New England Road Trip


We took a family vacation road trippin around New England. We had other travel plans that fell through last minute, and decided to take advantage of Lyndon's time off and the beautiful fall foliage.

We stopped in Palmyra, NY, Waterbury, VT, and Salem, MA. Church history sites, Ben and Jerry's Factory, Halloween Haunted Happenings, and a visit to Barton Orchards to get some apples and pumpkins. 


First stop was Palmyra, NY. We visited the Joseph Smith Farm, Sacred Grove, Hill Cumorah, and the Book of Mormon publication sight. 


Inside the log cabin where the Angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith.




Inside the Sacred Grove. 



Fall colors were everywhere! Flowers and trees. I cannot decide which one was more beautiful.


I enjoyed seeing the many translations of the Book of Mormon at the Hill Cumorah Visitor Center. 







At the top of the Hill. We took the path less traveled and walked straight up the hill instead of taking the path. 


Favorite picture from the trip.





From there we drove to Vermont. It was our first time ever visiting Vermont. The primary reason was the Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory. I am a huge fan. My favorite ice cream brand of all time. The tour was very short, but we got a try a new flavor of ice cream! I got two tries, because I was not going to let extra samples go to waste. Of course, we all got a scoop or two after wards. They had their flavor grave yard by the factory, with all the flavors they have retired over the years. Some of them should RIP, but others I want to come back. 
On the ferry crossing from New York to Vermont.









Swimming in the pool every night. I had to keep to swimming laps in order to keep warm. These guys played and played and played. I could not keep up. Lyndon is the fun parent.  




We made a quick stop to the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial on our way to Massachusetts. It was my favorite part of the trip. I learned things that I did not know before, and there was a really nice spirit there. The missionary that was leading our guide told us that Elder Worthlin said that the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial is the second most sacred place on Earth, after Bethlehem, because there are angels sitting in the trees surrounding it. We saw the area, not the house, where Joseph was born. The size of the Smith's cabin at the time is very similar to the sizes of apartments we have lived in. Glad to know NYC and the 1800s rural Vermont have similar size living quarters. The story about the monument was amazing. The obelisk is 38 ft tall, a foot for every year of Joseph's life. Lots of cool tidbits learned on our visit there. 






Salem, MA was the last stop of the trip. The kids not stopped talking about our Salem trip from last year. Silver lining to our original plans falling through, we were able to squeeze in all our fall favorites. We went to the Witch Museum, took a trolley around the city, ate at Scratch Kitchen for lunch, picked up some treats at Ye Old Pepper Company, went through a haunted house, etc. Lots of witchy fun. We also met up with a good friend of mine from growing up for a little bit. She has two little boys, and I loved catching up with her and meeting her boys. Swimmer friends are life long friends. 













Swimming friends are friends for life. I've known this girl since I was ten. It was so good to catch up a bit. This beautiful rainbow was out for a little bit. It's only the second time I have seen an entire rainbow. It was beautiful. 


We finished our Fall bucket list by stopping at Barton Orchards to pick some apples, an get some pumpkins on our way home. We made it with just enough time to get both. We walked all the way out to the end of the orchard to pick the best apples for making sauces and baking with. Each of the kids picked out a pumpkin to carve. I keep saying we are going to try a different orchard the next year, but we keep going back to Barton. It was a great visit, and I'm pretty sure we will end up there next year too. 

We made it back home safe and sound. Lyndon has been baking with apples non stop. Rapha helped me make some applesauce. We gotta get the pumpkins carved before the kids crack them from standing on them. Happy Halloween!

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