In celebration of the 177th LDS Semiannual General Conference beginning today, I thought I'd finally do my planned post of our trip to Palmyra, NY (not to be confused with the original Palmyra, which would probably be just as cool to visit). For any of you who are unfamiliar with the history regarding this little town in rural western New York, here's a little background.

Our first stop was the Hill Cumorah. As usual, the LDS Church has gone to great lengths to keep the place clean and beautiful - lots of flowers, little park areas all over, etc... The Moroni monument and the surrounding area even looks/feels a lot like BYU and the Visitors Center has the nicest sister missionaries and what are no doubt the most immaculate restrooms in the county. They've also cleared out the trees from a portion of the hill so you can look over the town. Here's a little vid:



Next, we stopped by the Sacred Grove and took a nice stroll with the sunset shining between the trees. Not much to say about the grove other than that it is especially peaceful (even with a hyper little boy running through it). It is much like I always imagined it as a kid sitting in Sunday School.

Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time (we got there in early evening near the boys' bedtime) to really sink our teeth into everything there, so other than the above sites, all we got in was a drive-by of the little Palmyra Temple. It was a nice trip though and something that we've always wanted to see, but never expected to have the chance. At some point we'll head a little ways in the other direction to Kirtland, OH.