Leaving on a Jet Plane

My sister Gwen and her family live in Rochester, NY. I had never been to visit her since they moved out there. It took a bit of planning, but I finally was able to go see her for about a week. Greg took some vacation days from work so he could stay home with the kids and play Mr. Mom. My younger brother, Paul, also came on the trip. It was so nice to be able to travel child-free on an airplane. It was so nice to just relax and have some time with my siblings. It was unfortunate that the only time Greg could get some time off happened over Mother's Day. So I had to miss that, but the primary kids in Gwen's ward were just as cute. Though, not my own kiddies singing "Mother, I love you. Mother, I do..." to me. But they've made me lots of school things and church things and it was alright. We arrived in Rochester Saturday and Gwen had gotten a babysitter for her kids so that the adults could go out to dinner. We went to this really awesome Mediterranean restaurant and had some yummy Greek food.
Sunday after church we drove 1/2 hour to Palmyra, NY and did a tour of all the historic Church sites. I had been there before about 10 years earlier, but it was still so neat to be there. We first drove to the Grandin Building where the Book of Mormon was printed. There was a sign on the door saying it was closed for a filming project. They usually are open on Sundays, but they weren't that day. Probably making some church movie or something. But it helps to have a brother in the film business. Paul new some of the guys who were there filming and they opened it up to us and we got a private tour all by ourselves. After that we drove to the Smith Farm house and did the tours there with the sweet sister missionaries. We then spent some quiet, peaceful moments in the Sacred Grove. After that, we drove to the Hill Cumorah. It was a very cold, windy, rainy day, so we didn't stay very long. Gwen had a lot of day trips for us planned after that. We left right after the bus took her kids off to school and got home in time to get them off the bus after school.
Monday we went to a place called Watkins Glen. It's a state park full of water falls. We started at the bottom of this gorge and climbed up over 900 stairs and three miles following the water falls up to the top. It was absolutely beautiful. We had Gwen's two youngest children who weren't in school with us and they were real troopers. Lots and lots of stairs. But it was so beautiful.
Tuesday we went to Niagara Falls in Canada. Another, wet rainy day. We didn't want to inflict too much torture on the kids, so we didn't do the boat tour, or the walking tour. We just snapped some pictures from the road that drives by the falls. Niagara Falls (the town) has a space needle type building that is over 500 feet and has a revolving restaurant on the top. So we rode the elevator up and ate lunch in the spinning restaurant. It takes an hour to make a complete circle and the panoramic view of the falls and the town is gorgeous. Yummy food and lots of fun.
Wednesday we went to the Corning Museum of Glass. This was the coolest museum I have ever been too. It houses thousands of glass art pieces that are so amazing. They have ancient Roman, Islamic, Greek glass that dated back to 1500 B.C. Extremely old glass next to modern, new artsy glass. It was pretty dang cool. They also had a glass blowing demonstration. It was fascinating to actually see the craftsmen do their work. So neat. The hot glass looks and feels exactly like taffy candy. It is very pliable and sticky looking. While it's in that state, they mold it and shape it into these unbelievable pieces. They had classes to take where they would let you do it, but we didn't have time to go to one. And of course there was a gift shop that was as big as the museum itself. I bought a few long stemmed flowers made out of glass. They are about as long as my arm and I was worried about getting them home on the airplane. So I had them shipped to myself and I hope they make it home to me safe and sound.
My return flight was scheduled for Thursday morning. I was supposed to arrive in SLC at 2pm, but because of horrible thunder and lightning storms in Chicago (where I had a connection) my flight was canceled. So I asked what they could do for me and they switched me to a different airline that went to Atlanta, then to SLC. So I did that. I got home much later than I wanted, but Greg and the boys were at the airport in jammies waiting to greet me well after bedtime. It was a wonderful trip, but I was so happy to see my sweet little kids racing towards me. Nathan started to cry! and hugged me for so long. It was a tender reunion and I'm glad to be home. I've posted more pictures than necessary, but this is just a fraction of all that I took.

Grandin Printing Press




Palmyra Temple

Smith Frame Home


Sacred Grove




The Hill Cumorah


Watkins Glen
pics are small, but click to enlarge






Niagara Falls




Glass Museum



This chess set made me chuckle. One side is Jewish Rabbis and the other is Catholic Priests. Everything made from glass. En Guarde!


For those of you who know Abravenel Hall in Salt Lake, an identical tree thing (except it's pinkish) piece is in the foyer. Same artist did both.