Wow how time flies.
I promised myself to keep up on this summer and now it's almost October! This is the last of our adventures in New Jersey but we did this stuff in July! So sorry for my delay... But it was by far the highlight of our summer so I am really glad I'm catching up!
On July 15th we went to the Hill Cumorah Pageant in Palmyra New York. It was about a 4 hour drive to upstate, and we spent the weekend up there. The first day we went to go see Palmyra and of course the pageant. We got to the Pageant grounds around 11 and NOBODY was there! We thought it was so funny we got there so early and we were the only ones there. We staked out our spot and walked all around. People got to climb the hill to this little Joseph Smith monument and we loved the view from the top!
I'll jump ahead to the pageant for the pictures sake. It was such an amazing show! There were over 500 people in the cast! Everyone came out before and mingled with the audience. We are pictured here with I believe a Nephite and a Lamanite. The show was just about the Book of Mormon and all the heroes we read about. There was FIRE, WATER FALLS and A FULL SIZED BOAT on the stage! This was for sure broadway quality work here. We loved every minute of it and could really feel the spirit.
While we were waiting for the show to start we went to see the sacred grove, the Smith house and the temple. The sacred grove was the most amazing experience ever. We thought it was just a small little spot that would be crowded and noisy. But when we walked in the spirit just surrounded us and we felt so so amazing to be in the place where Joseph Smith actually knelt in prayer. It was super quiet and actually quite large. We were alone for most of the time and just felt such a wonderful peace the entire time we where there. I got teary eyed the moment we walked in because it looked identical to any pictures or paintings I have ever seen of it.
The temple was simple and beautiful. We also saw a few other monuments like the Smith home as well as we watched the Joseph Smith movie. That movie makes me cry every time! It is so amazing how someone so young could endure so much and still have the strength to move on.
We had such an amazing time in Palmyra and would recommend it to anyone who is thinking about going!
Palmyra is only about an hour and a half away from the edge of the U.S. So we thought for sure we had to go see Niagara Falls! And of course we had to see it on the Canadian side! It was super packed that weekend and really hot too. It was the most spectacular thing we have ever seen though! There was a ton of mist constantly coming off the falls and there is always a beautiful rainbow! We unfortunately didn't get to go on the Maid of the Mist boat because they were all sold out that day! So Canada bummed us out a bit and we actually didn't stay too long there.
This is really funny to say but one of the serious highlights of our trip up was passing by the cutest little town in all of America. It is right off of one of the finger lakes in NY (there are 11) its a small town called Skaneateles. HUUH? haha we did the same thing. It's pronounced skinny atlas. But it was so flippin cute! The lake was beautiful and the town was so prim and quaint. We are for sure without a doubt having a summer home there on that lake, its that precious! We walked out on this cute little dock in the middle of the lake. (the lake is so crystal clear the people of Skaneateles actually drink this water!) I'm sad I didn't get any good pictures of the place, but it actually wouldn't have done it justice! Just trust me on this one...
Ha nice face.
Well we had a great time this summer in New Jersey! We are sooo glad to be home though! I think our east coast summers are now over, and oddly enough, we are ok with it. Home is always the best place to be.
Now back to school, back to reality! Hope all of you had a wonderful Summer!
