The Seares: Day 1 Connecticut to Palmyra, NY

Becky flew out wednesday night, Friday morning we packed our cars up, in the pouring rain (of course!) and drove out of our apartment parking lot for the last time. It wasn't sad for me then, I know it probably should have been. Our last week there I was already missing how beautiful and green it was in CT and of course the first changing colors of fall but that friday morning I was ready to go. I was so excited and I know all 3 of us were anxious to get on the road and start the first of many long days of driving.

Jeff and I had been talking about all the fun things we got to do while out there and had only one regret, that we never made it to Palmyra, NY. After hitting up google maps on the iPad and discovering it would take us only 1.5 hours longer we decided it was worth it and planned to stop there and visit the church history sites and then spend the night with cousins in Buffalo.

Palmyra was cold, wet and awesome, the weather definitely made for a more unforgettable experience. We pulled into the visitors center parking lot and walked in to find more cousins sitting right there in the foyer. We got to visit with Wade and Angie and their kiddies before braving the winds and rains and "hiking" up to the top of the Hill Cumorah. Our umbrellas blew inside out and mine snapped in two, we made it a quick hike.

Next up we drove over to the Smith Farm which sits on the edge of the Sacred Grove. I always thought that the Hill Cumorah was in the Sacred Grove, but it turns out they are actually quite a few miles away. We ran into Wade and Angie a second time and walked through the Grove with them. It had such a, well, very sacred spirit and it was surreal to look around and know that is where the young Joseph Smith in 1820 knelt in prayer and was visited by two personages whose brightness and glory defy all description. It has to be one the most beautiful places I have ever been and no doubt we went at the best time of year. After leaving the grove we toured the Alvin frame home, the smith's temporary farm home and saw the temple through a clearing in the trees. Our prophet Gordon B. Hinckley had a window put into the side of the temple where one can look out and look directly into the sacred grove. He wanted it to be an eternal reminder of what happened in the grove and why because of it we have the gospel and temples today.

Our last stop in Palmyra was the Grandin Print Shop where the very first Book of Mormon was printed and published.

Before making it to Dave and Wendy's for the night we stopped at Duff's bar, one of the first two places in Buffalo to ever make the famous "Buffalo wings".