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!!

OLD JAIL IN JIM THORPE & MOLLY MAGUIRE PICTURES

P-DAY TRIP TO JIM THORPE!!

Jim Thorpe is a beautiful little tourist town nestled in the mountains near Hazleton. Its history begins around 1817 and was first named Mauch Chunk (Indian for Bear Place). The town was founded on the mining of coal and is rich with stories of poor Irish miners, Molly Maguires and Millionaires. This piece of coal is 1,400 pounds and sits in the town square.

I can't believe Ross got Betsy Fairall and myself to pose for this picture.  The train there is a rather famous part of history transporting tons and tons of coal to New York.

This was a very interesting old gargoyle that caught my eye. 

This is "The Old Jail" of Jim Thorpe built in 1871 and quite historical.  Most of its history comes through the hangings of Molly Maguires that belonged to a coal miner's secret organization.  There was a movie with Sean Connery made about the "Mollies".  There were a lot of killings that took place during the late 1870's..  

The gallows stood in the middle of the prison so all prisoners could witness the hangings.

This is the bottom or floor that dropped down.  

This solemn person is showing an actual window that was in one of the upper cells. One prisoner, day by day, dug out the window and in the mean time, starved himself but saved his butter and soap till he could get small enough to strip down, lather himself down and squeeze through that tiny space.  Tammy would not have EVER made it.  It was about 6 inches wide.  Yes, he was caught.  It took place at noon while people were lunching on their pouches.

This was one of the "nicer" cells because it could accommodate four men.  

Ross thought it would be good to get one of these for a spendthrift wife or misbehaved grandchild.  Just kidding!!

During one of the "Mollie" trials, a prisoner proclaimed his innocence, but he was sentenced to death.  On hanging day, he slapped his hand, dirty from the cell floor, on the wall and exclaimed "This is the hand of an innocent man!"  Over the next century, this permanent hand print on the cell was has resisted cleaning, repainting and even re-plastering.  A couple of days after every attempt to cover it up, the hand print comes back.

The St. Mark's Episcopal Church was built in 1867 and is VERY ornate and beautiful inside.  It was built on a hillside like the rest of the town.

This is a typical street with beautiful old architectural continuous buildings.  Just love the front yards.  Yes, we all just walk down the middle of the street but move to the side if a car comes.

A new fascination!

This Spring we discover Rhododendron's and they were in great abundance in most yards.

The colors ranged from red to pink, purple and even found a few rare white.

They were every size and shape.  Even the tiny new one foot bushes were bent over with the huge flowers.

So beautiful!!!

Each pom pom of blooms had about 21 clusters of trumpets.

I think the pink was my favorite.

We feel bad that we can't grow these in Utah.

Also found a lot of these bushes while on our daily walk but not sure of their name.  They were also every where and gorgeous.