going to palmyra

So my old BYU roommate lindsey is from boston and she invited me to go with her YSA group up to palmyra new york to see the hill cumorah pageant and lots of church history sites. It was such a fun time...



this is down town boston. booya.



i took a train from boston out to franklin to make it more convenient for lindsey to pick me up. it was the first time i had ever been on a real railroad.



this is the first time i saw this sign. i thought it was cool to have boston and new york and my favorite number all on one sign.



this is the second time i saw this sign- because apparently it was the exit we were suppose to take- but we drove like 45 minutes past it. haha it was pretty ironic that i had taken a picture of it the first time. I would have said something but i just didn't know!



saturday was really rainy- but we actually got pretty lucky. whenever we wanted to be outside it seemed to clear up. and if we were inside or driving it poured. but it was still a good time.



p.s. niagra falls is crazy.



these are some trees that live in the sacred grove- probably the best part of the trip. it's a lot bigger than i though. it's like a little forest you can just meander around in. it was lovely.



this is a wood working shop just across from the smith family's home. it smelled like our garage because of all the wood shavings. Dad- you would have really liked this part.




this is one of the places in the smith home that Joseph Smith hid the gold plates during all the pursecution when he was trying to translate. it was really cool to be in the same room that Joseph Smith actually translated part of the book of mormon in.



the palmyra temple.




we went to the grandin buidling where the book of mormon was originally published. It was especially cool to learn about oldschool bookbinding skills. again- it was just amazing to actually stand on the original floors that joseph smith and so many other church figures walked on. Being here made the gospel less of a story and more of a reality. which is good- because it is a reality. a very real reality.




i ate this entire calzone. not one of my proudest moments. i felt sick for days.

we also went to see the hill cumorah pageant- there were a lot of mormons having a good time. the weather had cleared up and we were all excited and enjoying the show- but about 1/2 way through it started pouring -lit'rally. so they canceled the rest of the show (as it is performed out of doors) and we went back to our camsite. On the up side- i saw some really amazing lightning. Thanks palmyra.