we flew into cleveland late saturday evening. we had just enough time to make quick visits to the kirtland sites and a visit to one of laura's favorite restaurants -- panera bread. it's not just an ohio place, but was a popular place that laura and other kirtland missionaries liked to visit. it was tasty.
on sunday morning we stopped by the kirtland temple to take a few photos. unfortunately there was scaffolding in front of the temple for renovations, but it was still very pretty.
in-between sessions of conference, we went for a drive to the quarry where stone for the temple was taken. we got a few nice photos. lots of trees!
although the leaves weren't all changing yet (they were late this year!) we thought these colors were beautiful.
it seemed like there were lots of streams and rivers throughout the kirtland area.
sunday evening we went out to the shore of lake erie and saw this lighthouse -- some of the missionaries that left kirtland in the church's early years there would have left from this area.
monday morning we took a tour of the kirtland temple, which is owned and operated by the community of christ -- formerly known as the reorganized lds church. laura said it was the best tour she'd been on there.
we then went to the kirtland site that the church owns and took a tour there, where laura gave so many tours and had great experiences as a missionary -- it was a great experience and was awesome to be in a place that was and still is such a big part of laura's life and who she is.
monday evening we went into cleveland for a rock concert -- an indie rock band called band of horses -- so we figured it was only fitting to have dinner at a hard rock cafe. the concert was good, and the band played both songs laura was hoping they'd play.
tuesday we went down to canton to visit the pro football hall of fame. we're more into college football but were interested in making the visit anyway. it was a lot of fun and we spent more time there than we thought we would. austin enjoyed seeing all the helmets and jerseys and reading about players who he remembered from when he was a kid.
after the football stop we went to amish country in ohio. we had lunch at a more touristy amish place that laura had been to a couple times on her mission and visited another store to get some gifts for family members. we enjoyed our drives in this part of ohio -- it was very pretty.
our next stop on tuesday was a little town called chagrin falls, which is built right on top of a waterfall.
it was here that austin had the best ice cream of his life. it was heavenly.
wednesday morning we went down to hiram, ohio to visit the johnson farm. this is another important location in early church history, as joseph smith and his family lived with the johnsons for a while. section 76 of the doctrine and covenants was one of the more famous revelations received at this home.
although the home has been restored, this is about what the home would have looked like, which was a dream home for that time period and area of the country (ohio was "the west" in the 1830s). it was nice enough even by today's standards that laura and i would move there in a heartbeat if we could. :)
later on wednesday we were able to visit one of laura's favorite people in the world -- brother don. he was one of the people that laura taught on her mission and he thinks the world of her. he always tells people about how it was a miracle that laura left california to go to ohio to find him and teach him about the church.
brother don loves the church, loves the missionaries, and is a great example. it was great to see him even though his health is starting to fail.
wednesday night we stayed at a bed and breakfast near kirtland, which was a huge upgrade from the days inn that we'd been at previously. we had the biggest and most amazing breakfast that we've ever had -- it was a four or five course meal that we'd definitely go back for. it was a nice note to end our ohio portion of the trip on.
although we had a great time in ohio, we were also excited to see laura's family in california. we got to see emily's soccer team play and she is an awesome defender for the "orange crush!" austin told her he'd bring his soccer cleats out at christmas so they could practice together.
laura was happy to be with her mom and sisters (and the boys too, but this was a girls only picture) for a great weekend for the family. since we're in utah and mary and chase are in san francisco, it was good to have everyone together.
david looked super sharp in his suit. almost looks like he's ready to go out and do the baptizing as a missionary!
david and older brother perry in white before the baptism.
we were really glad we could be there for david and his special day.
austin flew home to utah on sunday, but laura stayed through thursday to be with family and help her mom, emily, and david watch our niece livia while her parents went on a cruise.
livia might be the next maria sharapova (or whoever the current tennis star is) -- she definitely wanted to be part of the game when the family went to go play tennis.
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we had a great vacation. that's an understatement, but photos and brief descriptions don't do it justice, so you'll just have to take our word for it. ohio was great and it was fun to be able to share a piece of laura's mission together. california was great as well and we always love being with family. we're excited to be there again soon for christmas.
3 comments:
What a fun trip! That's so neat you got to go back to where you served, Laura. :) Hope you're both doing well!
What a trip you had - better still "trips". I'm so glad you were able to go to your mission area. I wish you could have been my guide. I think the kind of vehicle I would like to vote for is called "Schwinn".
those pictures are all so amazing - so your trip must have been AMAZING! I've got some envy. I love all of the buildings architecture & the trees and all of your stops. I vote this is a soon to be family reunion stop on a church history tour :)
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