What a Trip! Final comments.

By L:  Our Fall 2013 Travels put nearly 10,000 miles on the vehicle - hence the name of our blog.  Dana and I probably took 10,000 photo's between us!  I took all the pictures in the previous blog entries with my little point and shoot digital camera.  I tried to pick the best and most interesting ones from the trip.  Unfortunately, Dana did not have time to upload his pictures and add any commentary to what was posted.  He is an excellent photographer, and his pictures are amazing.  

Maybe he will be able to add something in the near future. 

Turning Back West - Part 3: Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming

By L:  This last leg of our journey was less of sight seeing and more visiting family - what joy!  Unfortunately, we didn't have the camera out taking pictures of the people we were visiting.  We stopped in Joplin, MO and had lunch with Dana's Uncle and Aunt and cousin' family.  Then we had a marvelous dinner out with Dana's parents and three of his siblings in the Topeka area.  We spent some time with his parents before we continued our journey to Cheyenne, Wyoming where we visited my mother. The last stop was in Worland, Wyoming before we arrived back in Billings.  

This next picture was taken along the highway to Topeka, Kansas.

By L:  I couldn't resist getting a picture of what I was seeing in the side mirror - Dana is a great photographer and got some amazing pictures from unique angles.

We went to this museum in Omaha, Nebraska - it was very interesting!

And we went to the Winter Quarters Temple.  I loved the decorative entrance.

We stopped at a park in Cheyenne next to a botanical gardens and I decided to take a picture of the message on the posts in this small arboretum.  Timeless advice from Rotary International.

We took a tour through the Wyoming State Capital Building.  

Wow - it was so ornate - and we were free to explore on our own.

By L:  I had to get one last picture - this is of the Asay Vet clinic/farm just outside of Worland.  We rarely go through Worland without stopping here and seeing what kind of excitement is going on.

Turning Back West - Part 2: Illinois, Missouri

 By L:  Our next stop was Nauvoo, Illinois.  We got there when the weather was rainy and foggy, but on the morning we left it was gorgeous - we got some amazing photos.

Mississippi River

Statue of Joseph and Hyrum Smith at Carthage Jail where they were killed.

The Prophet Joseph Smith was shot and then fell from this second story window and landed by the well shown in the picture.

Carthage Jail

Nauvoo Temple

 

  This picture was taken on the hill looking down toward the Mississippi River -
it was such a beautiful morning.

Below is the one remaining canal bridge in Nauvoo that was built in the 1840's.

This war memorial was in a small town in Northern Missouri -
the colors were so vibrant and the whole setting looked too beautiful to pass up.

By L:  We arrived  in West Plains, Missouri to visit my sister Lisa, her husband Jeff and their son, Grier.  We took a leisurely drive with them up to a mill.  Here is Dana in Grier's car with him.  Grier made sure we traveled in style!

Turning Back West - Part 1: Pennsylvania - Ohio

By L:  Our trip through Pennsylvania to Harrisburg was done in the dark, so we missed seeing the countryside there.  Vacationing in the Fall is great - fewer people, cooler weather, no lines or crowds - perhaps the only disadvantage is the fewer hours of daylight.  Like I mentioned in an earlier blog, I have a passion for family history research - closely rivaled with an interest in history.  So the next day brought a bit of a dilemma.  In the end I dropped Dana off at the Gettysburg battle site and I drove about 30 miles further to Waynesboro to do some family research.  I did, however, manage to take a few pictures as I drove through the battle field area.

By L:  I watched this group of tourists as they rode horses with their guides and thought
they had chosen a great way to see the vast area.

By L:  This is a picture of the building where the Historical Society houses their records for Waynesboro and surrounding area in Franklin County Pennsylvania.  I spent several hours looking through books and gathering as many clues as I could about the many ancestors of mine that lived in this area.

 

By L:  For many years I have been trying to search for the parents and family of a John Welsh who was born in Tomstown in 1800.  There have been lots of theories - but solid evidence is hard to find.  Here is a picture of a family group record from a binder in this society's library. My lineage is through child 4 on the sheet - Joseph, born in 1824, who married Catherine Robison.  All the surnames on this sheet are still very common in this area of Pennsylvania.

By L:  I drove three miles up the road from Waynesboro to Quincy to - YES! another cemetery!  It is on the hillside edge of Quincy and Tomstown is the small village across the valley on the hillside in the trees.  I recognized many of the names in this cemetery - they are probably all related.

 

By L:  I was very happy that we were able to go to Pittsburgh where Kristen's family is living.  

Here is a picture of us on their front porch. 

Left to Right - Tyler, Quinn (6 months), Kristen, Alexandria "Alex" (5 years), Heidi (3 years), LeAnn, Dana

 From Pennsylvania we went to Ohio and stopped in the Kirtland area.  

We visited some church history sites and met some very wonderful people along the way.

The interiors of these restored homes are really remarkable.  All the items reveal a way of life that has largely been lost and replaced by all the new gadgets we use today that makes life so much easier!

Inside the N.K. Whitney Store

We took a tour through the Kirtland Temple and spent time taking pictures with the fall colors.

(Yes, another cemetery)

By L:  As I was walking away I saw this leaf on the sidewalk - 

it made me think about how lucky we are to live in such a varied and beautiful world.

We drove down by the John Johnson farm on our way to Columbus, Ohio to learn more about events from our church history.

While in Columbus, we visited another temple.

Toward the Rising Sun - Part 2: Vermont

By L:  We spent some time in Vermont.  While there we met up with friends, visited a church history site and took a tour of a Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory.  It was fun visiting this somewhat whimsical place and sampling some of the best ice cream ever!

One evening we drove up into Montreal and went to the temple there.  The U.S. border agents were wondering why we were going back and forth into Canada so often.

 

By L:  We stopped at the famous "Vermont Country Store" and spent quite a long time browsing through all the unique things sold there.  We walked out with some of the best pure maple syrup ever.

 

By L:  As we were heading south toward Pennsylvania we stopped in Bennington, Vermont.  It was the fantastic fall colors and unique headstones that drew our attention to this graveyard next to this church.  It turns out that it was a famous church.

 

 

By L:  Did I mention before that we stopped at quite a few cemeteries?  My children will laugh as they remember a vacation from the past when I wanted to stop at every cemetery I saw in southern Utah.  It comes from my love of history - and especially my interest in family history research.  The cemeteries in the East are beautiful and so full of gorgeous monuments dedicated to someone's loved ones. It was inspiring - and because of the fall colors - they were great places to take pictures.

 The headstones below were for four children.

By L:  And we discovered that there are a few famous people buried in this cemetery - perhaps one that you might recognize - Robert Frost.  I've never seen money put at a headstone before - very intriguing to me.  But since then I've learned that it's done at other famous graves as well.

By L:  Robert Frost wrote one of my all-time favorite poems:

The Road Not Taken.

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.