For two years we lived in a house that was 1 mile from the Washington DC Temple. It wasn't until we'd been there for months that we discovered we could see the temple from our house (it was at the top of a little hill). Just from a couple windows, but it was a very exciting discovery. Plus, the church building where our ward met was next to the temple, so it was very much a part of my children's lives. They closed the temple for updates and renovations before we left Maryland in 2018, but I determined then that we would return for the open house. The open house was postponed (like so many other things) because of Covid, but when they announced the dates last year, I was excited that there was about 1 week between the kid's last day of school and the last day of the open house (it actually ended up being a 2 week window because they extended to allow more time).
And so began my trip planning. Roughly, though, because Jonathan's time off wasn't approved until literally less than a week before we left. 😤
Tuesday, May 31st:
We dropped Yoshi off (oh...we got a dog. That's a whole 'nother story) with the Rover sitter and set out for Frederick, Maryland. Traffic was great, weather was beautiful, and we arrived at our hotel early enough to take advantage of the huge outdoor pool. We basically had it all to ourselves which was awesome.
(We crossed state lines for Ohio, West Virginia, & Maryland, but this was the only one I got. Oops)
Wednesday, June 1st
We got up nice and early and headed to the temple open house. It was just under an hour and traffic wasn't great. Reminded me of all the reasons I hope we never have to move back. Twenty minutes from the temple Baylor threw up (thank goodness for barf bags in the van and children old enough to tell us their tummy doesn't feel good). We determined it was the yogurt she had for breakfast because she felt fine after. As a precaution we had her wear a mask at the open house, but she really was fine after that.
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVED being in the temple with the kids. After we saw the assembly room on the top floor you're supposed to exit, but Rylee asked if we could go back to the Celestial room. When your 10-year-old daughter asks that...you go back. And gladly! The first time we had gone through there, it was pretty crowded and the little plastic booties everyone was wearing were a little loud. The second time, we must have hit right between 2 groups because it cleared out (aside from 2 ushers) and it was just us. It was as quiet as when we go after a normal session and truly felt heavenly to be there with my kids. I was so glad that Rylee had asked to go back. 💗
I've loved seeing so many of my friends on facebook who have posted about their trips to DC for the open house. They usually include sight seeing and other touristy things. We had initially planned on going to see the monuments after the open house, but it was so dang hot we determined we had seen them enough when we lived there and skipped any and all touristy things. 🤷 Instead, we went to Cafe Rio in Falls Church for lunch. When Jonathan was doing his training stuff for 9 weeks (again...another story), he was staying in a hotel in Virginia and several Sundays he ate dinner with a family in the ward there (The Dews), so we met them for lunch at Cafe Rio. Fun to meet them after messaging Amanda many times, but I was lame and didn't get a single picture. Then we headed back to Frederick. lol The idea was that we could swim in the pool all afternoon instead, but after the kids got their swimsuits on, we looked out the window at the pool and saw that it was literally green. I called the front desk and asked about it and they said the pool was closed for state testing and they didn't know how long it would be. Seriously?? So the kids watched tv for 2 hours before we finally got to go down to swim.
The kids wanted to have a belly flop contest. Always great entertainment. This was just the practice round.
Corben was the winner. This picture isn't great, but he had the red belly to show for it. 😂
Thursday, June 2nd
The next day, we slept in (this was MAGICAL for me. I'm usually a night owl and have kids who -for the most part- do not disturb me in the mornings, but ever since we got the dog I'm up before 6:30. This was the first day I hadn't set an alarm or been woken up by the dog in months!!!) After breakfast we headed north to Emily and Dan's. On the way we saw a sign for Gettysburg and quite spontaneously decided to stop. (We are normally 'road warriors' who RARELY make stops for anything other than a gas fill up). I had in my mind that it would be a big field that you could stop to look at and maybe read a plaque or two and the be on our way again. I was so wrong. lol We didn't see any fields, but we did visit the big Visitor's Center because that was free and 'quick.' Everything else would have taken 1-2 hours at least AND cost money, so it just wasn't in the cards. The Visitor's Center did have a good bit of interesting stuff, though. Oh, and I did get the state sign on the way. 👊
We left there and about an hour from Emily & Dan's the weather took a major nose-dive. I made several attempts at a New York state sign, but this was the best one. Incidentally, about 30 minutes before this picture, Jonathan asked, "Are we in New Jersey???" So I looked at my Find Friends app and sure enough...yep, we were in Jersey. I guess with the rain and traffic we just totally missed that. 😂
*Note the green blanket in the back. That would be Rylee. She is very afraid of storms.
We arrived at Emily & Dan's and hung out for the evening and went to some of Caitlyn & Andrew's ball games. The weather was lovely and the ball fields are just a short walk from their house.
Friday, June 2nd
Emily took us to the city on what I like to call "The Milton Tour." We actually took this tour the first time back in 2014. We were still living in SC, Baylor was no where near born, and we carried Corben and Rylee around the city. (Which was probably easier than having 3 walking kids 😅) I'll include some then and now pictures, too.
First stop...Manhattan Temple
Then:
Now:
*Special thanks to Emily for laying on the ground to take this picture for us!*
Next stop: a small corner of Central Park where the kids loved climbing on this rock.
From 2014 in Central Park with Emily & Eric:
Next, on to Times Square
Then:
Now:
Proof that Emily was there, too. ; )
From there we took the subway to Freedom Tower and the 9/11 Memorial.
Subway then:
Subway now:
Rylee really liked the story of the survivor tree at the 9/11 Memorial...I did not get a picture of the tree. Oops.
They put a rose on the names of people who have birthdays that week? day?
From there we walked to the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. This is my favorite part of the tour.
Then:
Now:
At this point in the tour, Emily usually takes people by the Wall Street Bull and Fearless girl, but my kids were D.O.N.E., so we headed back to the van instead. Fun day in the city! The weather was lovely; could have been so much worse if it was hotter! We appreciate Emily taking us around and giving us a taste of the city. And driving in the city. 😅 As Rylee put it half-way through the day, "This is not the place for me."
Saturday, June 4th
We mostly just hung out at the house with the Miltons. I did take a walk with Rylee & Baylor down to the corner gas station where they had .99 drinks. Found some BIG leaves on the way back and some really pretty flowers! (Corben got a drink, too, but he rode a scooter down with Eric & Andrew)
That evening we went to a little trail about 10 minutes from their house. The trail was just a 5 minute (or less) walk to Mineral Springs waterfall that the kids had a fun time playing in.
Sunday, June 5th
We went to church, grilled burgers for dinner, played games, and ate delicious Tillamook ice cream. Our lives have changed and we have bought 6 things of Tillamook ice cream since we came home. Creamiest ice cream ever! And I didn't take a single picture. I need to do much better at taking pictures.
Monday, June 6th
We departed relatively early and our first stop was after about a 3 1/2 hour drive to
Watkins Glen State Park. Such a cool hiking trail! It's mostly 'paved' and included 19 waterfalls in the gorge. 1 1/2 miles each way; a lovely hike. We had debated making the stop and I'm glad we did.
The drive there was so pretty!
I guess she wasn't feeling great, but she never actually threw up.
Picture overload...and I took so many more than what's posted. It was so amazing!
There were A LOT of stairs (I believe the website said 834 steps), but it didn't seem so bad because of the view and enough straight aways.
A few little tunnels to walk through.
The nice thing was that it was all downhill on the way back!
From Watkins Glen we went to Palmyra (about an hour of back roads).
Another really pretty drive, including along the Seneca Lake (one of the finger lakes).
I went to Palmyra back in Fall of 2001, so it's been a minute since I've been. This was Jonathan's first time going there. I'm not sure he really 'enjoyed' it because his allergies were HORRIBLE.
First stop was Joseph Smith log cabin, frame home, and Sacred Grove.
The cabin has been completely rebuilt on the original foundation, so none of what you actually see was there when the Smiths lived there.
Would have been the room where the Angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith.
Palmyra Temple
This was the frame home itself, which I believe was about 85% original? The movie The Fighting Preacher was also filmed here.
Sacred Grove
Hill Cumorah. I have ZERO recollection of going to the top of this hill when I came back in 2001; only being at the top.
From Palmyra we had just under a 2 hour drive to Niagara Falls. Not long before we got to Niagara it started raining and pretty much didn't stop until the next day when we left. Total bummer.
Crossed several cool bridges.
We stayed in a hotel that was literally across the street from Niagara Falls State Park. And Jonathan had enough perks from his Hyatt status that we didn't have to pay for parking at the hotel (or the hotel itself for that matter), so it was an awesome deal and awesome set up. If only it wasn't for the rain. View from our hotel window. That's the mist from the falls and the buildings through the mist are Canada.
Tuesday, June 7th
Our plan at Niagara was to do the Maid of the Mist. I did this back in 2001 (although from the Canada side), but Jonathan had never done it. It's one where they 'give' you a poncho to stay dry when the boat gets up close to the falls. We were pretty wet and miserable before we even got the poncho. And technically it's only a .3 mile walk from our hotel to the Maid of the Mist, but you can see that they are doing construction behind us and had the path blocked off so we had to detour and it was .6 miles instead. Not reallly a big deal...unless it's raining. Oh, well. We made LOTS of memories. lol
Waiting to get on the boat.The guy on the elevator said this was the first day this year that it has just continuously rained (as opposed to a few showers here or there). Lucky us.
It was seriously so rainy and windy.
Kids trying to hide under the cover of the railing. I had to keep telling them, "We paid a lot for you to experience this! Now get up and experience it!" lol
Another perk of Jonathan's status was that we had free late check out, so we could stay until 2:00. Convenient so we could come back to the hotel and try and dry out our clothes some with the hair dryers before we left.
From there we had about a 2 hour drive to Erie, PA where we just stayed for the night. We didn't have anything else we were doing, so we spent a good amount of time at the pool.
Wednesday, June 8th
Our last day was about an hour drive to Kirtland, OH to see the temple and Newel K Whitney store. When I went there back in 2001 we did a tour of the temple and the store. I had no idea so much had been added at the church-owned site. The temple tour was $10 a person (Baylor would have been free) because it's owned by the Community of Christ church, so we settled on pictures outside and going in their free museum.
This is the Whitney home across the street from the Newel K Whitney store (I did not see this in 2001). Joseph and Emma lived here for awhile when they came to Kirtland.
While most of the items in the home are just period items, it is believed that the chair in this picture was there when Joseph and Emma lived in that room. Isn't that so cool to think about??
Inside of the Newel K. Whitney Store
Upper room at the store. This table (not the chairs) is also believed to have been there when the Smiths lived there.
Ashery and Sawmill (also not there in 2001). This was pretty cool to learn about. Was a major source of income to help pay for the temple.
The sister missionaries giving the tour recommended the Kirtland Creamery right of the street for ice cream. Me and Jonathan got paninis first, but the kids were not disappointed to have these 'small' cones for lunch. lol Someone ordered a large while we were there and it was HUGE!
I had thought we'd only be in Kirtland for about an hour and then home by 4:00 ish. However, all the Kirtland sites took longer (more like 2 hours) and then we ate lunch...didn't leave until closer to 2:00. The 4 hour drive home turned into 5 because the weather was HORRIBLE. They cancelled Activity Days at the church that night because of a tornado watch was in affect all evening. And were supposed to pick up Yoshi around 8:00, but ended up being 9:00 because there was a tree down blocking the road to get him and their power was all out. Our lights were flickering a good bit when we got home, but thankfully never lost power like so many others did that night.
Home again, home again...
Random Tidbits:
Gas $422.72
Cheapest: Rochester, NY $ 4.49/gallon
Most Expensive: Erie, PA $4.99/gallon
Sams - KY, Exxon - MD, Costco - MD, Cumberland Farms - NY, Cumberland Farms - NY, Costco, GetGo - PA, Costco - KY
I have a feeling the gas total would have been a lot more if we hadn't been able to fill up at Sams/Costco.
Miles: 1,890 (give or take; I tried to map it out on Roadtripper and added in every gas/food stop, but I regret that I did not check the mileage before and after for a more exact number)
Places we stayed:
Hampton Inn (2 nights) - Frederick, MD
Milton's House (4 nights) - Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY
Hyatt (1 night) - Niagara Falls, NY
Springhill Suites (1 night) - Erie, PA
Jonathan has accumulated enough hotel points from his work travels that we only paid $4.62 for the hotel in Maryland and the other 2 hotels were free.
Places we ate:
Cracker Barrel (Frederick, MD)
Cafe Rio (Falls Church, VA)
Costco (Frederick, MD)
Krispy Kreme/Cafe Rio (dessert only - Frederick, MD)
McDonalds (NYC)
.99 Pizza (NYC)
Taco Bell (Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY)
Kanda House Thai Kitchen (Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY)
Milton's house (Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY)
Burger King (Watkins Glen, NY)
Costco (Rochester, NY)
Burger King (Hamburg, PA)
Texas Roadhouse (Erie, PA)
Krispy Kreme (Erie, PA)
Kirtland Creamery (Kirtland, OH)
Total spent on food (not counting snack food we brought for the car): $331.32
We've always been a big fan of Wendy's, but discovered on this trip that we like Burger King better AND the burger with bacon on it (for kids) is cheaper than a Junior Bacon Cheeseburger. So there you go.
Also, we do not have a Krispy Kreme near us in Kentucky, so we were really excited that the start and end of our trip were convenient to Krispy Kreme. lol
Total spent on Souvenirs/Experiences: $221.30
*Niagara Maid of the Mist, magnets, Watkins Glen parking, a few key chains for Rylee, and a few penny presses for Corben
GRAND TOTAL: $979.96
Special shout out to Mom who let us borrow her EZPass and said we didn't have to pay her back. EZPass had $18.49 on it; largest toll was the bridge going to NYC. If I included that then the grand total would be $998.45
Also...I suppose I need to include the cost of boarding the dog while we were gone (less painful since we didn't really have to pay for the hotels): $273.05
ACTUAL GRAND TOTAL: $1,253.04