we each chose a name on the memorial to learn more about once we got inside the museum. James Cartier, who Hunter picked, had this cool motorcycle created in honor of him in the Museum.
After a good couple of hours at the Memorial and Museum, we walked down to Battery Park to hop on the ferry to see the Statue of Liberty.
We stopped by Rockefeller Center on our way home, just because it wasn't too far. Maybe someday we'll be there when the Christmas tree and skating rink are up!
The next day, we met up with friends, hopped on a Subway...
and back on the ferry...
Made another quick trip to the Statue again with friends,
then took the ferry to Ellis Island.
After our trip back in time on Ellis Island, we headed to the future to try to get on the Vessel. It's this cool architectural art that Tanner found out about and wanted to visit. We had tickets to get on it, but they closed it because of the lightning. We were disappointed but got tickets to come back another day.
We ended up spending a lot of time in this fancy mall that the Vessel was next to, hoping the rain would stop.
We went to a place called Snark Park that was in the mall to try to wait out the rain. It was the weirdest place (modern art!) and not worth the money at all, but we did get some entertainment out of it!
We had a long walk home with a bit of rain, but it was a nice walking tour of the westside.
On Friday, these guys were caught repping MCO in our Hotel lobby!
We went bike riding through Central Park with friends. It was such a nice day and this was one of my highlights! Everyone was supposed to wear their MCO shirts so it was so fun seeing SO MANY people repping MCO everywhere we went.
After the bike ride, we boarded a long subway trip up to Harlem. We visited the Met Cloisters Museum there. It was beautiful. A Medieval Castle in NYC!
Handsome crew waiting for elevator to take them down to go to dinner, then see STOMP!
Getting to and from STOMP was quite an experience...
But it was a great show and we met these girls and their cute family along the way!
And we saw a cool bear made out of bullets on the way home...
Saturday, Ladd arrived! Yay! The boys went to the Manhattan Temple to do baptisms, and my mom and I showed Ladd around Times Square...
and Lincoln Center...
The boys finally got to use their rain tickets to get on the Vessel. They thought it was awesome!
Since we only had 4 tickets, my mom and I walked along this green belt that was built around old railroad tracks in Hudson Yards. I snapped this picture of the railroad tracks, the Vessel, and Empire State Building in the background. The Hudson River was on the other side of us. It was a really nice walk.
Afterwards, the boys and I headed back to get ready for their Carnegie Hall performance, and my mom and Ladd kept exploring.
Trump Tower...
Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Center)
Handsome boys ready to sing...
Rehearsing in Carnegie Hall...
During this rehearsal, the lights went out and eventually we found out that most of lower Manhattan had no electricity. We were soon evacuated. I was a little nervous about this since I was a parent volunteer and had charge over LOTS of kids and we were going to be out on the hot, busy streets of NYC. But, I was so impressed with how quickly MCO had everyone out of the building, and organized safely onto the sidewalks. The kids were scared but brave, and I really saw our MCO family come together. I really was busy during this time keeping kids happy, hydrated, and safe, so I only snapped this shot of our friend Maddie singing in the streets, but I'll let Tanner's video from the day tell the rest of the story...
PENNSYLVANIA
Sunday, we headed out of NYC, picked up a rental car, and drove about 2.5 hours to Pennsylvania to visit the Priesthood Restoration Site.
Joseph and Emma's first baby died while they lived here in Harmony. His grave marker is still there, next to his grandparents. (Emma's parents)
Just across the street from the site was the Susquehanna River, where Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were baptized after receiving the Priesthood. It was beautiful.
PALMYRA NEW YORK
On Monday we spent the whole day in Palmyra Area.
Sacred Grove and Smith Family Farm:
The Angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith in this room:
Smith Family House:
Boys are looking at the Sacred Grove with the Palmyra Temple in the background. Breathtaking!
The Sacred Grove:
We did baptisms at the Palmyra Temple:
The window behind us is called the "Hinckley Window." When they were building the temple, originally there was a wall there, but when Pres Hinckley came to take a tour of the temple while it was being built, he said temple patrons should be able to look out at the Sacred Grove from the temple. So, the wall was replaced with a window. It really is a beautiful temple.
After the Sacred Grove and the temple, we headed to "downtown" Palmyra where we visited the Grandin Printing Press. The first copies of the Book of Mormon were printed here.
We visited the Hill Cumorah. It was all set up for the pageant,which we unfortunately could not stay for, but it was neat to see the sets for it.
We trekked out to Fayette to see the Peter Whitmer log home. It was really neat and well worth the extra 30 minutes to get there. This is where the church was first officially organized in the latter days.
We really enjoyed our stay in Palmyra and glad we scheduled an entire day there with no traveling. It was needed to see all the amazing church history sites that are there. We are so grateful that we could stay with the gracious Knudsens while we were there!
NIAGARA FALLS, CANADA
Tuesday we headed out early to Canada. It was the first time for all of us to go north of our US border, so we were excited. We were surprised at how strict and inquisitive the Canadian border patrol was!
Before we headed to Niagara, we had a tour scheduled for the Whirlpool Jet Boats. We didn't really know what it was all about, just thought some kind of adventurous activity would be good after all the historical sites, and this tour had good reviews on Trip Advisor. It was really fun! The jet boats took us through level 5 rapids and then into the whirlpool near the Falls. We got soaked which felt great with all this humidity!
We couldn't believe our eyes when we finally got to Niagara Falls. It was so much more than I expected! This was the view from our hotel:
Niagara was a highlight of our trip. We really enjoyed the views and the quaint little touristy town. I don't think there are too many foreign countries we would let our boys explore by themselves, but we felt perfectly safe letting the boys roam the city while Ladd and I relaxed.
LONG DRIVE
Wednesday was the day I least looked forward to. We start in Niagara Falls and end in Springfield IL. It's an 11 hour drive! We stopped in Kirtland OH to see some church history...
Whitney Store...
Kirtland Temple...
SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS
Thursday morning, I did laundry, while the boys visited Lincoln's house. Then we went to his Presidential Library...
I'm glad we made it out there to learn a little more about one of our favorite Presidents!
We made it to Nauvoo just in time for the Nauvoo Pageant that evening. It was great!
NAUVOO, ILLINOIS
We woke up on Friday to our full, hot and humid day in Nauvoo.
Bread making...
Horse drawn carriage tour...
Lucy Mack Smith House.
Lucy was there giving a very stirring rendition of her life.
Burial site of Joseph Smith, Emma Smith, and Hyrum Smith...
Apparently you are not allowed to smile when taking a picture in front of a grave...
Joseph Smith's parents, Joseph Sr. and Lucy, are also buried in the family graveyard...
There were about 100 pictures from the famous Browning gunshop on my camera. Hunter was in charge of the pictures at this spot!
We did baptisms at the Nauvoo Temple. Easily one of my new favorite temples. It was rebuilt to identically match (at least the outside of it) the one the early saints made in the 1800s. The original was burned down after the Saints were driven from Nauvoo. It is a stunning site that overlooks this quaint historical town.
I love this statue of Joseph and Hyrum in front of the temple. There is a plaque underneath it that reads:
The Prophet's Last Ride
On the morning of June 24, 1844, Joseph Smith and his brother left their families, homes, and fellow Saints for the last time. Traveling on horseback, they paused on this bluff, Joseph looked admiringly at the unfinished temple and the city of Nauvoo and declared, "This is the loveliest place and best people under the heavens, little do they know the trials that await them." Joseph and Hyrum then continued on to Carthage, Illinois where they faced legal charges and eventual death by a mob.
When reading it and discussing the story with the boys, I got very emotional. Nauvoo really is a lovely place and I feel so blessed that we were able to see it and experience and learn more about the wonderful people that lived there.
Unfortunately, it was so hot and humid, and Tanner wasn't feeling great. So, that evening Ladd and I left the boys at home and attended the British Pageant as a little date night. It was great too and we were sad the boys missed it, but they needed some serious air conditioning!
ST. LOUIS, ILLINOIS
We left Nauvoo in the morning and stopped by Carthage on our way out of IL. I will never sing "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" without tears again. It was a very reverent place and it was a great way to end our tour of church history.
The room Joseph and Hyrum were martyred in...
After a long drive, we spent the last afternoon of our trip in St. Louis, MO.
Here we are in the strange little Tram that brings you up the Arch. I was a little scared of this 1960s technology!
At the top of the Arch!
We took a riverboat tour of the Mississippi. I'll admit, we were a little disappointed with the great Mississippi we've read so much about over the years. It's kind of ugly.
TIME TO GO HOME!
On our last day we woke up early and were so happy to get back home to see the girls!
We are so grateful for all the people who watched our girls. They had so much fun while we were gone! We missed our girls so much, but were happy to get cute picks of them throughout our trip...
1 comment:
Looks like a magnificent trip!! We had a blast too and it was so fun running into you at Central Park riding bikes. Ha ha. And you look beautiful!
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