We started out after Emily's doctor's appointment on Thursday and arrived in Lancaster in time to see Kyle's baseball game. He nailed one into the outfield and made several great defensive plays as he helped lead his team to victory. Marie was content to have her friends pull her around on the grass as she sat on a blanket. We spent the evening with the Pennsylvania Turners and some of their friends from their time at Edwards. As usual Emily and I lost at compatibility.
On Friday we headed out on the second leg of our journey. With a little time to kill we stopped at an Indian trading post in Pennsylvania and the first Tim Hortons we found in upstate New York (Chad was amazed that Tim Hortons existed outside the U.S.).
Melanie had an excellent home-cooked dinner waiting for us upon our arrival in Rochester. We then spent the rest of the evening in Palmyra where we saw the Hill Cumorah, the Sacred Grove, Joseph Smith's frame and log homes, and the Palmyra temple. We were even fortunate enough to get an after hours tour from a senior missionary. We capped the night off with delicious ice cream from the Chill and Grill.
Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to take Aaron to campus so he could get in some solid studying for the boards before heading off with Mel to see Rochester. We started by visiting the local cemetery and seeing the graves of Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglas. Afterwards we found ourselves at Rochester's public market. At the public market we found all sorts of great vegetables and fruits and Chad bought his first cheese for his cheese blog.
Later in the afternoon we picked up Aaron and headed northwest to Niagara Falls. We inched our way over the rainbow bridge and across the border into the Great White North where we spent time observing American Falls and Horseshoe Falls in the scorching sun. After which we ate at a local restaurant (Chad had poutine of course) and searched in vain for spruce beer.
The ride home was full of laughter as we played a game called contact. That evening Chad and Aaron watched the NBA playoffs while Emily and Melanie fell asleep, exhausted from the day's events. Sunday we all went to Church together and then we continued our journey to meet up with Kevin and Ruth in Virginia. Thankfully the Russells were very accommodating as we crashed their memorial day weekend. Chad beat everyone in croquet with Kyle coming in a close second and we all had fun (for the most part) playing disc golf at a park in Fredericksburg. Now Chad wants to find friends here who play disc golf.
And thus it was one final hurrah before Chad's life is consumed with contracts and civil procedure. We're so grateful to live "close" to family and we certainly hope that we'll make plenty of time for more little trips like this over the next few years. And to all of you who don't live within a 13 hour drive of North Carolina just remember that we've got your name on our spare bedroom and air mattress, so come visit anytime!
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