Family Awesome: The Home Stretch...

Monday and Tuesday of our trip were dedicated (mostly) to visiting the significant Mormon historical sites. We had a very nice time visiting the sites we'd heard about so many times, but it was a bit much, or maybe at the end of the trip, for the kids. As always, they gave us a little perspective. See Jake below, thoroghly engrossed in the history...

Hill Cumorah landmark

Joseph Smith family log home, Palmyra, NY.

The bug Jake caught in Palmyra, NY, and then brought into the car. His sisters were thrilled.

Upstairs in the log home. There were 2 of these beds for 6 boys in the Smith family, so when the guide asked us if we had questions the only question was about which end of the bed the older kids slept on, and if they ever bumped their head on the slanted roof.

Brick hearth which served as a hiding place for Gold Plates.

The sacred grove was a very quiet, beautiful place. We we mosquito buffet, and I'm still scratching. (This is where Joanna hits me for being irreverent). We enjoyed it very much, other than the mosquitos.

After feasting on the history of the Palmyra sites, the kids enjoyed the scenery around upstate NY:

From Ny we headed West to Kirtland, Ohio. I wanted to be in at least one of these roadside pics, but made the kids cry when I wouldnt let them onto the offramp, so we took a 2nd picture.

Somewhere in PA we hit a bug that exploded a glowing goo. Lighting Bugs!!! So we pulled over to hunt for one.

The bugs were plentiful, and we needed a leg-stretch anyway. Sophie caught one that blinked while on her finger. She named it Flinker, and then set Flinker free.

This was our 175th stop of the day, a nourishing meal before bed.

Tuesday, we visited Kirtland, OH. We have the GPS map on my phone and are deciding how far to go that night. We really enjoyed the burger place.

The first Mormon temple, built in the 1830's. It was way bigger on the inside than we had thought. The guide dispelled the old story about the women crushing their china dishes into the mortar to make the building sparkly; as it turns out they just crushed up the remaining panes of glass. Same sparkly effect, but not as good a story. The building has two main floors with what are essentially chapels in each, and the 3rd floor has a bunch of classrooms. The belltower was another floor+ above that.

Newell Whitney store, one of my favorite sites. Whitney was an early Bishop in the church, but also one smart businessman, with an ashery, a trade-shop, store and foundry to his credit.

Sawmill, powered by a shallow-water wheel. Very cool!

In true Purves style, we finished off our trip with a ballgame. We watched the Indians get clobbered at home in Cleveland by the Twins. That makes us 0-3 for home teams on our trip. This was a great ballpark, with a whole house of good seats. Since the Indians are so lousy and it was a Tuesday night game, we got great seats. Jake almost had a foul ball!

Funny picture: this was taken to show Lilly's new collection - ballpark earrings. But if you look in the bottom right you'll see the 13-year old hands of Maddy, texting away during the game. Busted!