Kermit is King: #187 - The bucket list shrinks

Cool thing from the last 24: goodness, how can I count? We went to the Hill Cumorah, The Sacred Grove, Niagara Falls, and slept in a tent for the first time in 10 years (?). Awesome day.

We got up at 4, and left the house by 6. The boys had just woken up, and my brother was going to come by later to pick them up. So we drove away, stopped by the grocery store to get ice and a couple small items, and we drove. And drove. It's a 5 or so hour drive from our house to Palmyra, NY. It also just happens to be about 10 minutes off I-90, which was the road we were going to take from Albany to Niagara Falls.

The woods on the back side of the top of the Hill Cumorah

Katrina ate some cheese curls, and eventually I got hungry and we stopped at Dunkin for a couple breakfast sandwiches for me. And then on we went. We got lunch at Subway and kept driving. At about 11:30, we arrived at what was obviously the site of the Hill Cumorah Pageant. The set was mostly constructed, and we walked around. We went into the visitor center there, and asked the senior missionary if "the" Hill Cumorah was nearby. She said we were standing on it.

There are many things that are oddly significant to Mormons. The Hill Cumorah is one of them. The entire premise of the Latter-Day Saint faith hinges on one idea: if Joseph Smith was a prophet, like Moses, then what we believe is true. If he was not, then it is not. If Joseph was not a prophet, then the Book of Mormon is a fabrication, there was not any modern revelation, and the whole structure of priesthood authority falls apart. The church is still a good social organization, but lacks any unique religious significance except as a very large hoax.

The reconstructed Smith log home

So there is that. It was a hot afternoon, so we drove to the top of the hill (there's a statue of Moroni there, of course), took a few pictures, and drove to Joseph Smith's boyhood home. The log cabin home is reconstructed, but the frame home on the old Smith farm (the church bought it 100 years ago) is still standing, and has been restored. We walked around the barn, the cooper's shed (they made barrels there, who knew?). And then we walked into the Sacred Grove.

Wooden rakes and shovel in the threshing barn

It was a surreal experience. You get a very strong feeling that the Smiths led a very simple life. They farmed, they made barrels to earn the cash they needed to buy other necessities, and that was it. Life did not include vacations or electronics or college or cars or blog posts. You worked only to for food, clothing, and shelter. And on an 80-acre farm, you could provide almost all of that yourself. In such a simple life, what thing would a young man be missing? Maybe only God and girls, I suppose.

We sat on a bench and stared into the woods there, and contemplated the idea that a 14 year-old could want just to know about God to feel his life was complete. And it turned into something so unexpected. How wonderful.

The Sacred Grove. Maybe it was this tree's grandmother
under which Joseph prayed.

We left the site around 1 and continued on our way to Niagara Falls. We found the camp site no problem, did the basic camp set up (there wasn't much for just the 2 of us for 2 nights), took a nap, and left for an evening at the falls. We found parking (free if you are camping at a state park) at Niagara Falls State Park, which was super convenient. We walked around a bit - we saw Horseshoe Falls, the people doing the Cave of the Winds thing, the American Falls, and when the sun was about to set, we went to the Top of the Falls restaurant. Dinner was nice - a fruit and cheese platter for an appetizer, Fish and Chips for Katrina, and a Horseshoe burger for me. The food was decent. It took 2 hours for us to be served and finish our food. Seriously. We left just before the fireworks started. We went down to the Bridal Veil Falls to watch.

The fireworks were cool, and we had a great spot to watch them. When they were over, we went to our car and left the parking lot. Which was easy. We did not travel the 0.25 mile off the island for another hour, however. We got to the car about 10:10, and arrived at the tent at midnight.