New York Day 10

There were a few more stops that we need to make in the Palmyra area before we moved on to Cooperstown. The first was the Hill Cumorah. Only Mom had visited this site, and she'd driven to the top of the hill and looked at a monument. We stopped at the Visitor Center and learned about Moroni and the history of the plates. Then we climbed the hill to see the monument. Dax said this was his favorite Church History site. It was certainly beautiful.

It has been amazing visiting all of the Church History spots.

We walked up the hill to the monument. Dax loved it!

Seth wasn't happy about the hike, but he did smile for one picture.

The monument is the same as when Mom visited, but they have taken out the road.

After Hill Cumorah, we drove down to Fayette to the home of the Whitmers. This is a less visited site, and we figured out the reason. It is way out in the country. The site was really large, but we only saw a bit of it. You go into the Visitor Center and watch a few short videos. Then you walk through a replica of the home where the Church was organized. This was a really powerful site. We wished we could have seen where baptisms were performed on the property, but the boys loved the interactive games in the Visitor Center like herding sheep, plowing land, and collecting eggs from the hens.

The Whitmer site has large buildings.

We loved learning the history of the Whitmers and their faith.

We had a long drive into Cooperstown from Fayette. This was made worse by a detour. We ended up on some smaller, rural roads. At one point, the maps sent us on a one lane muddy lane that hit a dead end at a small river. We had to back track and find a new route. At least we could laugh about it! Finally, we made it into the house at Cooperstown and settled in. There was no laundry like we'd expected, but it had room for us and was clean and pleasant in the countryside.

Our little home was perfect for our Cooperstown stay.

Dax's team had these large heads made for us to cheer for him!

Our last task was to get Dax checked in and say goodbye. He is staying at the barracks all week. He will have meals, nights, and days with his team. This is Dax's first time away, and he is doing great with it, if his team would just let him sleep!

We are all excited to see what Cooperstown is all about.

Dax can't wait to stay with his team! And he REALLY loves these bucket hats (ok, he hates them).