Chicago

We stopped in Chicago as part of our trip.  We parked in the building that I used to work in (the Bloomingdale's building) and then walked to the apartment Joe and I used to live in.  We walked by the law school and in through the lobby of the law school. 

 Then we walked along the lake shore and went to the beach at the Ontario street.  We walked back and the kids saw the grocery store that was in a huge highrise.

 We walked by the hospital where Adam was born.

 We also walked a little on the Magnificent Mile and went in one of the malls that is in a big building there.  We finished with Giordano's pizza for lunch, which was so amazing!

 As we were driving out of town, we drove by the apartment we lived in when Adam was born and when he was a tiny baby.  Its still there.  The neighborhood has improved a lot- probably because it is in such close vicinity to the city.  (We lived on the first floor).

It was quick, but it was fun to see everything again.

Niagra Falls and Hershey, Pennsylvania

When I was planning my trip out, one of the boys asked if we could stop at Niagra Falls on our trip.  I looked up the distance and found it was really only an hour and half out of our way, so of course we had to stop.

I knew Niagra Falls was big, but I had no idea how big. 

 

We took the boat tour, which is a must, but there is so much water pounding down that you can't see the falls, you mostly just feel them.  As you may have noticed, Nate doe not like me taking pictures of him.  This little hike was near the American falls, which are one of the falls that are only on the American side of the river. 

Of course, everyone had to have ice cream afterwards!

The next day, we went to Hershey, Pennsylvania.  We got to ride the free "tour" which is a ride to see how chocolate is made, although it wasn't in a factory and didn't have any real ingredients in it.  Then we got to make our own chocolate bars.  This was great fun!

You got to pick two addins and if you wanted sprinkles on the top. Then there was a machine that printed the name on your box.  You also got to design a label for your candy bar and they printed that at the end.

The next day we went to Hershey Park.  We loved Hershey Park.  There were a lot of fun rides, and with the exception of the new ride, there were very short lines for all of the rides.  It did rain for a few minutes in the middle of the day, but we were wearing swim suits so it was ok.

Palmyra and Kirtland

The real reason I took the kids on the super long road trip was to stop and visit some of the church history sites.  I had heard of kids going on church history trips when they were teenagers and I was always jealous of them.  Joe's family lives very close to a lot of the church history sites, so we could visit them along the way.  Our first site was Palmyra and the sacred grove.  It was very beautiful there.  Here is the old Smith farmhouse.

 ...and barn.

 The sacred grove was very pretty.  It was also very full of mosquitos.  You could see why Joseph would choose to go into the woods there for peace.

 

 This is my favorite of all of these pictures.

While we were in Palmyra, we went to the Grandin printing press office.  That was a very well done site.  It was restored nicely and we could really see how the printing press worked.  There were also a lot of paintings that we commonly use in the church lessons that the originals were hanging in that building.

 

A few days later, after we went to Hershey Park and visited Aunt Kayti, we went to Kirtland, Ohio.  This is in the Newel K. Whitney store.  They had many antiques in the store so that it looked very much like it would have in the 1830's.

 The Community of Christ owns the temple in Kirtland.  We were able to go on a tour of it.  It is a beautiful building, but is much more like a tabernacle in our church than a current temple.  Most of the temple is original, but we weren't allowed to take pictures inside it. 

Massachusetts and Maine

We spent 3 days at Jayne's house in Massachusetts and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and then the rest of the week visiting with Joe's Mom, Steve and Margie.  Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures at Jayne's, but the kids all got along and we all had fun.

 

In Maine, Joe helped Mom and Steve build a deck on the back of their house and we went on a couple of day trips.  The first one was to the Rockland lighthouse.  This isn't a great picture of Joe, but it is the only picture I have of him from the whole trip, so I have to put it in to prove he was there.

 Rockland is built on the end of a mile long breakwater.  It is a fun walk, but definitely a little rocky. 

 The next day, we went out to Bar Harbor to go on a lobster boat tour. 

 We saw some seals on seal island, and a light house.The small white spots on the front of this next picture are the seals all over the rocks.

 Then we checked a lobster trap and got a lot more information than we ever wanted about lobster.  Did you know if a lobster loses a claw, they can grow one back?  That's why some lobsters have lopsided claws.

 We got ice cream afterwards, and Nate opted for a Whoopie pie instead.

On the way back we stopped at Papa's camp.  Some of Joe's cousins from Georgia and Massachusetts were up and he enjoyed visiting with them.  The kids were brave enough to swim in the frigid water- and paddleboard and kayak.  Uncle Jim even took them out and pulled them on the tube with his pontoon boat.  They had a blast.

 

 

 We also had a lobster boil one night! 

 We really had a great time getting to see Joe's family.  His sister Kayti and her two kids also came up, so we got to visit with them too.