Day 4: Niagara Falls! Or does it?

After Kirtland, we traveled on through the rest of Ohio, a little bit of Pennsylvania (I've always wanted to drive through that little chunk of PA that sticks up!), and into New York on our way to Niagara Falls!  We got to our hotel on the American side of the falls, and walked to the falls not too far away!

We've never seen the falls from the American side, and it is a different experience.  I don't think there were as many people there, and it's definitely not as built up with fancy hotels and shops.  But it was nice, and good for us to see the area from a different perspective.

Here's some pictures!

American Falls in the foreground; Horseshoe Falls in the background.

We walked to Goat Island - the island separating the river and the falls.  What a haul! :)

Looking across the river.  Hello, Canada!

No climbing over the railing, Christine!

Looking back to Rainbow Bridge.

Ah, gotta love self-portraits!

Whoa - so close to the falls!

Cave of Winds decks... maybe tomorrow that'll be us!

We went to Hard Rock for dinner, a Niagara Falls tradition.  When we got back to our hotel, the fireworks started.  Our balcony was a great place to watch the fireworks!  

Day 4: Tubby's Tavern and other sites in Kirtland

\We woke up early this morning and headed over to see the sights in Kirtland, Ohio!

We started at the LDS Visitor's Center at the site of the Newel Whitney store and home, ashery, and lumber mill. We learned lots from the senior missionary couple that took us around the site. One of the stories we heard was how the church acquired the land and re-routed roads to have all the sites on one whole section of land (instead of spread out and across the street). President Hinckley was dedicating the Whitney store in 1984. Steve Young (still at BYU) was in Kirtland at the time to run in a marathon, and of course, got a shirt to commemorate the event with 'Kirtland' written on it. The city had been resistant of the church's request to make the area belong to the church - the idea kept getting shot down by the city council time after time. Years later, when Steve Young began starting for the 49ers, the team came to Cleveland to play the Browns. After the game, reporters were interviewing Steve Young, and when he took off his jersey and pads, he had on his Kirtland marathon shirt. Sports Illustrated took a picture. A student at a Kirtland elementary school brought the magazine in to show his teacher (who had been against letting the Church have their way with the site), and she was so impressed she took it to city council. They mayor thought that was pretty cool, and they invited Steve Young to the school (as long as he brought a poster of him in his shirt!). He came, met everyone, and at the next meeting, decided to let the Church develop the site and reroute the roads. I always knew Steve Young was great!

While we were there, President Uchtdorf and his family were there. They were in the Whitney store while we were there, so we couldn't go in. We decided to go to the temple site and come back to go to the store. When we got back, we had a different senior couple take us to the store and learned more stories.

In the early 1980's, Brother Woods (of Woods Cross fame) had a dream of two missionaries staying in the 2nd level of the Whitney store in Kirtland. He decided to go to Kirtland to buy the store. When he got there, he discovered that it was there, but it had become Tubby's Tavern. (It had been several things after the Whitneys left - a tavern a few times, a restaurant, an inn) He went to the owner and offered to buy the tavern. The owner said it wasn't for sale, and Bro. Woods said that anything's for sale for the right price. The owner responded with an 'I'll think it over', and Bro. Woods showed up at his home at 5 am the next morning with another offer to buy the place. The owner sold it to him ('Always wanted a tavern, eh?'), and Bro. Woods kept it until the Church needed it a few years later. Very interesting. Another sign of the Lord's hand in everything.

The Kirtland Temple was next. The Community of Christ church owns the temple, and does tours through it. It was kind of interesting to listen to their video presentation and hear their take on things. Most things are exactly the same, with a few twists, until Joseph Smith dies. A lot of the LDS perspective about the Saints and all their moves are based on their faith in the gospel and knowing that Joseph Smith saw what he said he saw and did what he said he did... the Community of Christ perspective felt to be more about the Saints being forced to leave and blindly following. Kind of interesting. Anyway, the temple was very cool. It is pretty small inside. It really would have been something to be inside the day it was dedicated (or the second dedication, said to be even more wonderful, with even more ministering of angels than the first). They said that right now, fire code would allow about 500 to be in the hall where it was dedicated - there were over 1,000 present, in the room, for the dedication. Wow! And talk about uncomfortable seating... yikes! Worth it, no doubt about it - but wow!

We got to go to the second floor, which is almost identical to the first, and then to the third floor, where the School of the Prophets was held for a while. There were 4 or 5 classrooms there for the purpose of educating the Saints, both in gospel topics and in general - reading and writing and such.

Here's some pictures from the day:

Holly and me at the Whitney Store - the Wal-Mart of the early 1830's!

The Whitneys' home.  In the 1830s, if you were well to do, you painted your home yellow - the most expensive color of paint around.  Red was the least expensive.

Inside the ashery and ready to go into the pit!

In front of the Visitor's Center

What a pretty place!  And so green!

Kirtland Temple

Close up of the dormer windows of the temple.  What great natural lighting they provided those upstairs classrooms!

Day 3: "... And Columbus is the Capital of OHIO!"

Okay, so we didn't pass through Columbus, but we did get to Ohio today.

We left Davenport this morning and crossed the Mississippi River. The flooding has moved south; the river was full and flowing, but not overly so. The area where we crossed didn't look flooded, and there were no signs of flooding there, so maybe the Quad cities have cleaned up and moved on. We drove through Illinois and had some lovely radio (The Mix 96 and Classic Favs 105) - no morning show as good as Chunga though :)

We drove through Illinois and Indiana on their crazily busy freeways... Sylvia was quite helpful - I'm glad she is with us! Right before you enter the Indiana tollway, you leave 80/90 for just 90. I jumped the gun a little and exited early, so that I'd be heading west instead of east. Sylvia had to 'recalculate the route' for me. Fortunately, it was a clover-formation exit (like where I-215 meets 201 in Salt Lake), and fortunately, Sylvia knew that, and fortunately I realized it, and fortunately... I've always wanted to take all 4 loops to get going the same way again!

We paid $6.25 to help Indiana's highways and $6.00 to help Ohio's highways. Money well spent - they're pretty well taken care of! I love that there are travel plazas on the tollways - great places to stop for gas and get something to eat - and you don't have to get on and off the road to get there! What a great idea!

Sylvia helped us again in Cleveland - so many places to get on and off the freeway! We got to our hotel near Kirtland, then ate at Denny's for dinner.

Pictures from the day:

The Mississippi River



"Gary, Indiana, Gary, Indiana, Gary Indiana - let me say it once again!"




Cleveland Rocks!

Ode to Syliva

I should introduce our newest traveling companion - Sylvia.


She is great! She's a good navigator, lets me know of turns coming up in the road, tells us when we're going to arrive at our destination, suggests when to make legal u-turns, and recalculates the route when we stray off course.

We still need a map and The Next Stop book - but it's fun to have Sylvia with us this year!

Day 2: Get your Kicks on Route 80!

Lots of driving today... We left North Platte early after peeling the bugs from the car (and ours wasn't the worst case in the parking lot!). We drove for a bit, stopping at a few rest stops (which are lovely - they really are! I've never seen such beautifully landscaped and scrubbed clean rest stops!) along the way. We drove under the arch in Kearney, and made our way to Omaha, where we stopped at Winter Quarters. What a nice stop! A sister missionary took us on a tour of the visitor's center, then we walked across the street to the cemetery and temple. It truly is amazing how those early pioneers survived the winter there with sparse living conditions and supplies!

We got back on the road and continued heading east. We're having a fine time in the car, listening to both music CDs and The Fire of the Covenant book on CD. (A great book for this trip... we've passed through some of the places the pioneers in the book have been to!) We're getting in a lot of talking as well, and laughing! (Seriously... we're lucky Holly didn't fall out of the car somewhere between Des Moines and Iowa City!)

Davenport, Iowa is our stopping place tonight. We saw lightning bugs around our hotel!

Some pics from the day:

Winter Quarters Visitor's Center

Winter Quarters Temple

Day 1: Palmyra or Bust!

"Life is a highway, and I wanna ride it all day long!"
We got an early start to the day after getting some last-minute things taken care of at home. We waved good-bye to Mom, Dad, Regina (Tubby wasn't around; we said our good-byes yesterday), and Jean (who was walking to church), and then we were off.

Our first stop came pretty early - Hart's at 7200 South! We topped off the gas tank and were on our way once again. It was a great day to drive - clear skies, no wind, light traffic.

We stopped at Little America for our 50 cent ice cream cones. What a prime location for them - in the middle of nothing, just when you're ready for a break! We took a few moments to walk around and enjoy the day, and then headed on down the road.

Shortly after leaving Little America, I witnessed a tragic event, which I'm sure will alter the course of my life forever. A prairie dog ran out to the middle of the road in front of us. The car in front of me moved toward the middle so that the prairie dog was under the car. I moved toward the right so that I missed him entirely. The semi behind us, however, was not so quick to respond to the whims of a prairie dog... and I was watching from my rear-view window. All (prairie) dogs go to heaven!

We stopped for the night in North Platte, Nebraska. We did that on purpose... just a little bit farther down the road than Cheyenne, and on the other side of the mountain/central time zone.

Here's some pictures from the day!

"Leavin' in an Ion... Don't know when we'll be back again..." (whenever the money runs out!)

Welcome to the big WY-O!

Windless windmills... no movement whatsoever!

50 cent goodness!

Cake Decorating Week 4

We made it! We learned the last steps to the rose... let's just say that it's good that they aren't my favorite flower! Joee says that she'll practice so hers will be ready for my wedding cake (and after 10 years of practice, I think that they'll be perfect!).
Joee was so happy I came, she baked me a cake! Yum!