Going on vacation!

I'll be gone for three weeks starting tomorrow. If you want to get a hold of me, kind of forget it. You can leave me an email, though, and I'll check it when I get a chance. My cell phone is out of money until June 15th, so that won't work, but past then you text me or something. I'll let you all know when I get back.




Day 1: Arrived via Southwest Airlines on a Boeing 737, and I'm SICK of flying! Out here in New Hampshire is a nice abundance of trees, Dunkin' Donuts stores and fat people with their shorts hiked up impossibly high. The air is humid and the hotel internet is slow, but I'm having a good time!











Day 2: Went to church in the ward we used to go to when we lived here, ten years ago. I remembered a whole two people. The Bishop invited us to his house for hotdogs and smores. We went and visited our old condo from ten years ago, and then saw the Boston Temple. I have pictures of both the condo and the temple that I shall post when the internet stops sucking.





Day 3: Got some continental breakfast at the gatehouse (mmmmmm waffles from a can). We packed up and headed to Hampton Beach, and then off to the lobster house in Maine and to Sharon, Vermont. Goodbye, New Hampshire!



Day 4: We saw the birthplace memorial of Joseph Smith. I stood on the slab of rock that was the Smith family doorstep! Then we took a drive to the Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory and got us a each a huge cone of some good old Ben and Jerry's ice cream. Then we drove for nine hours to Palmyra, New York. On the way, we got to load our car onto a ferry and float our way across Lake Champlain (no we didn't get to see any monsters). We were up until three in the morning, and stopped at Dunkin' Donuts just before midnight for a sugar shot. Yum.



Day 5: We visited the Joseph Smith family farm and the sacred grove today. That is a very cool place. We also went to the Hill Cumorah and checked out the visitors center, and went to the Chill n Grill for chicken fingers! Check out the size of this ice cream cone! And, contrary to the laws of the known universe, that is only the small.








Day 6: We visited the Grandin printing press, the site of the first printing of The Book of Mormon. After we took a little tour, we visited the David Whitmer farm, where the church was restored. Then we drove for five hours and are now in State College, Pensylvania.





























Day 7: Today we went to the good old Penn State clothes store and gift shop where we each bought shirts and junk. We got massive cookies at an amish market and visited some old friends in a park over sandwiches. Nothing special today, but we had fun. Oh, and it was unbelievably hot.








Day 8: Packed up and left. Had lunch at some park. Drove for five hours and arrived in Mentor, Ohio, just by Kirtland.





Day 9: We visited the Kirtland Temple today and took a tour. The Communitiy of Christ church, who owns and preserves the temple, wouldn't let us take pictures of the inside, but I managed to sneak a few with my cell phone :-) I'll post those as soon as I get home to my cell phone software. We also saw the Niel K. Whitney store and home, and a few relic houses and stuff of the old Kirtland community here. And to round off the day, we went to Lake Erie and ate KFC. I was also surprised to find out there is a nuclear power plant here in Ohio, just a few miles from us.








Day 10: Today we drove from Indianna to Illinois. That drive was interesting, as we got hit by near-tornado weather and had to pull over for like 20 minutes. We got lost near Nauvoo, and ended up near Carthage Jail. After we took the tour, we ate dinner at the Grill 'n Chill (different place, not as cool). Now we're staying in Nauvoo Inn.


Day 11: We went to Old Nauvoo! We took a horse-drawn tour, and visited some of the old sites, like the Blacksmith, Shoemaker's house, Wainright, we took a horseback tour, and visited a good old time bakery for lunch. Nauvoo is a very cool place.


Day 12: Today is the last official day of our vacation! We spent one more day in old Nauvoo. Today we saw the Gunsmith's home and the brickmason house. We took a mini handcart trek. That was fun. We hauled the thing up hills, across creeks, through mud, across fields, and through big patches of rocks and roots. That was a workout. We had fun. I'm going to miss Nauvoo.