Hill Cumorah Pageant Trip

This is one of the "Finger Lakes", Seneca Lake.  It is 37 miles long, narrow and quite beautiful.  There are at least two salt mines in caves down under the water.  We are with the Fairalls (George and Betsy).

Very nice boats/yachts. The view from this hotel is gorgeous!!

In the center of the picture on the shore line is one of the salt mines.

Further up the lake, we found the Belhurst Mansion built in 1871.  It was later made into a hotel for the upper class patron.  The inside has hand carved elegant wood work.

There was an addition built on to the side of the Mansion many years ago that was just as elegant.  The grounds were so peaceful and beautiful with fountains over looking the lake.

The gift shop in the foyer of the hotel had lots of unique, fun stuff.  George is checking out the wine.  We passed acres and acres of vineyards and wineries.

We arrived early to the Hill  like many others where we carefully chose and saved our seats with blankets.  Then we were off to see the town of Palmyra.

Of course. we stopped first at the Book of Mormon print shop for a quick tour passing lots of protesters trying to get us to repent of our beliefs.  

This is not a very good picture but it is an original copy of the Book of Mormon.  Very awesome.  We would love to actually hold it but they kinda frowned on our mentioning it.

More of the printing press.

Walking to the intersession where the four churches are still standing and in use.  The picture only shows two of them.

This sign was attached to a large trailer that drove around Palmyra all day then went to the pageant at night., What Mormons Dont Tell .Com.    There was a very loud speaker yelling about how horribly wrong we are about our beliefs.   They were yelling right up to the very second before the opening prayer and then they stopped.   Why don't we ever see others attacking other religions?   We know why.

Just a half a block behind one of the "four churches" on a small hill we found Alvin Smith's grave in a small dilapidated grave yard.  He had the best marker, most of the stones were unreadable and they were very far apart.  A lot of people overlook this site, we thought it was really awesome to see.

After leaving Palmyra, we drove to another beautiful lake called Canaduigue Lake (don't know where they get these names)  It was smaller than Seneca but just as pretty.

We had fun feeding the seagulls our leftover fries.  There were several that were diving after pieces catching them in mid air at times.  The fries were from a wonderful place in Palmyra called Chill N Grill!!!  Three thumbs up (hey, wait)!!

                                                       NOW FOR THE PAGEANT!!

Before the pageant, the cast members would wander the early audience with a Book of Mormon in their hands to hand out but also to visit with anyone that was friendly.  

Have you ever wondered what Mormon may have looked like?  We met him, his wife and little daughter in person.  When they aren't wandering the Americas, they live in Idaho.  Very impressive.  

There were 800 cast members and they were all running every direction.  Notice the pure white figure, he slowly descended on to the stage.  We sat in awe.

The night was filled with tons of fire several times and lots of water.  This is Nephi's ship that amazingly
appeared with water cannons depicting the storm.  It was awesome.  This was a night to remember.

                                                 AFTER A GOOD NIGHTS SLEEP............

            We did a session in the Palmyra Temple.  It is the only temple with clear glass in it, the clear glass overlooks the "Grove".  We were very fortunate, we watched the third "newest" of the movies only out for three days.

The flowers and grounds everywhere we went were incredible.  These were on the temple grounds.

Next, we went to the Hill Cumorah. This is the path up the hill.

The last time we were here, Jean Hair fell on that front step and popped her fingers backwards.  What memories.  It was a beautiful day. 

At the base of the monument were four brass plaques .

This is the view from the top, down on the stage and audience chairs below.   So GREEN.

Finally in the Sacred Grove and of course, it was very serene and peaceful.  We have done a lot of walking and we are tired!!  This is Betsy Fairall, we do have a good time.

Ross took two dozen pictures as we walked.  How do you choose a favorite?

This tree was maybe hit by lightning, splitting it and then the branch grew back into itself.  Very unusual and interesting.   We have a map of all the trees of interest that a non-member horticulturist made.   What a great day!!