Church History & Family

We made the short trip to our new campground in Phelps, NY near all the church history sites and Rochester where my niece, Emily, and her husband, Wade, live and where I served my mission.  We had to get camped quickly and take David to the airport for his brief trip back to Richland.  Our trailer power issue gave us some trouble and I was worried we wouldn’t make it but we experienced some miracles and we got him to the airport in time.  Then I relaxed and we had a very enjoyable dinner at Dogtown (a great hot dog place) with Emily, Wade, Liz (wife of my nephew Seth who is in his residency in Buffalo), her adorable boys ages 3 and 7 months, and my nephew, Colin, who is Myra & Will’s age.  My hot dog and sweet potato fries were excellent.  The meal didn’t last long as I had to get Myra, Will, and Colin to the Palmyra temple for a baptism session.  Zina and I walked around the temple and then went to get gas while the kids were in the temple.  After the temple I wanted to take the kids through Newark, NY, my last area of service in my mission.  I think I remembered in general where I lived.  Then we drove up to Sodus Point, a scenic part of my last area that is right on Lake Ontario and has a lighthouse.  The kids wanted to play but it was sunset.  We took a couple of pictures and headed back to camp.  We had arranged to keep Colin with us for the time David was in Washington.  

Wednesday we headed out to see the Whitmer Farm, the Grandin Building, the Joseph Smith Farm & Sacred Grove.  In the evening we had a mobile RV tech come to check our power issue.  He didn’t get the issue solved but he made some progress that hopefully we can pursue.

Thursday we visited the Hill Cumorah.  It is a great exhibit.  Myra, Will and Colin climbed up to the monument but Zina and I gave up when I saw two huge mosquitos on her legs within two minutes of leaving the visitor’s center.  After our Hill Cumorah visit we got the trailer packed up (a huge relief to me that I got the trailer back on the truck) and headed to Buffalo.  Liz met us at the new campground.  We got the new camp set up with relative ease and headed to the swimming pool.  Liz and I just gabbed while the kids swam.  After swimming we headed into Buffalo to get some dinner at Anderson’s custard.  We all enjoyed a very traditional Buffalo meal of beef on wek and frozen custard.  So fun to be with Liz and her adorable children!

Friday we met Liz and kids at their house and headed to Niagara Falls.  Liz knew all the tricks and we were prepared for the border crossing with a letter from David saying I could cross the border with the kids.  We took the scenic route on the Canadian side of the Niagara River.  Then we parked and walked to see the falls.  They really are spectacular though it seemed extra misty.  We ate at a restaurant overlooking the falls.  Then we made a visit to the Power Museum that is not only a great museum but includes a tunnel that used to discharge the water after the power generation.  It had been turned into a way to get to the bottom of the falls for tourists!  We really enjoyed both the museum and our view of the falls from the base.  We returned to Liz’s house, a really spacious 2nd floor apartment in the classic old Buffalo downtown homes.  The homes are beautiful.  I loved Seth & Liz’s apartment.  We made ourselves a stir-fry for dinner that turned out really deliciously.  I had to do all our laundry at a local laundromat.  Colin and Myra helped me fold it all and we managed to get back to camp by 10pm.  The celebration of Keith’s life was scheduled that evening and my thoughts were with David and his family that evening.  I had to go to bed before finding out how the evening went.  

I should probably take a moment to give a small report of David’s trip.  The heroes of David’s trip were my sister, Cecily, and her husband, Ed.  They were returning from Europe, arriving just an hour before David to arrive in Spokane.  Even though they were so tired they waited for  David’s delayed flight and they drove him to Pullman on their way home to Moscow.  David stayed at our house for a couple of nights, enjoying the company of the kitties and taking care of some household tasks.  This trip home allowed him to use the car we left in Pullman for his transportation.  On Thursday he headed to Richland to visit with family and help with whatever he could.  The celebration of life was a small, private celebration in Keith’s backyard.  The five surviving siblings were all able to attend along with Keith’s widow, Michelle and their children.  Michelle’s brother and parents were also there along with Keith’s best friend, Bill Niemuth.  I was very anxious about how the gathering went and was excited to get a report.  David said it was wonderful and everything that had been hoped for.  They spent the evening sharing stories, laughing and crying together.  Saturday morning David took the car back to Pullman where Ed met him to take him to the airport in Spokane.  His flight out of Denver was delayed so it didn’t get in until 12:20am Sunday morning but I was glad to grab him at the Buffalo airport and head back to camp.

Meanwhile our Saturday morning was spent getting things in order in the trailer.  In the afternoon Seth and Liz and boys came out to our campground to swim in the pool.  In the evening Wade & Emily arrived to enjoy Saturday evening and Sunday with Seth and Liz so we had a great family party with Pizza & Wings for dinner followed by a walk to a very impressive ice cream shop nearby.  We left Colin with Seth and Liz so we would have room in the trailer when David returned.  

It was VERY hard to get up on Sunday morning but we were only 7 minutes late for church in the Amherst Ward in Buffalo, my 2nd to last mission area where I spent 6 months.  I met a lady who had been in the ward when I was there 38 years ago and though I didn’t remember her well and she didn’t remember me we enjoyed talking about the people I did remember.  After church I impressed myself by being able to drive to the house where I lived there.  The kids and David were patient while I shared memories.  Then we headed to Liz & Seth’s again to eat leftover pizza and have a nap.  Liam took out Will’s shirt and tie with a big spit up, a new experience for Will!  Liz made a fabulous Greek dinner for all of us, and she had me make a peach crisp for dessert.  A lot of food disappeared.  After dinner all the guests headed home to leave Seth & Liz in peace.  Liz, Colin, and the little guys have booked a place near us in Kirtland and so we will get to enjoy a couple more days with them.