This last November (2011) we had the opportunity to join Dalen's family in picking up his sister Tara who was serving a mission for our church in Morristown, NJ. She had no idea that we were coming so we were able to surprise her. We were able to see, the Palmyra Temple, the Sacred Grove, the Printing Press, Hill Cumorah, Niagara Falls, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the Manhattan Temple, Time Square, the Empire State Building, the State Capital, the Declaration of Independence, Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Ford Theater, Mt. Vernon, President Washington's Mansion, and the Washington DC Temple. There were way too many pictures that I wanted to add but it would be super long if I added them. It was very difficult to choose which ones to include.
When we were waiting to get our rental car at the Rochester Airport they had this lovely bench that Ashtyn loved to relax on.
We are in the elevator at the hotel where Dalen's family was staying, getting ready to surprise Tara. Lisa had this little shirt made just for the occasion. In case you can't read it, it says I heart My Auntie Tara.
When we knocked on the door, I guess Tara was on the phone talking to a cousin, she was so surprised to see us standing at the door.
We were able to go visit the Palmyra Temple, it was closed so we had the whole place to ourselves. I couldn't resist not adding this picture, Ashtyn is just so cute.
Dalen always loves to throw Ashtyn in the air, and Ashtyn actually loves it too.
On one of the sides of the temple there is a little hill with a lot of trees, most of the leaves had fallen and Ashtyn loved playing in them. I was taking tons of pictures and this one happens to be the my favorite. We have this picture hanging on our wall in our living room.
I had never seen a real behive, they are pretty large.
While we were in the Sacred Grove (The Sacred Grove is where Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith as a young boy when he prayed to God to find out which church he should join, it is in Palmyra, New York) Dalen took Ashtyn out to look for deer tracks. We saw tons of deer while we were there
Even though most of the leaves had fallen it was still very pretty and peaceful.
After our visit at the Sacred Grove we had lunch at "Brad and Dads"
Dalen decided to get what is well known on the East Coast as the "Trash Plate" it had french fries, macaroni salad, hamburger patty, a red hot (spicy hot dog) and their traditional red sauce. He said it was pretty good.
We were able to visit the printing press where the first Book of Mormon was printed.
We got to learn how it was made back then, it was quite the process
We also got to visit the visitors center at the Hill Cumorah. (The Hill Cumorah is where the Book of Mormon before it was translated was hidden from the rest of the world.)
After Palmyra we made a quick stop at Niagara Falls. It was kind of last minute but we are all glad we did. It was pretty cold and windy and with the mist from the falls a little wet.
The leaves were still on the trees in Niagara, I have never seen such beautiful colors on trees. The leaves were huge!
While we were waiting for our food at the Hard Rock Cafe we decided to let Ashtyn get some energy out and play in all the leaves.
We are on a bridge that connected two of the waterfalls. There was a couple different water falls besides the main falls
Next we headed to the Big Apple-New York City. We are on the boat that takes you out to the Statue of Liberty. The city skyline behind was a pretty awesome view.
We were getting ready to board our boat, it was a fun little ride.
When you first come off the the boat this is the first thing you see.
We also got to visit Ellis Island. Tara spent some time helping people find relatives in their files, so we got to visit with the lady in charge. She had only wonderful things to say about Tara. Inside we got to watch a video about how Ellis Island came about and the process the immigrants had to go through to reach America.
As we were heading back to New York on the boat, I turned around and saw this view of the Statue of Liberty.
We visited the 911 Memorial at Ground Zero. We went at night so everything was lit up. I really like the design and how everyone's name that died was lit up.
While visiting New York, we stayed at the Marriott at the Newark, NJ Airport and Ashtyn quickly made a dear friend named Shay. It was so cute, every time we walked in the front doors, Shay would come running from behind the counter and ask to hold her.
The first night in NewYork we decided to take a Limo back to our hotel, it was the first Limo ride for Dalen's sisters. It was a little cramped for all 10 of us but I think they enjoyed it.
Central Park still had a lot of leaves on the trees. It was very beautiful. As we walked through I could recognize scenes from movies, especially Home Alone.
They had a cute little gazebo, there was a couple people eating their lunch inside.
We got to experience the subway. We were just waiting for our turn to get on.
In the subway there was this group that performed for us. They each took turns break dancing and doing flips and then after collected money. One night they had a band and a different time there was a guy playing an electric violin.
We visited the Manhatten Temple, we didn't have time to go inside but we had to stop and take pictures. There is also a church building inside, we we took the elevator up to where the chapel and classrooms were. It looked just like any other church building but it was so quiet and peaceful. It was nice to relax for a minute since outside was super busy and loud.
We went up to the top of the Empire State Building at night. The view was neat because everything was lit up. You could hear the cars and the noise of the busy city.
It almost looks fake.
All of Ashtyn's naps were similar to this one. She was such a good little girl to travel with. She spent a lot of time in that stroller and was ok with it.
We went to the toy store in Time Square which Ashtyn slept the whole way through. There were a few lego sculptures that brought back fond memories for Dalen of building things with lego's as a child
We were able to go inside the Washington DC Temple. We actually wen the night before and it was raining, but during the day it was absolutley beautiful.
We got to visit the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. We wished we had more time to be able to go in the other museums. I guess we will have to make a trip back sometime.
Inside the Air and Space Museum Dalen couldn't resist trying on the flight helmit and goggles. He is ready for take off.
We toured the Ford Museum where President Lincoln was shot.
This is the gun that was used to shot President Lincoln.
After President Lincoln was shot he was taken accross the street where he passed away the next day.
As we were walking to the museum we had this view of the Capital Building
This is the Washington Memorial
The Lincoln Memorial had a ton of steps getting up to it and after a week of constantly walking it was a little bit of a challenge.
The White House
The front side of President George Washington's Mansion on Mount Vernon
Before you take the tour of the mansion they show you a video of President Washington and they have these statues of the president and his family. I am pretty sure they said that it is pretty close to their actual size.
This is the backside to the mansion.
And this is the view from their backyard of the Potomac River, so beautiful.
While in Washinton DC we found the most wonderful place to eat breakfast. It was called The Original Pancake House. We ate their everyday we were in DC. It was sooooo good.
We also got to visit the 911 memorial at the Pentagon. Dalen's family knew someone who was killed during the attack. We found his name and bench.
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