NY Vacation Part I - The Road Trip

As I mentioned in a previous post, we left on vacation on a Friday evening following the girls' dance recital. The theme of the recital was We've Got The Beat. Each group performed a dance to an 80's song. (Julia's group did Walk Like An Egyptian and Kennedy's did That's What I Like About You. Other's included Material and Mickey.) They kept asking me if I had ever heard any of those songs. They couldn't quite grasp the idea that I knew ALL the songs. That those were indeed the songs that I heard on the radio when I was a kid. That I knew them, loved them, sang and danced to them BEFORE they were oldies. In fact, I did a dance to Walk Like An Egyptian in my sixth grade talent show with some of my friends. The girls did great and had a ton of fun with the camp and the show.




We left after the show and arrived in Elkhart, Indiana five hours later. 2 am their time. We crashed in the basement in a room that just happened to be empty for a few days during some rearranging. Tracy had a mattress set up for each of us and we were happy and grateful to crawl between the sheets. We had a little time in the morning to visit with Tracy and her family, as well as her brother Aaron and his family who were also visiting. It was so fun to see everybody and catch up a bit. I love that Tracy and her husband Don love to laugh and we were able to have a pleasant morning there, despite the rush to get on the road.



We arrived in Palmyra, NY at 7:30 that evening and met up with my brother Jonathan and his wife Nichelle, as well as my cousin Karen and her husband Jamie. We met up at the Hill Cumorah and let the kids run around a bit and stretch their legs. The Hill has always been a special place to visit and it was cool to be able to bring my children there. It's awe-inspiring to know that Joseph Smith conversed with the Angel Moroni there and then took from the ground the sacred record containing what we now know as The Book of Mormon. The grounds are lovely with abundant flower gardens and emerald green grass. Next summer I hope to take the kids to the Hill Cumorah Pageant.






After a lengthy pit stop we hit the road again, this time with Jonathan driving for me so I could rest. I dropped him off in Potsdam with his wife and then continued on to Mom and Dad's, arriving a little after 1 am. They were happy to have us there, but not entirely surprised because they knew someone was coming and had their suspicions it might be us. We settled into bed that night relieved to have the hard part over- at least until departure time.