An Empire State of Mind

The down side of having your brother marry a girl from New York... it's too expensive for everyone; nieces, nephews, brothers and sisters in law, etc. to attend. The up side? If you're one of the lucky ones that gets to go, not only do you get to attend the wedding but you also get one heck of an awesome trip out of it! My parents and sister Lesley flew out from CA the same day as me and we met up at the airport in Rochester. **My sister Lorna was supposed to fly out with me but a few days prior her son fell while hiking and broke his pelvis and arm and was even in the ICU for a few days. We were all sick for her not being able to come...**

Our first night we stayed at the Palmyra Inn, just down the street from the Palmyra temple. We went to the temple the next morning and visited some church history sites afterwards.

The Palmyra Temple is right by the Sacred Grove. I read a quote that I just loved. It said, "A young boy, a grove of trees, a temple destined to be built".

Also nearby is the Hill Cumorah monument.

The Sacred Grove was very beautiful and peaceful.....

As one sister missionary told us, "If only these trees could talk, imagine what they would tell us."

Part of the Smith Family property. I just loved how lush and green all of this part of New York is, and so many trees. A lot of the small towns we drove through had really cute old homes and old churches with so much character.

A view of the temple from the Smith farm.

The Peter Whitmer home, where the church was organized, another neat place to visit.

It was really hard leaving my family for so many days, but I'm so grateful I had the chance to take this trip and see these special places I probably never would have seen otherwise.

Lastly, props to my brother Brett for falling in love with a girl from New York...