The Road Less Traveled: Our Adventures Home from New York

A bummer of a thing happened.  About a month ago, I dropped my phone and the screen shattered.  It had a case and a screen protector, but lost the battle to a rock wedged in the tiny space between the two.  The real bummer, however, is that when I went to get my phone fixed, they couldn't reset it properly and gave me a new iPhone 6.  At first I thought that was awesome since I supposedly had all my photos backed up onto my computer.  Turns out, however, that I lost a big pile of pics from the trip back to Omaha with my dad.

The one silver lining is that this blog post will be much shorter as a result.  I have a few pics that I grabbed off our family text chains, my Dad took a few, plus we took pictures with our digital SLR in a couple of spots.  Still, I feel a sense of loss at not having a better visual record from this special time with my Dad.  At least this blog should help.

After bidding farewell to all of our Long Island family on July 5th, we crammed eight people and a whole lot of luggage into the minivan for the forty mile drive to JFK.  While we were sad to bid farewell to NomiAnn and Eila as they flew to Seattle, we weren't sad to have a little extra wiggle room for the rest of the drive back.

Instead of heading straight home, we decided to head northwest to visit some LDS church history sites.  Here are Papa Kay and Eli resting in the woods of the Priesthood Restoration Site in Harmony, Pennsylvania.  Latter-day Saints believe John the Baptist appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in this forest on May 15, 1829, restoring the Aaronic Priesthood to the earth.  Joseph and Oliver later baptized each other in the nearby Susquehanna River.

We also visited the childhood home of Emma Hale, Joseph's wife, along with Joseph and Emma's first home, pictured below.  For ten years, this home and farm belonged to Emma's brother, Jesse Hale.  When Jesse's family needed something larger (they were expecting their seventh child), Joseph and Emma moved into the vacated home.  This is where most of the Book of Mormon was translated, as well as the place where Emma delivered their first child, who died shortly after birth and is buried in a cemetery down the road.

After leaving Harmony, we headed back into New York to Seneca Falls for some tutoring in US history at the Women's Rights National Historic Park.

The Declaration of Sentiments was drafted and signed here in July 1848, in connection with the first Women's Rights Convention.  It boldly declared, "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal."

I've lost most of my pictures, but here's one of Sojourner Truth.  I was amazed by how closely the themes of women's rights and civil rights were intertwined, with Frederick Douglass being a key supporting figure right next to Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott at the Women's Rights Convention.  Whether abolitionists of suffragettes, they were really talking about the same basic human rights.  I am so grateful for the courage of these women and men, and hope I can walk more boldly in their footsteps.  I was also struck by the relative proximity in time and location of these events to the happenings of the restoration.  It truly seems a period of divine enlightenment in many spheres.

If you need any more convincing to visit Seneca Falls, this town was the inspiration for Bedford Falls in "It's a Wonderful Life."  The George Bailey was delicious.

Seneca Falls is only thirty minutes from Palmyra, so before the day was through, we also visited the Hill Cumorah where Joseph Smith found the golden plates and the Sacred Grove, where God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to the 14 year-old boy Joseph Smith in what is referred to as the First Vision.  There is a peaceful feeling in both of these places, although the evening was so buggy that I fear my children will remember the mosquito bites most.  Last but not least, we spent a few moments in Joseph's childhood home on the Smith Family farm.  Sometimes I feel like today's digital world is exceptionally noisy with all its tweets, texts, and tv.  In such an environment, it can be hard to find quiet spaces for spiritual meditation.  As I pondered the tiny upstairs log cabin bedroom  that Joseph shared with multiple brothers, I realized that his world must have been noisy as well.  If he could still find time and space to ponder and pray, then surely I can as well.

We spent the night in Palymra, then visited one last church historical site, the Grandin Building, before continuing our journey.  It was fascinating to see where the first 5000 copies of the Book of Mormon were originally typeset, inked, printed, and bound.

Our next stop, Niagara Falls.  The kids' passports all expire next year, so we took advantage of the view from the Canadian side while we could.  Fortunately I brought along the good camera so we have plenty of photos to remember the fun.

What a great grandpa.

Not a whole lot of commentary is necessary.  We saw Niagara Falls.  They were super big so it was super cool.

I love the protective arm that's keeping Annika from tumbling over.

Thanks for the great afternoon, Papa Kay.

After filling up on donuts at Tim Horton's in Niagara, we stayed on the Canadian side of the border and drove to Buxton, a tiny settlement hat was established in 1849 as a terminus for the underground railroad.  We'd learned about Buxton while listening to a children's audiobook, Elijah of Buxton, by Christopher Paul Curtis and wanted to see this town that signified freedom.  

While the museum was closed, we still got to see a replica of the Liberty Bell that "heralded the arrival of each new refugee to this 'land of liberty.'"  (This isn't it the bell, but I'm short on photos.)

Officially known as the Elgin Settlement, Buxton was one of four Canadian black settlements, and perhaps the most successful, in part due to its strict regulations.  The settlement was divided into 50 acre parcels that had to be cleared by their new owners.  Not only were there were rules governing things such as no liquor, but there were also regulations dictating that each home had to be 33 feet from the road with a picket fence and flower garden in front.

That evening we crossed back into the United States and slept in Detroit so that we could spend the next day at Greenfield Village, part of the Henry Ford Museum.  To be completely honest, I don't know how to describe Greenfield Village.  Henry Ford created this homage to American ingenuity and innovation by collecting famous homes and buildings, and assembling them into seven historic districts that focus on everything from Edison to railroads.   For example, we saw the Wright Brother's childhood home (pictured below), brought to Greenfield Village from Dayton, Ohio. 

We also saw Henry Ford's home, Stephen Foster's neighbors house (they moved the wrong one), George Washington Carver's cabin, the Robert Frost home, and Thomas Edison's Menlo park.  Until visiting Greenfield Village, I hadn't realized what a close friend and mentor Edison was for Henry Ford.

I personally enjoyed seeing this Quadricycle, Ford's first car.  Apparently it wouldn't fit through the door so he broke through the wall to take it for its first spin.

 
For the kids, the most fun came from going back in history to experience every day life.

Annika grew taller in an instant.

Talia in the millinery.

Eli's a natural with the tavern puzzles.  He must get it from his Papa Kay.

Locomotives make the best playgrounds.

The entertainment was pretty great too.


Annika spent a great deal of time admiring all of the horses as they stopped for water.

Then late in the afternoon all of her childhood dreams came true when a kind man offered our entire family unlimited ride passes.  We got to ride in the horse-drawn carriage--twice.

The girls and I rode the carousel as well.  If we'd had more time, we could have ridden the train and gone for a spin in a Model T too.

Meanwhile, Papa Kay and Eli explored the Museum of American Innovation where they saw some cool things like Rosa Parks's bus, as well as some more morbid artifacts, such as Kennedy's limousine and the chair where Lincoln was shot.  What a day!

We drove on into Indiana that evening, sleeping near South Bend.  After attending church the next morning, we headed on to Chicago.  While it would have been fun to connect with Uncle Lance, he was traveling somewhere cool and exotic.  (If only I could remember where...)  Instead, we explored the new Maggie Daley park on our own.  It's awesome.

We brought the good camera, so plenty of pics here.

This one cracks me up.

Stroll a bit farther and you will find yourself in Millennium Park.


The Bean.

Technically it's called Cloudgate, but it's obvious why The Bean stuck as an appelation.

My little narcissists.

And to think these munchkins whined about walking all the way over to the sculpture.


Daddy-daughter shot.

Chicago as seen through the lens of Talia.

We seriously pondered sticking around Chicago a bit longer so that we could take Annika to see the dolphins at the Shedd aquarium.  Instead, we decided that we were tired and began the last leg of our journey back to Omaha.  Here's a picture from our dinner at the Machine Shed in Davenport, Iowa.  They may have dropped a plate of meatloaf in my lap, but at least I got a gigantic piece of chocolate cake out of it.


Whew!  That's it.  Perhaps it's a good thing I lost a few hundred photos from my phone; I can only imagine how long this post would be otherwise.  Papa Kay, thanks for an amazing trip back from New York.  It was a memorable and educational vacation all unto itself.  Just hope we can see you again soon.  How about Tuesday?  ;)