Ultimate Vacation Part 1

After months of planning, saving, and almost canceling the whole thing once or twice, we finally went on our "Ultimate Vacation!" It was a 2 week trip starting in Idaho and ending in Philadelphia. We spent a lot of time in the car but it was fun because we listened to some books on tape—like the Hunger Games series and Harry Potter. Our friend, Kaity, was nice enough to let us drive her car to Philadelphia for her. It was so much fun and I wasn't ready to come home, but you have to face reality sometime or other. And we're already planning where we want to go on our next vacation!

Days 1 and 2 were driving days. We drove from Pocatello to Kansas City.

Liberty Jail

Adam Ondi Ahmen

Day 3 we went to Liberty Jail, Independence Jail, the Far West Temple site, and Adam Ondi Ahmen.

Nauvoo Temple

Day 4 we went to Nauvoo and saw the sites there. We also saw Carthage Jail. We wish we could have spent more than a day there because there's so much to do and see, but we just didn't have enough time. We did do a session in the temple. It's so beautiful.

The Buckwalter Family at Isaac's baptism

Days 5 through 6 we visited the Buckwalters. We planned it just right so we'd hit Isaac's baptism. We were so grateful to get to be there for Isaac's big day. He's such a great kid. We really enjoyed our time with the Buckwalters and were sad to have to say goodbye.

Kirtland Temple

Day 7 we went to Kirtland to see the church history sites there. We planned this trip at a perfect time, right after the busy season, so we were often the only ones on the tours. That made us feel special. And we were able to relax and feel the spirit while we were in these wonderful places.

Cedar Point

And what would the "Ultimate Vacation" be without the thrilling amusement park? We went to Cedar point on Day 8. It was a blast. We went on some scary rides. One shot us 400 feet in the air at 120 mph! I had my eyes closed the whole time. But it was a lot of fun and we went on the rides till we felt sick.

Sacred Grove

Whitmore Home

Day 9 we went to Palmyra, New York and saw the Sacred Grove, Hill Cumorah, and the printing press. I enjoyed revisiting the Hill Cumorah Pageant. I kinda wish we'd been there during the pageant so I could show it to David but I'm glad we came when it wasn't so crowded. We also visited the Peter Whitmore home.

Harmony/Susquehanna River

That same day we went to Harmony, PA to see the birthplace of Joseph Smith. There was only a sign there that said he'd grown up there. No home. No tours. But it was still cool. And then we went to the Susquehanna River. It was a beautiful evening and we skipped rocks for a while. It was such a peaceful place.

Ultimate Vacation Part 2

We spent the last few days in Philadelphia and New York City. While we were in Philadelphia we met up with some of our friends/roommates Kaity, Caitlyn and Emilee. It was so fun to see them all and catch up.


We went with Caitlyn and Emilee to Chocolate World in Hershey, PA while Kaity was in school. It was really fun.
Another day we went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Does this scene look familiar to you??? (It's from Rocky) David was so excited to run up these steps.

He almost didn't make it though...
But he succeeded in the end! Way to go, David! :-) (This scene is also from the movie)
Of course we couldn't go to Philadelphia without eating a Philly Cheese Steak. We went to one of the original places—or so it claimed. It was really good.Then we went to New York City. We were a bit exhausted from all the travel and site seeing by this time but New York has so much energy and excitement. We really loved touring the city. We road the subway and took the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. We visited Ground Zero and the Empire State Building. We saw the New York Temple and went to China Town. We even went for a walk in Central Park where we watched a baseball game and took a nap. We tried to cram in as much as we could in the short two days we were there.


We even went to 2 Broadway plays!! We went to Phantom of the Opera and Wicked. You can kind of see the signs for them in the picture below, though the glare is in the way. I enjoyed Phantom of the Opera but the highlight was getting to see Wicked. I've listened to the music for years and know many of the songs by heart. David had already seen the play but was willing to see it with me again because I really wanted to. And it was amazing!!! It lived up to all of my expectations. The music is incredible and the plot is very family friendly. I definitely recommend this play.

We walked up and down Broadway many times, just in awe of the tall buildings and bustle of people. But it was so fun and we wish we could have seen more and done more. Oh well, we'll just have to save that for our next ultimate vacation. Till then, we're still in awe of the wonderful sites we saw and the amazing opportunity we had of touring the church history sites, visiting family and friends and soaking up the culture of the many places in the United States.
Above is Broadway during the day. Below is a picture of Broaday at night. It was so incredible!