New York City

On the way to NYC, we made a slight detour in Rhode Island so we could go here.  There are lots of locations scattered all over the eastern part of the country, and we were determined to find one.  Remember when it was just down the road from us in Bountiful?  Many happy nights eating froyo with friends and our family at our favorite place!

It was kind of exciting approaching the city.  The energy, the buzz, the excitement of being in a place like that is fun.  It didn't last for very long.  😏

Mat found a campground (and I use the term loosely!) that was just over the water in New Jersey (not far by ferry to lower Manhattan).  As we drove through the neighborhood toward where we would stay for 3 nights, I thought we must be going the wrong way, or he was mistaken about the address.  I could not picture a campground in the middle of skyscrapers and apartments.  We ended up in a campground, all asphalt and gravel, right on the shore of New Jersey.  We had everything we'd had in the other campgrounds, expect trees and grass.  A little different experience, but it was relatively quiet and worked OK.

This was a first for me!  Never thought I'd see anything like it.

After we got there, we decided we had enough time to take the kids to Times Square.  I might have rethought that if I knew how many times we'd be in Times Square for other things.  That place is CRAZY in every sense of the word!

The lights, the chaos, and the people in Times Square = sensory overload. And just a little bit stressful when you're keeping track of 4 kids on top of it.  On the walk back as we headed for our subway stop, I pulled out my phone to take a picture of the Empire State Building.  I had my MetroCard in the same pocket as my phone in my purse.  When I pulled my phone out, the MetroCard fell to the ground.  I got literally two steps into the street when Brooklyn, who was right behind me, asked if it were mine.  Almost before I could react, a "nice" woman shrieked, "NO! THAT'S MY METRO CARD!" and grabbed it off the ground before I could get to it.  When we got to the other side of the street, I opened my purse to look for MY metro card.  Of course, it wasn't there.  I shrieked, "JUST FOR THE RECORD, THAT WAS MY METRO CARD!!"  She was long gone.  She no doubt needed it more than I did.  It was only a $30 mistake.  I was more careful after that.   

The Manhattan skyline with the barely visible Brooklyn Bridge

The next day, we went to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.  Mat and I have been before, but I loved helping the kids understand the sacrifice thousands and thousands made to come to this country.

The building on Ellis Island is really cool, you learn about what people had to do to be accepted, including a "six second" medical exam.  People that were sick were either sent to the infirmary to get better or sent back to their countries.  It was fascinating to learn about, to think about how people felt after weeks and weeks on a boat, and seeing Lady Liberty come into view.  It makes me sad to think about those that got sent away, after sacrificing so much, then having their dreams dashed.

That second night, we went to see Anastasia on Broadway.  It was AWESOME!  I love going to musicals, but especially Broadway musicals.  They do such an amazing job!

The next day we went to the 9/11 Memorial and museum.  I didn't take many pictures there, there's a section of the museum they don't allow pictures in.  That's where all the personal effects are.  Shoes, purses, brief cases, ID cards, etc.  They have the timeline, minute by minute, of what happened that day.  From security footage of the hijackers getting through security, the flight patterns the planes took, the length of the flights, to the exact times the planes crashed.  They play the news footage, the bewilderment of people running away, and share the stories from survivors.  The fountains outside sit on the exact footprint of the building, and the water runs down instead of up.  The names of every victim from all the attacks are inscribed around the fountains.

We ended our time in NYC at a play called "The Play That Goes Wrong", which was hilariously funny and we laughed the whole time.  It was well worth seeing, if you ever get a chance!

This was hanging in the entry of an old church just off Times Square.  Well said!

Massachusetts

Boston

We didn't spend much time in Boston, long enough to do the Freedom Trail (it's long ... and it was hot).

Ben Franklin - He's kind of a big deal!

A church of some importance to American history.
I just like how it was framed with the trees.

This is the second coolest picture I took there.

This was the thing that saved the day for me.  After walking at least a hundred miles, and being hot and dehydrated, we walked by this place on the way to the car.  The food here was SO GOOD!  I've had a lot of Thai food in my life, it's my favorite food!  We splurged on the sticky rice with mango because most of the kids don't like it.  So me and Mat ate it!  😂

The next day was Sunday, so we went to church in a Boston ward.  And then we had to find a neighborhood viewing party for the World Cup Final.  Because ... World Cup Final.  And we watched until it was clear who was going to win.  The same thing happened 4 years ago when me and Mat were on our 20th anniversary trip in NYC.  It would be safe to say that Mat's the only real fan in the family.  

Plymouth Rock and Cape Cod

Yep.  It's just a big rock.  And a tourist town with lots of shops.  See?  I saved you some time.

If I'd had any idea how cool Cape Cod was, we'd have skipped the rest of Massachusetts and just spent all our time out there!  It's a National Seashore, so it's just beach with native grasses and flora.  No mansions or development and so cool!  We went clear to the tip of the hook, the kids played in the water, we collected beach rocks, had a picnic.  AWESOME!  There were other people there too, I just wouldn't let any of them be in my pictures.  

Maine

I had three objectives in our visit to Maine.  Collect rocks on the beach.  See my friend Rebecca.  Go with my family when they ate lobster.

Lobster - Me and Brooklyn can't do seafood.  Just can't!  I'll do those tiny shrimp that you get in pasta salads sometimes, but beyond that?  No thanks.  We went to a restaurant right on the coast (I'll have to ask Mat the name of the place.  I can't remember!)  We knew it would be an expensive dinner.  It was! We knew that 4 of our 6 would love every bite.  They did!  Me and Brooklyn managed with "other" items on the menu.  It was so fun to be sitting on the water and know that those critters we were eating were caught right there.  The entrees were exotic, definitely a locally inspired meal!  I love McKinley's face in the next picture.  And I don't know where she got her love for seafood!  Except oysters, she says.

Shrimp appetizer

Lobster tail with THE BEST garlic mashed potatoes underneath

This is a lobster roll, not my thing, but my people loved it!

The Beach - My main objective was to collect smooth black rocks, and I did!  In fact, I was so busy collecting rocks that I didn't take any pictures on that beach!  It was so beautiful and perfect, there were at least a million perfect rocks I could have picked up.  I'll have to raid family members phones to get pictures from that beach.  The next day we went to a different beach, one with perfect sand and virtually no rocks.  That's where I took my one beach picture.  I love McKinley's raw enthusiasm and pure joy at finding a beach to play on.  She literally threw her hands in the air like she had won the lottery.

Rebecca - I just love this lady.  We met at an Image Reborn retreat in Park City in February.  IR hosts breast cancer patients from all over the country to come spend 3 days with people who "get" you.  This retreat was just for women with stage 4.  I'm telling you it's different when you're stage 2 or 3 vs. stage 4.  There are just issues we deal with that earlier stages don't have to think about yet.  Like chronic pain from cancer eating our bones, for example.  The CANCER word is scary anytime you hear it.  And there are exceptions.  Don't be sending me hateful messages if you're offended.  Just go to one of their retreats for anyone with breast cancer!  😁

When I heard she was from Maine, and I told her we were coming to Maine this summer, we sat down and she showed me a map of Maine, told me what to see, which harbors to go to, and said we should meet up.  It was so great seeing her again.  She took me to this shop that sells a cross between a cinnamon roll and a croissant.  I loved them so much I took my family back to get one!  And I got another one.  There was one place I wanted to go but we just couldn't take the time.  Acadia National Park, maybe I'll get there someday!  I never thought I'd get to Maine the first time!

Upstate New York

Niagara  Falls
It's impossible to capture the scope of this place in pictures.  It's AWESOME in every sense of the word.  Here's some pictures.

Maid of the Mist

Fun times!  All about the memories!  💙

From Niagara Falls we went to Palmyra to see the church sites and the pageant.  The funny (?) thing was we got to Palmyra "too fast" and had to stay an extra day, just to see the dress rehearsal of the pageant the day before they opened.  But I refused to leave a day before we could see it, just for the sake of moving on!  Here's some pictures.

The view from the top of the hill, seating for 9000 people!
(My kids just verified that number, so I haven't lost my mind)

Angel Moroni

The Sacred Grove from farther away.  Joseph's "temple"

The view from the exact same location, looking the other direction.  Our temple!

Such a beautiful place!

Brooklyn took this picture with my phone.  She found the flowers in the
Sacred Grove.  I really love how it turned out!

We take for granted that you can just show up to the temple any time and do whatever ordinances you want to.  In Palmyra, you have to make an appointment to do the ordinances, and they have restricted hours and no clothes rental!  It takes real dedication to the Gospel and sacrificing your time in driving long distances and working around when the temple is open for specific ordinances.  I always wanted the chance to live outside Utah.  Things are too easy, too accessible.  We drove about 25 minutes to get to church in Ohio.  It was about 40 minutes to get to church in Boston.  We attended the wards closest to the campgrounds we were staying in.  I need to do a better job of making sure I/we get to the temple regularly, not take our "easy" blessings for granted!

The sacred Grove was such a beautiful, peaceful place.  We took 30 minutes and wandered off by ourselves (Mat stayed close to McKinley).  We picked a place to sit and just think; about the things you can hear when you're not distracted by phones and life, about what it meant to be in that place where the Restoration began.  After we came together again, we talked about how important it is to have quiet time, time to pray and reflect on what God might be trying to tell us.

We were able to see the dress rehearsal of the Hill Cumorah Pageant held the night before opening night.  It is all about what happened in that place, the First Vision, how Joseph Smith received the plates, stories from the Book of Mormon, and how Moroni deposited the plates in the hill to be found by the right person, at the right time.  I was grateful to have seen it before we took off for Maine!

Roasting some mallows!

McKinley latched on to any kid with a fishing pole.  She can make friends
with anyone, which is one thing I really admire about her!  She's decided
she needs her own fishing pole, and we need to go fishing!

This lady's name is Geri.  Actually Geraldine, but she'll handcuff you if you call her that!  We had the funniest experience with her!  She drove by our campsite as Maddie coming out of the bathroom and saw her Les Miz shirt - 24601.  She went and parked her car and then walked down toward us as we ate breakfast.  The hilarious thing was that she questioned our poor campsite neighbor brusquely about who was wearing that shirt with those numbers!  He looked perplexed and gently explained that he didn't know anything about a t-shirt with numbers on it!  The family is from Germany, so he probably had a hard time understanding her NY accent.  He came over after she stayed so long talking to us to find out what all the commotion was about.


Turns out she is a retired federal agent from NYC!  She's retired law enforcement!  And her badge number was 24601!  She was very much like a lifelong New Yorker, accent, personality, everything.   She talked to us for over an hour and we laughed the whole time.  It was a great way to start our morning!

The other thing I had to do in NY was see my friend, who actually lives in South Jordan, but she was in Rochester to see her parents and family the same time we were there. Gretchen was one of my mission companions.  I was her last companion, so clearly, I was her favorite!  And while I love my family dearly, it was kinda nice to go away for a couple of hours.  💕 We went out for lunch and ice cream, and to a pier on Lake Ontario.  It's always great to see her, no matter how far we travel to make it happen.

Pennsylvania

This is pretty much all we did in northern Pennsylvania.  And because we're running out of time, we may not get to southern Pennsylvania like we thought we would.  (Written in NYC on July 17th)  😊

Erie, P.A. is a reference in a movie we like, "That Thing You Do"
We HAD to get a picture!

Our stop at Lake Erie!  This is Presque Isle State Park. We played in the waves and
collected more rocks we don't really need.  Because overtime we see water, we
MUST collect beach rocks!  We're bringing a lot of beach rocks home.