New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania

On Wednesday, July 10th, 2019 we (Paul, Shirleen, Bryce, Amelia, Esther (aka Lizzie), Karsten, Maylee, and Melody) flew from Phoenix to New Jersey.

Karsten, Shirleen, Amelia

Maylee, Bryce, Melody

Maylee

The flight attendants provided punch-out airplanes that the kids enjoyed

Karsten hit the jackpot when he asked for more!

Esther got a trip to the cockpit after we landed!

Waiting in the baggage claim area for the other car seat:

Esther, Maylee, Melody, Amelia, Karsten, Bryce, Shirleen

We then drove by Super Shuttle to Manhattan,

Amelia, Maylee, Esther, Paul

and stayed here:

That evening we walked a short distance for dinner here:

On Thursday, July 11th, we had breakfast at the hotel, and enjoyed bagels and muffins (the kids liked the hot chocolate).

We then traveled by subway

to the lower end of Manhattan to board a ferry

to go see the Statue of Liberty.

During the guided tour Maylee found a caterpillar 

Amelia and Melody

Paul, Shirleen, Bryce, Melody, Amelia
Karsten, Esther, Maylee

The original torch is on display in a separate building:

Also on display was this interesting item:

Bryce, Shirleen
Karsten, Melody

We then got on a ferry to go to Ellis Island (where numerous immigrants gained entry to the United States many years ago).

We enjoyed lunch in the Ellis Island cafeteria.

Interesting fact:

Bryce did it!

Sleeping quarters for some immigrants - this room had 36 beds:

The skyline was impressive on our way back to Manhattan:

We got back to the south end of Manhattan (aka Battery Park), and saw this:

We walked to the subway, and went to Chinatown for shopping and dinner.

After we got back to the hotel Amelia had to leave for a rehearsal at the stake center by the Manhattan Temple:  8-11pm (she went to the rehearsal by herself; Bryce was there at the end to accompany her back to our hotel).  Here she is at that rehearsal:

On Friday, July 12th, we took the subway to Central Park (the subway entrance is across the street from our hotel).

Then lunch at the Tavern on the Green

After lunch we went to the American Museum of Natural History.

Melody, Amelia, Esther
Karsten, Maylee

Bryce, Amelia               
Karsten                         

Next, we walked across Central Park to The Metropolitan Art Museum.

After three miles of walking already that day, the wheelchair was welcome relief!

We had dinner from the food trucks parked out front.

And then back through Central Park:

In the Shakespeare Garden

We were delighted to see fireflies.

The bright point of light in the upper right is a firefly
(on the diagonal from lower-left to upper-right)

A firefly on Karsten's left thumb!

A firefly on Esther's left wrist!

Now, a principle reason for going to New York was for Amelia to perform with the Millennial Choirs and Orchestras (MCO) at Carnegie Hall.  Three groups (comprised of instrumentalists and vocalists from California, Arizona, Texas, Utah, and Idaho) were scheduled to perform.  Amelia was in the Saturday afternoon concert on July 13th.  And here's a link for more information about MCO:

MCO

Saturday morning, July 13th, we all (except Amelia who left early for Carnegie) went to the Chelsea Market.

Bryce returned on foot to the hotel.  The rest of us (all six) went back to the hotel in a rickshaw-like vehicle with our driver out front:

We were somewhat packed in:

Later, Paul, Shirleen, Bryce, and Esther got on a subway for the performance at Carnegie Hall while the babysitter stayed with Karsten, Maylee, and Melody at our hotel.

We are delighted that Amelia is able to be part of such a remarkable organization as MCO so that she could be on-stage at Carnegie Hall!  Following the wonderful MCO performance Amelia was with this friend (whom she knew at ASU):

and she was photographed with Erica Gledhill (principal violist for her group):

We made our way back to our hotel.

Look closely to see who owns this place

Then, after gathering back at our hotel, all eight of us got on the subway, and, after changing trains, made our way to Brooklyn for a pizza dinner here:

And for dessert... cheesecake!

Following dinner things got decidedly more interesting.  We got on a subway, and headed for Manhattan.  Our train stopped underground, between stations.  There was a brief announcement about a problem, but the problem was not defined.  The train began moving again and we got off at the next station to transfer to another line.  We were still in Brooklyn.  News was coming across an overhead monitor:  there was a power outage in Manhattan.  We couldn't proceed on the subway.  We waited to see if the problem would be resolved, and finally decided we needed to find another way back to our hotel.  We made our way to the surface, and, long story short, Uber (two vehicles) got us back into Manhattan to our hotel (in an area not affected by the power outage).

Waiting for a ride back to Manhattan:

As it happens, the third MCO group had to exit Carnegie Hall because of the outage, and was not able to perform inside.  There was, however, an impromptu performance out on the street, reported as follows:

MCO Impromptu Event

Early Sunday morning, July 14th, Bryce & Amelia left early to pick up a rental vehicle for all of us to drive to Monticello, New York to attend church.

Amelia had attended that branch years ago while working as a music therapy intern.  We arrived in time for church, and there was a potluck luncheon afterward (Amelia and Shirleen had gone grocery shopping Saturday night for our contribution).

After the pleasant visit in Monticello we took a quick drive-by of The Center for Discovery where Amelia had interned.

Then, we were off to Geneva, New York, with a stop at Watkins Glen.

Maylee, Karsten, Esther, Melody, Amelia

Following that pleasant interlude, we traveled on to Geneva, New York, and stayed here:

The next morning, Monday, July 15th, we went to Palmyra, New York where we first visited the Smith Family Farm and the Sacred Grove.

After leaving the Sacred Grove we saw the Smith family's frame home.

We then saw the Palmyra Temple.

Then it was lunch time, here:

The Grandin Building (where the Book of Mormon was first printed) was our next stop.

Amelia with the original Tom Lowell painting depicting the visit of Angel Moroni to Joseph Smith

Demonstration of press inking

Working on the "signature" (group of 16 pages)

There is an intersection in Palmyra with a church on each corner.  A local resident mentioned a plaque on one of the buildings that would be of interest, and it is!

We saw Alvin Smith's gravesite.

The original headstone is on the back side

There was a playground nearby, so...

We moved on to the Hill Cumorah,

Hill Cumorah Visitor Center

View from the top of the hill
(pageant visitor seating down below)

Esther, Maylee, Karsten

It was then time to go to the Whitmer Farm (where the Church was organized in 1830, and where Anne & Elno Lunt served a full-time mission many years ago).

That evening we went out to dinner here:

After dinner we went back to the Holiday Inn, and saw some cattails:

BTW, the Holiday Inn has a pool.  What to do?  Get in!

The next day, Tuesday, July 16th we traveled to Pennsylvania:

Here, we went to the Priesthood Restoration site near the Susquehanna River.

We needed to get back to New Jersey to catch our flight home.

Waiting for our plane:

We did fly home that day, and we saw a remarkable site from the plane.  The sun was low in the west, and we were over clouds.  The sun shown horizontally under the clouds, and we saw this:

Overall, a really nice vacation trip.  Sharing all these experiences with Amelia and her family has created a treasure trove of happy memories.