We are way in the Christmas Spirit this year.  Fred decided to put lights on the outside.  I think he did a really good job.

After using our tree and decorations for 20 years, we decided to purchase a new one.  We bought the tree last year on an after Christmas sale.  Sara also bought ribbon and bulbs last year.  Liz came and made some bows and I am very excited how it all turned out.  MERRY CHRISTMAS

 

What a great family tradition.  It brings the family togather for a fun time.  Even though you can't see everybody they are all working on their pumpkins.

 

 

 

This is our annual punpkin carving event.  Boy do we have talent.



The kids did a great job at  making the Jack-O-Lanterns.  They had to work hard to keep the parents from doing most of the work.

 

 

SCARY!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 To continue with our Maine trip were at the Penobscot Narrows Bridge in Maine.  Notice the obsevation decks on the left side top.

Its a long way up and quite a view from up there.  You can look across the bay in the river to the place on the water front we stayed and also Fort Knox which played a big role in the War of 1812. 

This is Fort Knox.  It is very large and mostly under ground with very thick walls that protected the Penobscot Narrows. 

The fort had well over a hundred guns like this with sleeping areas, kitchens, water supply, food and anything else they would need. 

We went out to Arcadia National Park to Bar Harbor where we took an ocean

cruise about forth miles out to see the whales but there wasn't any to be seen.  They told us the sightings were low this year and they thought it might have been the early spring.  We did see a lot of other things and animals.

The coast of Maine is beautiful and this is near a blow hole but the sea was to calm but it did make a lot of noise.  

We crossed into New Brunswick Canada at St Stephen Maine and took this picture. 

This is the Saint Johns River.  There is a Falls just upstream from here.  The Bay of Fundy where they have fifty foot tides, the highest in the World we were told is about seven or ten miles down stream. 

When the tide comes in the river flows backwards and the falls disappears.  There are several large lakes a few miles upstream.  High tide was about twelve thirty so we left and passed over this bridge at five thirty and the water was still going upstream just like it was when we left.  I stopped and asked how that could be and they told me the tide was still higher than the river and would continue to flow that way for awhile.  Neat Huh.

We came back into the USA the way we came and crossed across Maine into New Hampshire and then into Vermont then north to Champlain VT and to Montreal in Quebec Canada and through Montreal.  We did not see one word of English while in Quebec.  We went through the middle of Montreal at five thirty in the afternoon with five route changes without out a hitch.  Patsy said lets get out of here and I agread we headed west and crossed into Ontario and five miles later found a camp site at Ottawa.  From there along Lake Huron and then Lake Michigan and crossed over at Sault Ste Marie Canada into Sault Ste Marie Michican.  The Bridge was lit up a night and very beautiful.  We could see Lake Superior so I guess we saw all the Great Lakes from both sides.  We came to Minneapolis Mn and Stayed with Jason and Sarah and Kids a couple of days and then with Jason's family  on to Mount Rushmore where Eli gave us a speech and then home Where Jason and Sarah stayed for a couple of weeks.  We've done a lot of traveling the last couple of years and we can say we live on a beautiful world with lots of great people and were thankful for it. 





Were at Salem, known for the Witches in days gone by.  We went through the museum and learned all about Witches and what happened at Salem long ago. 

We went down to the Sea side at Salem and went out on a warf.  There were a number of people fishing for squid.  After catching them they put them in a bucket of water which turns black from the ink they produce to hide themselfs.

Were in New Hampshire and we went to the White Mountains.  We stayed in a town called Woodstock.  Within a small area of towns there was close to four hundren thousand motor cycles there.  We tented two days with many of them for neihbors.  It was fun to be around them.  I was invited by one of them to his site and we talked most of the night.  It's the same as Sturgis in South Dakota.

Were on top of Mt Washington.  The road begins at eleven hundred feet and in eight miles tops out at sixty two hundred.  The road is very narrow,  hard to pass two cars with only six inches to spare and nothing but straight down if you go there.  You have to go in first gear or you car over heats as several did.  Speed ten miles a hour.   This is a hotel built in the eighteen hundreds.  The mountain has extreme weather and can snow at anytime.  They have  document winds at two hundred and thirty one miles an hour.  Out of over a hundred days a year they have winds over senenty five miles an hour.   

Were above most of the clouds as they pass by.  There is a cog train that comes up here too. This is one of the parking lots here.  Some bikers told me they wouldn't ride their bikes here again as it was so hard on the bikes. 

Our first covered bridge.

This is President George Sr. and Barbara Bush house in Kennebunk Port in Maine.  Nice place.  



This is the famous Portland Head Light, light house.  Beautiful. Tonight were just outside of Bar Harbor Maine.  Were in a Inn on the edge of a large bay off the ocean.  Our room has a view of the harbor.  Neat.   

We in Boston at Fenway Park.  We also saw Boston Celtics stadium.   We drove in down town Boston where we were the only car on the street for two hours trying to find parking.  The streets a narrow, one way, one car wide, most streets have no lane markings so you drive where you want.  Many streets are blocked by taxies, buses, trucks or whatever.  People walk across even very busy multi lane streets anywhere in the block and the cars stop for them.  I followed behind comuter trains, it seems there are no rules.  What an experience. 

This is George Washinton's home in Boston.

Inside the North Chruch where Paul Revere put the lanterns in the steeple to warn the people the British were coming.  There are pews for families on the bottom and others sat in the balcony.  The Preacher stood on a raised platform at the front.  This is looking to the back. 

Old Ironsides is the second sailing ship we've been on this trip.  Quite a fighting vessel she was.  We took an all day tour of Boston.  Fun tour guides they were.  We spent two days here. 

Today were at Plymouth where the Mayflower is and Plymouth Rock where the Pilgrams landed and yes we went on her also.  This ship had a thirty man crew and one hundred and two passengers and all their stuff.  No room left. 

This is a Native Home that the Pilgrams would have seen when they came.  It is made of poles tied together with bark from the cedar trees.  It rained while we were there and it was warm and dry inside.  As many as fifteen family and some extended family would live in a three hole home like this.  Three hole meant they had three fires with three smoke holes in the roof. 

This young lady is sitting on the beds that went all around the house.  They would put many skins and blankets on them to make them soft and warm. 

This is a village of about thirty homes of the first settlers.  These homes are built with square cut lumber.  The sides have posts every five feet and five foot logs are split to make the siding.  In between the posts is a wall of mud.  The chimneys are of mud mixed with straw and covered with wood so they don't wash away.  Very crud they are.  Each home had the people that settled and built them.  They talked with you as if they were the people.  They answered you in the way they would have back then having no knowledge of modern times.  It was neat. 

This is the Peter Whitmer home where the church was organized. They said there were seventy people there that day.  It's a nice home for that time.  It was a good two or three day ride from Palmyra by horse and wagon. 

A small sail boat being lowered in one of the eighty three locks along the 363 miles from Buffalo New York to Albany New York on the Hudson river. This lock raises or lowers fourteen and a half feet.  The original locks were ninty feet long and fifteen feet wide.  The canal was forty feet wide and the long boats were pulled along by a mule or horse walking along the edge pulling the boats at four miles per hour.  The canal cut costs by ninty percent, a great savings.  There is still a lot of trafic both private and comercial.  It took them from 1817 to 1825 to finish the canal. 

The places around Palmra was neat.  Nice to have been there

Were in Boston now.  We drove in the down town area for about two hours.  There are no lines for the lanes and people get in and out of cars in the middle of the streets and people cross anywhere they want and cars stop for them even on high speed roads.  Crazy Mom says.  We drove back west about twenty miles and found a motel.  Were taking a seven hour tour of the city tomorrow.   

I tried hard to find more about Nikola Tesla but this is all I got.  The Statue is in bronze and this side was in the shade so I lighten him to get his features.  You pass by here on your way to the falls.   I got more pictures for later. 



This is part of the Cave Of The Winds.  As you can see it is a down pour of water and very heavy winds and roaring sounds.  I was completly soaked up to my belt front and back. 

This is an old abandoned power plant on the Canadian side.  It was abandoned at the turn of the century because it was falling apart.  there are many of them along the river.   The buildings on the left are all casinos.  We have a lot we can tell you about the city of Niagra Falls when we come back.  We did not cross over yet, since we will be on that side on our way home. 

These are baby Sea Gulls, their mother was a couple of feet from them.  There were a million of them on the way down and you had to walk very carefully not to step on them.  You could touch the chicks and the mothers would let you walk within inches of them without flying. 

Were on our way to the horse shoe falls.  I didn't take any pictures since the mist and rain was so heavy when you get anywhere near the falls.  You actually go so close to the falls your in like a down pour and high winds and you can't see out in any direction and the boat is rocking.  Mon got scared with all that was going on.  We took a tour that lasted a little over five hours.  A great deal with all we got to see and do. 

Makes you kinda want to be there, HUH. 



The plant on the left is Canadian and the right American.  They both have huge tunnels that bring water from the Niagra River to lakes behind the power houses.  They take twenty five percent of the river durring the day and another twenty five percent at night.

The Falls are a beautiful site at night.  You really need to be on the Canadian side to see them best but we really enjoyed them. 



Today the fourth of June we went back to the visitor center at Kirtland and went through an art gallery of penciled drawings of the Savior.  Then off to the Isaac Morley farm.  Next was the John Johnson farm where many events took place.  The picture above is the Johnson home.  It was built about 1835.   It is very large and nice on the inside.  President Hinckley asked that the home be restore to its original and 85% of the home is original.   Everywhere you go here there is history that you have not heard of and the Spirit is strong. 

Yes, were alive and doing well.  Thanks for the concern.  Love Grandma and Grampa

We went to visit the Amish.  First we had a dinner cooked by them which was really good.  I got some fudge and Mom got a cinnamon roll.   This picture is taken at the Walmart parking lot.  There is another rail from the building down as far as the one with the horses.  They even have some covered places for them too.  Its neat to see them on the streets.  We drove out through their farming country.  I saw a older man setting in a lawn chair toward the back of his home so I drove up their drive way and got out and talked with him.  His daughter had a plant nursery next door.  we talked about farming in the old days and how it has changed.  Their homes lack electricity  so we talked about life without such things.  I still remember not having it at home so we talked about the different lamps we used to light our homes.  They were really very nice people. 

Tonight were staying in Austinburg, Ohio and we will be at Niagra Falls next.  Its so green out here and every house has huge yards and there so well kept up.

We had a very nice stay with Becky and her family.  After leaving them we drove up to lake Erie and this is the first light house we saw.  Patsy was so excited to see one and it was not open this weekend but the next so we didn't get to go in it.  The lake is huge and the waves were big as it was quite windy Saturday. 

Across the bay we were at was Cedar Point play area.  we wanted to go and had to drive about twenty five miles to get there and we drove out on a fill to this Island only to find we had to pay twenty dollars just to be there.  They say they have more roller coasters than any other park.  Looks to be true. 

As you can see the wind is blowing.  Sometimes the waves would come over the barrier in back of me. 

Patsy loved this park.  If you were down wind you could smell the roses a mile away.  Nice.

This is the saw mill at Kirtland.  It is amazing what they did with so little. 

We spent some time inside here and learned a lot of what happened here.  What a feeling you get.  They told us so many stories and you really feel the spirit.  We went through the Temple also and learned many things about how they used the Temple.  The people here are really nice and we meant several couples and families that are doing the same trip as ours.  One lady and three kids was doing thirty days just like us.