Day 5 (Afternoon) - Carthage

We left South Bend and headed for Nauvoo.  We decided to go a little backwards and see Carthage Jail first.  I don't think there is really a reason why we did, we just did.  We watched a movie on a compilation of what people who knew him thought of Joseph Smith and the kind of man he was.  We then took a tour of the jail.  The walls of the jail are 3 feet thick and actually serves as the go-to tornado shelter for those in the area.  The jail had three rooms: A "waiting" room for those who are going to trial within a few hours or maybe a day; the "dungeon" that is your typical jail cell - no real windows, just slits in the rock, iron bars and straw on the ground; and the jailer's bedroom.  The bedroom is where Joseph, Hyrum, John Taylor, and Willard Richards were staying because the jailer felt that they were innocent and wrongly accused, so he did what he could to make them feel comfortable.

The bullet hole on the edge of the door
was used to break the lock.   The bullet hole
 in the door was the hole that hit and
 killed Hyrum almost instantly.

The bedroom where the Prophet, Hyrum, John Taylor, and Willard Richards.
And the window that Joseph fell out of after being shot multiple times in the
front and the back.

Memorial to Joseph and Hyrum with the jail
in the background.

Day 4 - Notre Dame

The drive from Kirtland to Nauvoo is over 10 hours so we decided to break it up into two sections.  South Bend, Indiana seemed like a nice midpoint, so why not stay at Notre Dame and soak up some college football tradition.  Too bad we weren't there this coming November so we could cheer on BYU in person.  I guess I'll just have to settle for tele-cheering.  Everything was pretty much closed with graduation and the semester ending a few days earlier, and also the weather being kind of gloomy, but we still walked around campus and the football stadium and got some fun pictures in front of the famous "Touchdown Jesus" mosaic.  It was a nice relax-day to take a break, hit the indoor heated pool, and do some laundry.  

The Fam

Not quite sure what's going on here...From left to right: Touchdown, YMCA??, Heisman, confused/frustrated/befuddled.  ...Our communication skills may need work.

We did it.  Do the Heisman, baby.

Day 3 - Kirtland

We drove from Niagara Falls to Mentor, Ohio, which is just outside of Kirtland (about a 15 to 20 minute drive).  We got in late, about 10:30, but not before stopping for some dinner at Wendy's :).  We had very comfortable accommodations at the Marriott Residence Inn - Separate bedrooms and bathrooms and a spacious full kitchen/living room.  I definitely recommend staying there for any trip to Kirtland.  The next morning was Sunday so we went to Sacrament Meeting in Kirtland and then went to see the sites.  We first stopped at the historic visitors center and saw the Newel K. Whitney store.  The Prophet and Emma stayed at the Whitney house for about 6 weeks when they first arrived in Kirtland and at the store for about a year a little after that.  The store is also where the School of the Prophets was held, in one of the upper rooms.  Many things were revealed to the Prophet here, of which the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood and The Word of Wisdom were among the more famous revelations.  The Whitney's were very successful and very well off, and they were also very dedicated to the gospel and did whatever Joseph and the Church asked them to do.

N. K. Whitney Store

School of the Prophets - Above the N.K. Whitney Store

 
We then went to the Kirtland Temple and Visitors Center.  For those who may not know, the Kirtland Temple is not owned by the LDS church.  It is owned by the Reorganized LDS church, or who are nowadays known as the Community of Christ.  It was a little eerie having a tour because there are so many similarities between our two churches, such as Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, but it's also not the same...not to mention they charge $3 per person to see the temple ;).  We were actually treated very well and had a nice time going through the temple.  It'll be an awesome day when the Church is able to acquire the Kirtland Temple back.  I'm sure there's a standing offer with the Community of Christ....although I bet it would be the last thing they would sell.  One can hope though, right?? No picture taking was allowed inside the temple, but there are many pictures out there of what it looks like.

Kirtland Temple

 The last stop in Kirtland was the Johnson Farm.  Joseph and Emma stayed with the Johnsons for about 1 year.  The farm was about a 2 days journey from downtown Kirtland back in the day, or about an hour in our day.  Many important events and revelations happened here, but probably the most well-known event was that Joseph received what is known as "The Vision" or Section 76 of the D&C which describes the three kingdoms of glory.

John Johnson Farm - Room where D&C 76 was revealed

Day 2 (Afternoon) - Niagara Falls

Saturday afternoon we left Palmyra and headed towards Kirtland.  Since we were so close, we decided to take a side trip to Niagara Falls.  It was well worth the detour.  It being Memorial Day weekend, you can imagine the hordes of people that were there, but despite that, we got lucky and found a close parking space that was a quick 10 minute walk to the falls.  We got in line and got our tickets to Maid of the Mist so we could get up close and personal with the falls.  They even gave us amazingly flattering blue ponchos! The falls were pretty spectacular.  You can just feel the power that they generate.  When I was in high school we all went to pick up my brother from his mission in Brazil and we visited Iguazu Falls.  Those falls were awesome and probably larger, but we didn't get to take a boat right up to them to see them first hand. 

Me in my blue poncho

  

We then ventured across the boarder to the Canadian side.  Luckily we all brought our passports.  You can see the Horseshoe Falls the best from the Canadian side, so we walked across the bridge to that side, took a picture, and walked back.  Interesting tid bit - While it costs nothing to leave the US and go over to Canada, it costs .50 cents to leave Canada and come back into the U.S.  Not sure which country is charging, whether it's Canada charging people to leave, or the U.S. charging people to enter - either way I was out .50 cents.

View from the USA (Left) - Canada  (Right) boarder crossing

Boys in the USA and Girls in the Canada

Day 2 (Morning) - Palmyra

Saturday Morning - 

We hit the rest of the sites we weren't able to get to on Friday which included the Smith Farm and the Sacred Grove.  Below is a picture of the famous hearth where Joseph hid the plates underneath the bricks for a time.  This is actually at the frame house just down the road that Alvin began building before he died.  I always thought it was at Father Smith's home.

Gold Plates hiding spot

The two pictures below are from the Sacred Grove.  It was definitely a special place.  I thought we knew the exact spot where Joseph had the first vision.  I was wrong.  Maybe some people do know the exact spot, but it isn't marked or anything.  There are lots of trails and benches along the way that go throughout the grove of trees that you could spend about an hour wandering all around inside.  Even though the exact location where it happened may not be known, it was still amazing to walk around in that grove and to think that some of those trees, aka "witness trees", were around when the first vision happened and "witnessed" that sacred event.     

The sunlight was shining through at just the right angle to create sort of a heavenly scene

Sacred Grove.  I wasn't sure what kind of expression to have...a big smile just seemed a little out of place :)

Day 1 (Afternoon) - Palmyra

It took about 45 minutes to an hour to drive from Rochester to Palmyra.  We stayed at the Palmyra Inn, but had to wait a few hours before we could check in, so we went and got lunch and checked out the Grandin Printing Press where the first copies of the Book of Mormon were printed.  The picture below is a representation of the press used to print the first edition of the Book of Mormon.  

Grandin Printing Press

5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon were printed over a 23 month period here.  

We then went to the Hill Cumorah.  It is so surreal to actually be visiting these locations that up until now I've only heard and read about.  It's crazy to think that I was walking around the hill where Moroni physically handled and buried the Gold Plates and where Joseph uncovered them and carried them back to his home after being chased and attacked along the way. Crazy.

Monument at the Hill Cumorah

We finished the day off with a night session at the Palmyra Temple.  It's a small temple that doesn't rent clothes, so we had to bring our own.  It's perched up on a hill that overlooks the Smith Farm and the Sacred Grove across the highway.  There is a window in the lobby of the temple that looks out to the Sacred Grove which is unique because there aren't many temples that have windows that you can see through to the outside, but Gordon B. Hinckley wanted people to be able to look out at the the most sacred place while being inside the most sacred place.  Kind of a cool story our tour guide told us during our Smith Farm tour.  

Palmyra Temple (at night)

Day 1/2 - Red Eye

The Vogeler Family has begun its Church History Tour as of Thursday, May 24.  Tim graduated from Columbia Law School this week, Mom and Dad flew out early to be with him, and the rest of us (Heidi, Eric, Erin, Alli, and myself) flew out Thursday night on the red-eye to meet up with everyone in Rochester, NY to begin the trip in Palmyra.  Let the fun begin!

- 11:59pm Thursday night

Our red-eye flight from SLC to NYC departed.  It was all fun and excitement up until we got in the air and realized that sleep was the only thing I really wanted and the only thing that I was not likely to experience for the next 5 hours.  I travel often for work and I'm used to the whole flying thing, so I'm well aware of the space (or lack of) that an airplane seat offers.  SkyMall magazine and I have become close since I started working at my new job and I remembered one of the hilarious-but-intriguing product offerings: The SkyRest Travel Pillow.

Since I have not purchased, nor will I ever purchase this product, I had to get resourceful.  I took my stuffed-to-the-brim carry on backpack and rested it on my knees and balled up my sweatshirt to use as a pillow (Sorry, no picture).  This actually worked.  Without realizing it, I was out, or at least as "out" as you can be during a flight.  I woke up somewhere between 30-60 minutes later, happily realizing that I had actually fallen asleep and then not-so-happily realizing that just about every muscle in my neck had seized up.  I slowly turned my head from left to right to left a few times to loosen up the muscles.  Feeling eventually returned to my neck muscles and I began wondering whether the nap had been worth it.

We landed at JFK airport and had a 3 hour layover before a quick hour flight to Rochester.  We met up with the rest of the crew at the airport and piled into a 12-passenger Ford F350 van  that we were undoubtedly about to create many memories in over the next 10 days.

Empezar

The definition of "blog" taken from Urban Dictionary: A meandering, blatantly uninteresting online diary that gives the author the illusion that people are interested in their stupid, pathetic life. Consists of such riveting entries as "homework sucks" and "I slept until noon today."

So without further adieu, I begin my blog.  I'll come right out and admit that English and writing were my LEAST favorite subjects in school.  In fact, I think it's safe to say that I hated those classes.  I did, however, take away something from English class.  Two somethings, actually. 1- Reading the Cliffs Notes can't replace reading the book. And 2- Whatever a bunny rabbit can do to a log = a preposition. With that disclaimer, please forgive any and all grammatical, structural, and organizational errors that are certain to find their way into the riveting posts that are to follow.