We made it!

Sorry it has taken us a few days to get you caught up on our adventurous trip in New York. We've had a blast already! I hope this isn't too boring but I'm just going to do a quick run-down of our trip so far, and try not to bore you...We arrived at the Call (my aunt & uncle's house in Poughkeepsie, NY) residence Tuesday evening, and by Wednesday afternoon we were on the road again to begin our first adventure out here on the East Coast. After a 5 1/2 hour car ride we arrived in Palmyra, NY and set up camp at a KOA campground in Farmington, NY, which would be our home for the next 3 days. That night after we set up camp, Darwin had his first experience of catching fire flies, definitely an experience to remember!

July 10: Thursday we did a tour of the LDS Church sites around Palmyra. We first went to the Palmyra Visitor's Center and low and behold, I ran into someone I went to high school with in Layton. Haha. Small world! I didn't know her personally but she looked familiar to me and after talking to her for a minute we discovered that we both graduated from Layton High School and I graduated the year before she did. Her name was Amber, and she is in Palmyra for the Hill Cumorah Pageant as a harvest dancer. Following the Visitor's Center we walked to the top of Hill Cumorah, went to the Palmyra Temple, and took a tour of the Smith Farm, then had the privilege of spending some time in the Sacred Grove, and then took a tour of the Grandin Print Shop where the Book of Mormon was first published. Following the Print Shop we took a little gander over to see the Erie Canal, which was fairly close to the Grandin Print Shop. Darwin, of course, couldn't resist the opportunity to take a little dip into the Erie Canal; quite possibly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity:

Shortly after his "dive" into the Erie Canal we noticed a strange item floating towards us, so we watched and waited...As this was happening, Darwin gave us our quote-of-the-day: "Of course it's coming to me! I'm it's daddy!" Really a had-to-be-there kind of a quote, but I thought it was pretty funny. Especially because as it turns out the thing was a huge, dead fish. Haha. We took a picture of it for memory's sake, but I don't want to gross anyone out so I'll refrain from posting it for you :) Thursday night we had the opportunity of watching the dress rehearsal of the Hill Cumorah Pageant, which was absolutely awesome, although we didn't get any pictures because we were following the rules of no flash photography, unlike some others in attendance.

July 11: Friday we had the opportunity to drive another hour and a half to Niagara, NY to see the infamous Niagara Falls. This was a totally amazing experience! We've been told by many that it's completely worth it to go to the Canadian side to see the Falls, but we had an absolute blast on the American side. The Falls were beautiful, and it was amazing to be right there in the the mist of it :)

We were so immersed in the "mist" of it we actually had the opportunity to pretty much take a shower in the Niagara Falls. We did a tour called "Cave of the Winds" where you take an elevator 150 feet down into the ground and walk on this deck-type path, and you get to stand right up next to the American Falls. The wind and water was so intense that we were pretty much soaked with water from the Niagara Falls by the time the tour was over. We liked it so much we wanted to do it again; we should have, unfortunately we didn't. One of the best things about it was that it only cost us $10 a person, and we got a free rain poncho and sandals out of the deal. Absolutely worth it! I totally recommend it if you're ever in the area and have the opportunity to do so. We weren't able to take pictures of us while we were on the dock "showering" because we didn't want to get our camera wet, so this is a picture from the top of the falls of other people on the tour.

While in Niagara, Darwin was also able to meet up with an old friend, Brian, whom he worked at Disney World with in 2003. It was fun for Darwin & Brian to see each other again and for me to meet him. When we were done looking at the main falls and Brian left us, we drove down the river a few miles to a whirlpool in the Niagara River. We got to watch the jet boats, from a tour the Canadian side does, drive into the whirlpool and a cable-car type deal that goes out over the whirlpool on a cable extended over the river. That was really neat as well.

While we were there we found out about a trail that led down to the river and went on a little adventure hike that turned out to be a little more adventurous than we had planned on. We got down to the lowest part of the trail we could find, and then Darwin, my uncle Anson, and cousins Amanda and Jarom decided to hike down a little further to the river's edge. My cousin Sariah and I decided we were getting tired of hiking and started back up the side of the gorge to wait for the others at the top. Turns out while Sariah and I were hiking back, my cousin, Amanda, slipped on a rock and fell into the Niagara River!!! Thanks to Darwin's quick thinking, and Amanda's survival skills, Dar took our camera off from around his neck to first make sure it wouldn't get wet, and pulled Amanda out of the river. We're so glad that she's safe & that nothing serious happened in the event, but also grateful for the exciting story to tell. Thanks for thinking quick, Dar, and being able to rescue our sweet Mandy! This incident also led to the quote of the day for Friday: Anson as we got in the car to head home: "Something doesn't smell right." Mandy, sitting in the back soaking wet from falling in the river: "Maybe it's me?!" (Because she smelled like the stinky fish fragrance that comes with rivers and water falls). Following our fun time in Niagara and the drive back to the KOA, we decided to take the advantage to go see the Hill Cumorah Pageant again. We decided we might as well because we had the time and will probably not have the opportunity again for a while. It was just as good the second time!

July 12: We drove back to Pougkeepsie today and entertained ourselves during the long drive by watching the kids sleep in the back seat. Darwin took video of it, and I'll try to post it later. That is just about it for now. I'm going to try to post more frequently when I can so you don't have to read an entire book at one time about our adventures. Until then, ciao.