New Hampshire to New York

We finally tore ourselves away from the kids on Wednesday. It was really, really hard to say goodby, but it was time. Tuesday I spent a few more hours unpacking with them, we spent the night and Wednesday we were off. Our first goal was Sharon, Vermont, which was the birthplace of Joseph Smith Jr. For Mormons, this is a very interesting place, because he started the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. For Non-Mormons, it's still a beautiful, quaint and rural part of southern Vermont. (I took some pictures, but they're on my other camera, and I haven't downloaded it yet, I'll work on that tomorrow).

We spent the whole day driving down the backroads of New England, most of it in full Spring regalia. The trees are flowering, and just starting to have leaves budding out. In some areas it's still too cold, it looks like a winter landscape of stark tree trunks jutting toward the sky, offset by evergreens scattered around them. Most of Vermont was blooming though, with bright purple trees and bushes, and lovely trees covered in white. Did I mention the snow? As we were driving over a mountain pass it started to snow! Nothing that would last, or even stick to the ground very long, but snow nonetheless. The rivers and bogs are a novelty to desert rats like us. We passed rivers, lakes, bogs, and creeks every few miles. This week the snowmelt was affecting the rivers, and the added rain caused flood levels at most of the rivers in Vermont and New Hampshire, so there were even more boggy places than normal, I think. We spent the night on the border of Vermont and New York, in a parking lot. We followed camping signs to an RV park, but it was closed and there was no-one around. They had a great big parking lot in front of their little store, and it was on a 2-lane, fairly quiet road, so we just parked there and went to sleep.

The next morning we had a nice breakfast in the motorhome and set off for Palmyra, New York. We drove through the backwaters of New York all day yesterday, through the canal zone of central NY, and stopped in Saratoga. It was the site of a Revolutionary War battle, and had all kinds of interesting things to see. We stopped at an antique shop that specialized in Revolutionary War items, and the owner George also made great woodsy furniture. He was very chatty, and it took us more than an hour to visit, tour his workshop, see the Fort model he'd made, etc. That changed my plans a little, so we didn't get to Palmyra until today, but it was great fun and we saw some beautiful country.

We stopped at the LDS Visitor's center in Palmyra NY this morning. This is a very important site for Mormons, because Joseph Smith was living here when he had a vision, and that vision started him on a spiritual journey unusual even in the U.S., where religious fervor can be quite vigorous. The Visitor's center explains a lot about the details, which I won't go into here. What I do want to tell you is that they also have an exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls. While they do not have any of the originals, due to their fragility, they do have a 28 foot replica of one, and several smaller replicas as well, with some translations. I saw the Copper Scroll, an original, and it is beautiful. They also have items from the Qumron archeological site such as coins, a dagger and several period oil lamps. They are very small and made of clay. It was a great exhibit, I should have the pictures in a slide show by tomorrow.

We drove up Hill Cumorah, and there is a beautiful spire and statue of Moroni at the top. The lilacs were blooming, as well as tulips, daffodils and other flowers, it was a beautiful setting. The grass runs down the hill, Mom and I had to ask the groundskeeper- How do you mow this?? Turns out they use a walk-behind mower, because the slope is too steep for a riding mower. It must be a huge task, the hill has to be over an acre from top to bottom.

The last stop for us was the Smith farm. The LDS church has purchased all the land, built a replica of their cabin on the original foundation and restored the farmhouse they lived in back in 1820-1827 ish. They originally owned 100 acres, with one son purchasing 80 acres next to it. It is so green, with lots of period pieces in the house, barn and cooper's shed, where they made barrels. There is a lot of LDS history connected with the Palmyra area, including the building where the Book of Mormon was first printed, with 3000 copies. It is now printed in 160 languages, and who knows how many books have been printed. The Sacred Grove is where Joseph had a vision, and saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. Now, I know that many people who read this won't believe this is possible. The great thing about religious freedom is that we are all free to believe what we choose, and for me this is it. No matter what one believes, this area has a great feeling of peace, and there is a wonderful Spirit that resides here. Even nonmembers can feel it. I first went to Palmyra 28 years ago with a friend that wasn't a member, and when we walked into that grove of trees, with the birds singing, and a slight breeze dancing with the leaves, a hush fell over us. We walked along the path, and I finally asked her what she noticed. Like me, she felt something was very special there. OK, let's just call it a great spiritual experience, at least for me. We were there until about 1:30, then it was time to leave for Niagara Falls. More about the Falls later!