East Coast Adventures- part 1

We've been back from our vacation for two weeks and I haven't posted a single picture on this blog.  my bad.  We've been working, celebrating my birthday, relaxing at the water park, going to the gym and playing/watching lots of softball.  We also went golfing this morning (well, Brett was golfing, I just drove the golf cart).  But, I don't have any pictures of those activities... so don't ask.  We have been having fun though! 

It IS Friday night, and I SHOULD be off on a hot date with my hubby but Brett got called into work tonight so I'm here at home with nothing to do but blog.  Technically, I have other things to do, but too bad for the chores, they shall be avoided another day.  I DID start a loaf of bread in the bread machine (a b-day present!) AND went grocery shopping today, so I'd say I'm doing pretty good.  

Anyway, enough wordage.  On to the photos....

Our first stop {after a red-eye flight} was Palmyra, New York.  For those of you unfamiliar with New York, the city of Palmyra is not like New York City.  It is a small town in upstate NY.  We drove by lots of wide open spaces and corn fields and drove on lots of toll-roads (what a foreign concept to us west coast folk).

Speaking of driving, let me just saw I got us a sweet deal on our car rental. Brett and I are both under 25 and thus require a "underage fee" anywhere from 15-35 bucks a day.  The best deals I could find were still high 300's with the fee on top of that.  YIKES.   I was able to secure a deal for under $200 /week.  We still had the fee to figure out but at the counter I got them to waive the $35 dollar fee.  It came to a total of $205.  50% savings.  Win!  It was just a little two door car, but hey, we're not picky!
 

We went to Palmyra to visit some church sites and watch the Hill Cumorah Pageant.  It was all AMAZING!  We were there with my parents and some of the extended family.  We saw the pageant on both Friday and Saturday night.

We visited the city of Palmyra- literally a church on every corner (none of which are LDS).

Did a session at the Temple.

Saw protesters. (btw.. if you are interested in learning about what we really believe please talk to me, don't visit those websites)

Saw some church history sites.

We walked around the Smith family farm. (as in Joseph Smith, not Brett and Kirsten Smith... we do NOT have a farm) We saw both homes they lived in and cool things like the fireplace where Joseph hid the plates one night to keep them safe.

And of course we spent time in the Sacred Grove.

Overall, Palmyra was a great place.  I can't believe we did all that in 2 days!

Next stop:  Toronto Canada!