Palmyra, New York

That's my cute little sis, eatin some popcorn from the Lion's Club. She's so cute.




Thursday, July 16th, 2009

We were going to upstate New York. We wanted to get up early and leave around 6 am, BUT... we didn't actually end up leaving until around 11 am. (yeah... we're slackers) The only reason we wanted to head out so early is because multiple people advised us to get to the Hill Cummorah Pageant early, or we wouldn't be able to get seats. We were advised to get there around one in the afternoon. Leaving at 6 am, would guarantee us a spot. But, i told myself not to stress out too much about it, cause afterall, this IS a vacation. I just can't worry too much about these things. So, being super tired in the morning, we left at 11 instead.

Jessica was a trooper and drove the entire way with minimal complaints, while i zoned in and out of sleep. We calculated the time with "wendy", of how long it would take to get to Palmyra with and without taking toll roads. Skipping toll roads added a couple hours to the trip, so we thought it worth it to just pay the tolls. They ranged in price from as little as fifty five cents and went all the way up to nine dollars and twenty cents. (all tolls together adding up to about twelve dollars.)

We got to Palmyra around 5 pm. I had purchased a hotel room a month in advance, because they were filling up pretty quickly due to it being pageant season. I picked a hotel that was twelve miles away,(or so it CLAIMED) figuring it was worth a little drive to save $50. (right?) Our hotel was actually a half HOUR away from the pageant. (on the freeway AND through town)

Our hotel wasn't bad. A Super 8. I thought i was getting a deal at $63 a night ($72 after tax) when everywhere else was $100 and more. But when we got there, the clerk told us it was only $45 a night with a military discount, but because we had already purchased it through Travelocity, they could not give us that price. (jerks at travelocity...) We got checked in and went to our room, only to grab all the pillows and blankets off the bed and sneak back out the front door. (What...? We needed them to sit on at the pageant...) We hurried because we thought that most of the seats would be taken up already, even though the pageant didn't actually start until 9 pm... We parked and walked across the street to find, many MANY open seats. So many that we could've waited a couple more hours and been just fine. But, no matter. We decided to go adventuring and see what we could find.

First, we walked up the hill to the monument where the Angel Moroni showed Joseph Smith where the gold plates were. (This is me looking at the monument.) It was quite the hike to get up there...

Next, we were STARVING so we went to find food. We saw a bunch of tents and figured there had to be food SOMEWHERE. We were right. We ate at the Lion's Club booth. I got a BBQ chicken dinner and jessica got pizza. We still had a couple hours til the show started so we went to the visitor's center and got some maps of the other church history sites and went inside to see the Christus. (sp?) It was wonderful to be there.

An hour or two before the show, all the actors came out in full costume, and bore testimony, two by two, to individual members of the audience. It was amazing. What a great missionary tool and opportunity.

The show started at 9 pm, as soon as the sun was setting. (the hotel blankets came in pretty handy, even though we were sitting on folding chairs, because it did get pretty cold. We were glad we brought them.) The show was,..... AMAZING! I had no idea what to expect but it exceeded anything i thought possible. It even answered a few questions that Jessica had asked earlier that day. The spirit was definately there. Needless to say, i was very impressed with the production.

On our way in and out from the pageant, there were some protesters. (i'm so glad they're taking time out of their busy lives for the salvation of our souls. Or wait... is that what they're doing? ha) One protestor in particular, we had a little run in with. Ha. I know they advise us not to respond, because contention is not from Heavenly Father, but, he was being just ridiculous. Mind you, he only had three teeth, was short and round, and had the mask from "V for Vendetta" hanging off the back of his head. He yelled at us every time we went back to the car to get some things. Most of the time, we didn't say anything but one time, i did. As we passed, he was yelled at us and told us how we were part of a cult, and many other things he THOUGHT we were. Out of frustration i asked, "and what are you?". He responded, "I'M an american."

blink.

"SO ARE WE!" ??? I responded, with frustration. I pointed out also that Americans don't persecute others for their religions. He paused for a moment, but really had no response. He just kept saying the same things over and over. It was quite humorous. It was amazing the difference we felt just walking by him vs. when we'd cross the street and were greeted by couple after couple with smiling faces and welcoming hands. I couldn't believe how black and white it was, but, it was.

I'm so thankful I was able to go to this. I was VERY lucky that the week i was going out there just happened to be the ONLY week of the entire year that they hold the pageant. Heavenly Father must love us. Alot.

:)