Majestic Maine!

Well, here is the last part of our Boston trip that I never got up. We decided to drive about 90 minutes out of Boston to visit Maine. We just thought, "We can't be that close and not go to Maine!!!!" We had a wonderful little road trip and the scenery was beautiful. You know how you always picture the East Coast looking in your mind? Well, that is how it looks. The quaint, little sea-side towns, the nantucket-style homes, and everything is GREEN!! Beautiful, green grass grows everywhere! No sprinklers needed! It is beautiful.

Once again, I can't get my pictures to move. Sorry.

We decided to visit the Portland Headlight. One of the most photographed lighthouses in the world. It was well worth the drive.




This was a military fort, commissioned by President McKinley in 1899. Pretty cool.

Beautiful lighthouse

Brett enjoying the cool, ocean spray. If we're by the ocean he has to feel it on his skin.

Beautiful Palmyra

Since we were already in Boston, we couldn't be THAT close and not go visit Palmyra. Palmyra is about a 6 hour drive from Boston. So we decided to hop in the Palmyra is the birthplace of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Palmyra is the place where Joseph Smith knelt to ask a question of God. After reading in the Bible, James 1:5, to be exact, he decided he needed wisdom. He needed to know which of the churches, if any, were true. Although many good people believed in Christ and tried to understand and teach His gospel, they did not have the fullness of truth or the priesthood authority to baptize and perform other saving ordinances at that time. They had inherited a state of apostasy, as each generation was influenced by what the previous one passed on, including changes in the doctrines and in ordinances, such as baptism. So Joseph went to a special place. A huge grove of trees, behind his house and knelt to pray. In response to that humble prayer, God and His Son, Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph. Click here for Joseph's own account...in his own words.

I have always wanted to visit the Sacred Grove. So much happened there. The world changed because of what happened there.

We visited the Sacred Grove in late April-- LOOK AT THE TREES!!!! No leaves at all!!! All the pictures depicting the First Vision are full of leafy green trees! It was probably not so when it actually happened-- just in case you were wondering. The Sacred Grove was so incredibly peaceful and serene. We visited late in the afternoon on Friday and then went running through the Grove early Saturday morning.

This is the beautiful Palmyra temple, seen through some trees. The Sacred Grove is about a 5 minute walk from the temple.

Joseph Smith Log home

Inside the Smith home

These four corners on a cross-street in Palmyra all have churches on them. You can see the 4 steeples behind me. This place really was a place of "religious excitement"! What a neat thing!

Alvin Smith's grave





Actual ink stains and splatters on the wall from the printing of the Book of Mormon

Here we are at the Hill Cumorah Visitor's Center. This was a wonderful place. The missionaries here were great. There was a very strong spirit there that we really enjoyed.

Here I am petting the cat the Sister Missionaries have affectionately named, Moroni. He basically 'lives' on the grounds of the monument. He was quite friendly.

I was thrilled for the opportunity to visit Palmyra. All of my life I've heard about these places and pictured them in my mind and seen them in paintings or in movies. As a teenager, I decided to pray about the Book of Mormon; about Joseph Smith and about what he said he saw. I wanted to know for myself. If something like that did indeed happen, wouldn't it be important for me to know? If God and His Son appeared to a boy and gave him instructions and if this boy found a record of a people that lived on the American Continent anciently-- that claims to be another testament of Jesus Christ, wouldn't it be important for me to know about these things? To read them myself? To ask God if they're true? If those things were all true, God would want me to know about them, right? Yes, He would. I gained a testimony that the Book of Mormon is true and that God, our Heavenly Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ, did infact, appear to Joseph Smith. I am grateful for the ability to pray to God and that he answers our prayers.

What a gift is prayer.

If any of you reading this haven't read the Book of Mormon, or wonder about those "nice Mormon neighbors" you have, but know nothing about their beliefs, visit this website. You don't have to take my word for any of this. You can find out for yourself.

BOSTON!!!

Brett's work is so awesome. Each year they'll pay for him to go to a medical conference and I can go along, too! We just pay my flight and food. This year Brett chose to go to Boston. It was so much fun. One of the main reasons it was so much fun was thanks to our good friends, the Holley's. The Holley's were some of our closest friends in the University Village. After graduation, they moved to Boston to go to Harvard for an MBA. They just left Boston to go to Orlando, so we just missed them, but Andrea had a booklet; literally a pamphlet that she sent to me with all the best places to see, best places to eat, best places to go, you name it. If it was great and in Boston, it was on that list! A few locals even asked us where we got our list because it covered pretty much everything! Anyway, that booklet was a gold-mine!! And I am convinced we hit all the best places! So, thanks to the Holley's!! And, if anyone is going to Boston, let me know, because I have something you want!!

One of the funnest parts about our trip was the eating. Seriously. Boston has got some AWESOME restaurants. Among our favorites were:

Figs:
The freshest, most healthy, tastiest pizza I've ever had. So good! The atmosphere was very cool and the food was so yummy. I didn't feel gross or like my arteries were clogged after eating a few slices of this pizza. If any of you have heard of Todd English on the Food Channel, this is one of his restaurants and it was so, so good. I am so glad we went here.

Chili Duck:
This place was great! The main course was pretty comparable to the excellent Thai food I've had here in Utah. Believe it or not, down in Utah county there are a couple of really good, authentic Thai places. We consider ourselves lucky! But the thing that was incredible was the mango sticky rice. OH MY GOODNESS! I ordered our main dish and the mango sticky rice at the same time. I thought the sticky rice was more like a side. Well, when our waitress brought out our food, there was no sticky rice. I thought she must have forgot. As we ate our main dish, we became stuffed and I thought, "Oh well. We're totally full anyway." Then as I thought she was bringing us our check, she brought out the rice. We at least had to taste it, right? IT WAS DIVINE! The whole visit to that restaurant was worth it just for the rice! I am serious. It was that good. (An added bonus--my good friend here know how to make this authentically!!! Can't wait to have it again!)

Mike's Pastry Shop:
This place is famous for it's Cannoli's. I wasn't even sure what a cannoli was before I arrived at the shop, but boy, these guys have so many different varieties! There were so many choices, I had to idea where to start. Plus, EVERYTHING looked so good. I wasn't sure that I wanted to try a cannoli, not knowing if they were really worth the calories, if you know what I mean. They all looked so good! I decided to get the Florentine Cannoli and it was super, super YUM! After trying Brett's, I know with absolute certainty that I made the right choice. Don't get me wrong, his was good. But mine was excellent! I could have eaten one or two more, but I refrained.

Giacomo's:

This, by far, was the crowned-jewel! Where do I start. I wish I could describe these foods to you the way a professional food critic would. The flavors were just so, so incredible. Aaaaahhhh. Yum! I could have eaten at this place every day we were in Boston, for lunch and dinner! IT WAS THAT GOOD! But, it was a totally different kind of restaurant that this Utah girl has ever eaten at. First of all, the restaurant is tiny, tiny! Probably 10 tables that seat 4 each. You sit back to back with your neighbors and don't hardly have room to stretch out! But, the food makes all your worries about claustrophobia go away. 2nd of all, there is a line out side the restaurant of people waiting to be seated. We only had to wait for about 1/2 hour. Apparently, that is pretty good. The food was indescribable. Brett had a pumpkin tortellini and I had a butternut squash ravioli. Just writing about it now is making my mouth water.

The weather in Boston was fabulous-- unseasonably warm for that time of year. In fact, the day we decided to walk around the city, it was 90* with 80% humidity. It was pretty miserable. But, how can you be miserable from the heat when you are surrounded by such history and awesome architecture? We had a wonderful time walking the Freedom Trail. The freedom trail is a trail that is about 3 miles long and winds all through the city of Boston. It really is a trail-- in the middle of the sidewalk is a red-brick road. You follow it and it takes you to 16 historical sites like: the Old North Church (think: Paul Revere and "1 if by land, 2 if by sea"), Paul Revers home, the Battle of Bunker Hill monument and museum, the Old Granary Burial Ground, Boston massacre site and the USS Constitution.

Tower at the Old North Church. Did anyone else learn that song in elementary schoool,

"They saw 2 lanterns in the North Church tower:
Ride, ride!
They knew this was to be the fateful hour:
ride, ride!
He met two regulars face to face
turned about at a lightening pace;
till those men gave up the chase,
it was the ride of Paul Revere."

Inside the Old North Church. The pew's were labeled with names of those who were to sit there.

I was huffing and puffing up all those stairs and Brett took this picture of me without even looking! He just took the camera right out of his pocket and snapped it! I think he wanted to get a picture of me climbing up all those steps!


Here I am taking a breather at the top of the 295 step, Battle of Bunker Hill monument. It was a total workout getting to the top, but offered a nice breeze and great views of the city!





I loved this quote on this plaque: "Blandishments will not fascinate us, nor will threats of a halter intimidate; for under God, we are determined that wheresoever, whensoever, or howsoever we shall be called on to make our exit, we will die free men." So determined for freedom, at whatever cost.



One thing about Boston: It is the most confusing place to try to get around. Even more confusing than Washington D.C. We even had a GPS and we still got lost a ton! One way roads are everywhere! In fact, they are so common, they put up signs for 2 way streets!!

Another thing is the tolls! We were there for 1 week and paid $75 in tolls! NUTS!





In front of the USS Constitution. The line to get on was sooooo long, and it was soooooo hot, we just couldn't make ourselves do it. Maybe next time we go back.

Here I am standing on Hanover Street-- the Italian part of Boston. This is where a lot of the good restaurants we went to were. It looks, feels and sounds just like you imagine a street in Italy. This picture does not do it justice, it was so fun and actually really pretty.

This is the Prudential Center. It is a HUGE building with offices, condos and a giant shopping mall. We went here several times for some fun shopping. Since we were in Boston over my birthday, Brett gave me money for a shopping spree. It was every girls dream come true! It was one of the funnest birthday's I've had!

This is right outside the mall- so beautiful and green! Lots of green space to rest and relax.


We went to visit Walden Pond. This pond is famous because Henry David Thoreau came here to get away from the world. He build a tiny, little one room house here for $28. He spent 2 years here and loved his time here. It is beautiful and peaceful. A few apostles have mentioned Walden Pond in their conference talks recently. There is a trail all the way around the pond. We really connected here and had some great, insightful talks.

I know, he's a hottie! (Pink backpack and all)


Here is a picture of Thoreau's one-room house. The clean-up would be so easy, right?

Boston was a wonderful experience. It is so nice to get out and just be together, husband and wife. It helps you remember who this person was, you fell in love with. We laughed, cried and were crazy. We stayed up late, slept in, ran together and did funny things. What an opportunity to reconnect and just have so much fun.

A HUGE thank you to my parents and to Brett's mom and dad. They had the kids and of course, they had a wonderful time. We feel so blessed to have family close and family who are willing to help with the children and help us strengthen our marriage. We love you!