Of Waterfalls and Castles

New York has some amazing sites! More than I ever knew. And in the last two weeks I have seen some incredible things, both man made and heaven made. On Monday the 21st we headed down to Grimes Glen, at the base of Canandaigua lake.The day started out rainy and wet, but stopped long enough for us to enjoy the waterfalls. This is an amazing hike. First, we headed down the trail, that starts off by this very safe looking bridge.

Eventually we left behind the dirt trail to follow the trail of the Naples creek. We arrived at the first waterfall and climbed up on the rocks. The water was very brisk and the rocks slippery, but we all managed to survive! We continued our hike to the next water fall, where we used ropes to get to the top. The ropes were on right side (the dirt hill) by the waterfall. I did not take my camera up there due to my fear of dropping it in the water. But it was an AMAZING view, and included a natural water slide.Back at the bottom of the waterfall, we enjoyed playing in the water. If you can't tell, the water was FREEZING!!! But soon, it was time to head home. The clouds were starting to get dark, and we did not want to get stuck in a down pour. Holly and I stop to take advantage of a beautiful photo op at the bridge. An-Hoa almost died taking this picture. Thanks for the sacrifice! It turned out beautiful!

This past Monday, July 28th, We headed up to Alexandria Bay to visit 1000 Islands, NY. Yes, this is where the Dressing got its name, and origin. We hopped on a tour boat that took us up the St. Lawrence River (one of the few rivers that runs in a northerly direction). I am taking this picture, thus am not in it, but these are my co-workers that I went with. I took over 60 pictures, so here is a sampling of them.

On the river we passed by the sister lighthouse. I love lighthouses, so I thought I would include this picture. Here there are actually three islands (the sisters) There are over 1000 islands in the st. Lawrence river (thus the name) and in order to be considered a island, they must be above water so many days out of the year (I forgot exactly) and must be 3 sq ft, and be able to sustain 2 trees. This is more then you wanted to know...but I find it fascinating!

After about a forty-five minute river tour, we reach our first stop. Dark Island. It is home of the Singer Castle. (Singer as in the sewing machine). It was incredible! We could only take pictures out side, but inside I found my dream library!

I knocked, but alas, no Prince Charming came out to whisk me away on his white horse. Dang.

Our last stop, Boldt Castle on Heart Island. I did not go inside, but the grounds and the architecture blew me away!Ok, I think I have made this post long enough, so I will sign off! If you are still reading this, Thanks for enduring my longwindedness.

Hill Cumorah Pageant

The craziest time of year in Palmyra comes mid-July. It is the Hill Cumorah Pageant. I am glad that I was here for it...because now I know to never come to Palmyra during the pageant. Don't get me wrong...it was incredible, and I loved it, but the insane number of people that were here, and having to deal with the stressful business side of things...yep....I am done. But I went three times, and got to tour backstage and enjoyed it very much. So...here are some pics for you!

An-Hoa trying on a wig while touring the stage

View from backstage. All the flags are from different countries.

Our FHE Group back stage. They wouldn't let us on stage, so this was a close as we could get.

My good friend Angie Brownie. I haven't seen her in 4 years!

Lehi Preaching

It's hard to get good pictures, but this is the tree of life. See the mist?

Going to the promised land--before the storm.

Waters of mormon

I thought this was an interesting shot. I believe this is the destruction after Christ's death

Christ appears

Random adventures in NY!

Here are more pictures of my experiences in NY! these are from a while back. We went to a Red Wings game on the fourth. If you look closely you can see the stars in the infield. It was a sweet game! We also went go-karting and so these are just a few fun pics from those days!

Kirtland is my home!

A couple weeks ago, my friends here were kind enough to go with me back to my mission. We took a little road trip to Kirtland. It was amazing! the closer we got, the more I excited I became. The sensation of being back there was weird. It felt as if I had never left, but as we went to the sites...I realized I had been gone a long time. I recognized no one, and they did things differently then when I was there. (New site director) But, the spirit was still there. I am impressed...I only cried twice. Once during the kirtland movie, and once in the School of the prophet. We also got to see the "This is Kirtland" play, and that was amazing!

Memory Tag

Tag!Here's the drill (This one's kind of interesting...)1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

5K

Today we ran a 5k. it was...fun I guess --If you call shin splints and almost dying cuz I am out of shape fun...I did actually enjoy it. I took fourth. Emily was behind me from the beginning and I thought about letting her pass me, but every time she got close, my competitive nature kicked in and I took off. And every time I tried walking, my legs started to kill so I had to run. I decided to Race for the Cure of people who are stupid enough to run 5k. All proceeds go to the Emily Teeples fund.

Here are the sweet pics!

Here is An-Hoa, Holly and I getting ready to run. The signs that you can't realy read say. "The P.I. (for palmra Inn) 5K Race for the....insert cause here." then my number is 0005, becuase five is the coolest number (I am the fifth child). Half of our shirts were white, the other half gray.

I moved my key for the first picture...then didn't realize that it is hanging down my back. My shirt says what it does "Rachel the Rachel" because of two reasons: 1) I didn't know what else to say. 2) since there are two Rachels that work at the P.I. I want to be clear on who was the original Rachel.

If you look really close, you can see an orange shirt in this picture. Thats how far the first three racers were ahead of me. oh well...it was just for fun anyway!

Here we are at the end...yes I do know that I look like I am about to die. But I made it! My first 5k (and probably my last. Sorry Meredith--I think I'll leave the marathon running up to you!)

Ok...here is the video of the fireflies. Its not very good. You can't get the full effect, but I added it anyway. I also wanted to add the pictures of the beach and other stuff we have been doing. Herea re a couple of pictures of the light house and the beach coast.

It was a fun and we got lots of sun.

Happy 4th!

Ahh...its July Forth . A day of fireworks, barbeque's, picnics, hiking and fun. I LOVE the 4th! it has to be one of my favorite holidays. Not because I am patriotic--I am OVERLY patriotic!) What can I say--I am a history nerd. I love to remember the founding fathers and all that they gave up to establish this great nation. I love that I love the holiday so much that I am blogging about it! My Country tis of thee--of thee I sing!






But what I really love about this holiday is what it represents to me personally--family time. Some of my favorite summertime memories as a child revolve around the forth. We never did anything huge for the forth...but I remember in the old house siting on the porch or the back of the truck watching the fireworks (I also remember that I had my ears covered most of the night). My favorite memory is taking the sister missionaries to harpers corner. I still remember dad saying "Close your eyes sisters" as we briefly crossed into Utah. So here's to the forth of july...and to my family! God Bless America!