Palmyra and More!!

DAY 6!

Today was another fantastic day. We got up and headed for Palmyra, NY, which is only a few hours away. 

Our first stop was Hill Cumorah, where the pageant takes place. It was all set up for the pageant, and because of that there were a lot of places that we couldn’t go because it was “cast only.” But we were able to make it to the top of the hill where Joseph Smith found the gold plates buried in a hill. They have put a memorial on the top. A statue of Angel Moroni stands at the very top while on the different sides are plaques of Joseph and the plates. It was a nice simple way to make the sacred place that it is still special.

After the Hill Cumorah, we went into town to see if we could find a place to eat some lunch. We didn’t see much so we stopped at this little place called Nima’s. They were already a little busy when we got there, so it took us a little bit of time to even order. We saw a special called “Nima’s Plate.” We though that it was a hamburger/hot, fries, and a kind of side (beans, salad). Then we waited for our food. We saw people come and go, them bring out food, and still our food never came. After half of an hour of waiting, or longer, our food finally came. We opened the boxes and it was a mess of food all mixed together. The plate was the salad or beans on the bottom, fries on that, and then the hamburger or hot, some kind of chili, and then mustard and ketchup drizzled over it. It was a little different. It wasn’t bad, but it was definitely not my favorite.

Then we drove over to the Smith family farm and the Sacred Grove. We got to walk into the log cabin that Joseph grew up in. The best part was being able to go upstairs and see the place where the Angel Moroni visited Joseph. The Sister Missionary was talking to us and told us that all of the kids slept upstairs, the boys in one room and the girls in the other. I learned that all of Joseph’s brothers were there and stayed asleep through his visit. I just thought that was a cool fact. But you could feel the spirit and the special place that it was up there in the tiny room, because a messenger of God visited. 

After the log cabin, we visited the “frame home” as they called it. The Smith Family built the little log cabin to live in only while they were building their bigger, better, and nicer house. Unfortunately, they ended up loosing it due to financial reasons not very long after they moved into it. It was cool to see the difference between the homes of those days.

Next was walking through the Sacred Grove. There is just a bunch of trails with benches set every so often throughout. It was so peaceful walking through the beautiful trees and plants. The plants that grow there are very different than what I am used to. They are almost a bright green instead of dark. It gave brightness to it. I could feel the holiness of that place as I sat there pondering and talking with Adam. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet and that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him in that very sacred grove of trees. There are only so many places that the Lord has appeared, and it was one of them. This was truly an experience that I will never forget. 

On our way out of town we stopped by the Palmyra Temple and walked around for a little bit. It was beautiful as usual. The windows on the temple were stained glass trees, resembling the Sacred Grove. There is one clear window, the only of all of the temples, and it is to look out over the Sacred Grove.

After the Sacred Grove, we headed back toward Erie but… we took a detour. We made an unexpected stop at Niagra Falls. We figured that since we’re so close and we have time, might as well! Once we found a place to park there we got out and walked to the park. On our way we found a festival type thing where a bunch a bands were playing and there was food and stuff. It was cool to randomly see this is Niagra Falls! After walking through that to see what was going on we continued our way to the park. We took time to stop and look at each of them. They are amazing works of nature and I am so glad that we took that time to go and see them. I love the mist that they create on the bottoms. It makes it look that much cooler. 

On our way back from the falls we stopped back at the festival and bought ourselves something to eat for dinner. There was a stand selling nachos with a bunch of different toppings, so we got ourselves some nachos. We started walking back to the car as we were eating our dinner and realized that we didn’t have enough cash left to pay for parking. We found a bank just on the other side of the street where we parked. Adam left me at the car and, unknowingly to me, his nachos sitting on top of the car. I sit down in the car and continue to eat my nachos. I start seeing a lot of seagulls around and then could hear a bunch of them on top of the car. I tried to ignore them, but kept on wondering why they were on the car. After Adam being gone a while the thought came to me, “I wonder…. Did Adam leave his food up there….?” I got out of the car and sure enough, he did. I quickly grabbed them and got back in the car. He came back a couple of minutes later trying to scare off the birds. They didn’t want to go away. We got Adam dinner on the way back to Erie so that he wouldn’t go hungry. Needless to say, I felt stupid, but it was funny.