Packer Family Reunion

Well we returned in one piece from the Packer family reunion and I must say we had a blast. Since it was such a long trip I am going to section off the reunion into parts (Michigan, Kirtland, Niagra Falls, Palmyra, NYC).

ALL the pictures can be viewed at http://picasaweb.google.com/Catalyst81.

MICHIGAN

We started the reunion by arriving somewhat early. We took a red eye flight into Michigan. It was the worst flying experience I have ever had! Needless to say it took everyone a while to recover from the red eye and adjust to the new time zone. I was stuck in the middle seat and I couldn't sleep at all!!! The reason we flew into Michigan was to take a look at some cool apartment rental properties that John is investing in. Before getting to the rental property we had breakfast at Big Boy. Talk about greasy food! The hot chocolate was amazing though. The rental property was way cool! First off everything over there is green. REALLY green! Also, the property is set up next to a lake. These people have a lake right next door to their apartments! We were able to take a little boat ride on the lake. The lake was first created by Ford. It was dammed up to create energy. While taking our lake tour we even saw one of Henry Ford's old homes that he stayed in. That was pretty cool. There is an island in the middle of the lake where people camp at and every Thursday night people in the township boat to the island and roast marshmellows together!

KIRTLAND

Kirtland was a lot of fun. We were able to take a lot of tours. We took a tour through the temple which is still not currently owned by the church. The RLDS church has done a great job of preserving the temple though. If the Lord wanted our church to have the temple, he would give it to us. So, for now, they are great stewards over it. It was a great spiritual experience being in that temple. It was interesting because we visited the temple a few times. Before we toured the inside it was just a beautiful building to looks at. But, after visiting the inside and feeling the spirit, it became much more meaningful and we looked at it in a different light. We also toured sites the Whitney store where the School of the Prophets occurred. It was there that revelation was given about the Word of Wisdom. We also saw the Morely farm, a mill, and we visited the Quarry where stone was taken for the temple.

One activity that was particularly cool was we had lunch hosted by some Amish people. We drove out to Amish country and they made us a big lunch. It consisted of bread, chicken, pie, mashed potatoes, and corn. It was great! They told us that it was a typical meal served at a wedding. They took some of the kids on a pony ride with a Shetland pony and a buggy. I learned that all Amish speak a form of German in their households and then they are taught English in school. They don't use electricity in their houses but they do for work. They don't drive cars but they can be driven by others. They are very interesting people. They kids love sports and we threw a football around with some of the boys after eating.

Another very cool thing that happened in Kirtland is that Nate received his mission call. He will be serving in the Everett Washington mission. Nate was actually born in this area of Washington so it will be a very cool experience for him. Go Nate!

NIAGRA FALLS

We visited Niagra Falls right after leaving Kirtland on our way to Palmyra. It was very cool. It is basically just a big waterfall. For some reason I was expecting it to be bigger, but it was still really amazing. There are like 3-4 different falls. If you're feeling adventurous you are able to get a raincoat and go to the bottom of the falls. It was really cool at night because they have huge spotlights on the Canada side that they turn on at night and they shine on the falls making the water look really amazing. We lucked out and for some reason they had a fireworks show at night when we were there. It was a short but fun visit.

PALMYRA

Palmyra was very cool. When we got into town the first thing we did was drive over by the temple. We didn't get a great look at it and I wish we had gone back to it. After doing that drive-by we headed straight for the sacred grove. I was very excited about this part of our trip. When you get there, the first take you on a tour of where the log cabin was built that Joseph Smith and his family lived in and also a house on the Smith farm where they lived. The tour was interesting but seemed similar to other tours we had taken. They had the rooms restored and decorated to how they thought they were when they were alive but there wasn't tremendous meaning to them.

The Grove was very different. We walked over to the grove after the tour. It is literally right next to their farm. For some reason I had always imagined it would be a way off from their farm. At this point we split off so we could wander the grove alone and meditate and prayer. It was a very peaceful experience. The grove is very large and I wondered in it for at least 45 minutes. It was great. The spirit was very strong in there and I have no doubt that the Father and Son appeared to Joseph Smith there.

We also watched the Palmyra pageant. It was fun to watch. The show went through different stories in the Book of Mormon. It was held at the Hill Cumorah. Before the pageant we were able to walk up the hill. It was a very cool view. So far they haven't found the spot where Joseph Smith found the plates but give me a good day and a half tromping around up there and I'll find it! ;)

NEW YORK CITY

We had a short but action packed visit in New York City. We actually started off in New Jersey where Katie served her mission. She showed us some of the area and we actually found a lost Elder. He had been separated from his companion and we were able to reunite them. Our trip to New York consisted of visits to the Empire State Building, Central Park, Ellis Island, Ground Zero, and the Statue of Liberty.

The Empire State Building is very cool but I would only visit it once. We went up to something like the 86th floor. All around the terrace are spikey fencing to deter thrill seekers and suicide jumpers. I think the best time to visit it would be at night rather than in the day when we did. Then the city would be lit up.


Central Park was very cool. This is not your everyday park. It is ginormous!!! We walked around for close to 5 hours and we only explored like 1/3 of the park. It has numerous lakes, bridges, and fields to play baseball. It is smack dab in the middle of a bunch of tall skyscrapers too. This was one of my favorite spots. Very cool!

Ellis Island was very interesting. We got to learn about immigration into the United States. Some of the conditions the immigrants went through were pretty amazing. It took a lot to get here and make it through the immigration process and a lot of times families were separated. Its worth spending at least half a day there.


Ground Zero was a little anti-climatic because it is all under construction, but its cool to be able to say I've been there. The Statute of Liberty was fun too see. Not much to do there though. Its just a big statute and you can't go up into any more thanks to stupid terrorists. We also went to see the temple but it was closed for renovation. It is just in a skyscraper but up close you can tell more that its actually a temple and there is an Angel Moroni on top. One of our last stops was the diner where Seinfeld was filmed. It was alright. The food was mediocre and the staff was always rushed and it felt like they wanted you out as soon as you were done eating. It was a cool experience though.