The great Lundberg Adventure

The Great Lundberg Adventure is in full swing! We are running at a frenetic pace and cramming it all in to this once in a lifetime trip.
Our plane was delayed on Thursday so our arrival into Buffalo was several hours late. We survived the airport by indulging in Chicago hot dogs, potato cakes and Ben and Jerry milkshakes. Tony and I spent the better part of two hours on the phone arguing with hotel reservation people. Watching Tony drink his milkshake, Cooper commented, "Dad is drinking his milkshake angrily!" It stuck. Now when someone gets worked up, we offer them an "angry milkshake." Our delay did make for ideal traffic conditions upon our arrival and we quickly crossed the border into Canada at about 2:00 am.
Friday morning we headed straight for Niagara Falls and enjoyed the amazing view, cool mist and pretty parks. I was glad to be on the Canadian side and would have loved more time to do some hikes. We couldn't help compare the Falls to our own beautiful Palouse version, which we are very partial to.

From Buffalo we drove to Palmyra. We grabbed a pizza lunch and then visited the Grandin press where the first Book of Mormon was published. The spirit was very strong in that building and it was amazing to see how much work and sacrifice went into making that book. I appreciated the missionaries challenging us not to take this scripture for granted. Our next stop was the Smith farm. Our guide told us about the Beans, a couple who lived at the Smith farm to take care of it, as a sort of mission. The Beans made an incredible difference in their town, by maintaining their values and by participating in their community. I thought they were a great example of what I want to be. We had a fantastic New York thunderstorm and our walk through the sacred grove was a little damp. The Sacred Grove was peaceful and calm and reminiscent of all the other beautiful places I have been all over the world. It reminds me that sacred grove experiences are possible when I ask a question and wait for the Lord to reveal himself to me. The kids liked seeing all the places Joseph Smith hid the plates from the people who ironically did not believe he had them.
After briefly visiting the Hill Cumorah we started our rainy drive through lush upstate NewYork. We stopped at the famous Dyno BBQ and had our first ever fried green tomatoes.  The wings and ribs were the best we had ever had.  I was glad we were eating the messy stuff in a rental car!  We had one of our most exiting moments as we raced the clock to return our rental car on Manhattan Island by 11:00. We drove through Times Square and 5th Avenue with all the bright lights and hoards of people as aggressively as a NY cabdriver. We pulled into the garage at exactly 10:59 and Tony had to nearly run the rental employee down yelling, "its 10:59!" It was an exciting entrance to New York City. I loved walking through the city at midnight and feeling all the energy.

We slept well that night in our hotel on 5th Ave and were up early to catch our ferry to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis island. The statue of Liberty is beautiful and it was fun to learn how it was made. I should have recognized that the engineer who designed the iron framework, also designed the Eifel Tower. Our crowd tolerance" was low and we were back on the island for lunch (official New York Cheesecake and Cannoli) a walk down Wall street and a view of the 9/11 sites. We thought we were going to see the 9/11 museum, but the lines were oppressive and they just changed the policy for no appointments. One of the games we played while waiting in lines was, "try to find someone with feet bigger than Cooper's." It is a hard game. Nobody ever could win. We ended our Manhattan Island tour on a water taxi that took us all around the harbor, the Brooklyn Bridge, past Governors Island and back up to our hotel. We would all highly recommend this relaxing tour as the best way to see the views. We collapsed for a couple of hours, did a little shopping for "i ❤️ NY" tshirts and rested before the big play.
Les Mis on Broadway at the Imperial theatre was a very cool experience. The actors seemed so close, the live music made a difference and the scenery was my favorite yet. It was a long play for little Marcos and he did OK until his mosquito bites started itching and brought him to tears. Cooper also got a touch of food poisoning and ended up puking in the bathroom. Later that night over icecream and soda in the hotel room we talked about lessons we learned from the play. Wilson liked the focus on mercy. Cooper thought that Jean Valjean represented the Savior, because he saved people with his compassion. I was really touched this time by the lesson that we cannot allow others control over us, that we must learn to react not be reacted upon. Eliza liked the part when the Bishop extends kindness and changes a person's life. Tony pretty much cried through the whole thing.
We were up early in our church clothes this morning to catch our train to DC. The train station was a confusing mess and this beautiful woman saw us looking frazzled. She led us on a private elevator and got us all situated at comfy tables. Train travel is brilliant, once you get on. We had a relaxing bagel breakfast and the kids are sleeping happily.
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