Sodus Point is on Lake Ontario. I took a trip up there with the Millards while Bill was working. We will go again…..after Pageant is over.

On the beach with the most modern light house behind us.  We walked the jetty out to the light house.

Grandson, Jordan striking a pose at the historic light house.  Notice the modern one  from the other picture way in the background.

Dyke, Jillian and Abby in the surf.  Abby loved it and wanted to get all the way in.

Kimber and Dyke came to visit.  They brought Jenesse & Aaron & Abby, Jordan, John and Jillian.  It was so good to see them and hug them and visit for a whole week.

 Abby must have climbed this short staircase in our apartment dozens of times, kept her entertained.

Abby in the corn field at the Peter Whitmer Farm where the Church was organized on April 6^th 1830

If you look closely, you will see cherries growing wild on the Hill Cumorah.

Jordan and Jillian picking wild cherries and wild raspberries on the Hill Cumorah

The Millards finding cherries on the pathway to Moroni

Elder Poulson and I like to take our lunch up to the top of Cumorah and eat at one of the picnic tables there.

Here are some cherries we picked for our lunch.

Had a great time last Monday evening with a group of our Temple Missionaries.  We took a trip down the Erie on this boat, the Mary Jemison

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Here’s the view of and from the top deck.  Elder Poulson in the front next to my empty chair and the couple behind him are Elder and Sister Miller (they are serving at Lake Seneca Camp, the girls’ camp here in our area) and the rest are Temple Missionaries.  So nice to be invited to join them.

We left from a port called “Corn Hill” in downtown Rochester, NY.  We traveled about an hour and half east, went through lock #33, turned around and came back.  We had terrific weather which is rare here.  

Some sites along the way:

Notice the Blue Heron in this picture.  We saw several along the way.  They don’t appear to be as blue and the herons we had on our pond in Fallbrook but still fun to see so much wild life around us here in upstate NY.

             

We passed along the beautiful campus of the University of Rochester. Here’s picture of their very impressive library.

We passed under some neat looking bridges….some very low ones which required us to be seated and cautious as we passed beneath them.  Remember the song….”low bridge, everybody down, low bridge ‘cause we’re com’n to the town”?

Approaching Lock #33, note how high the water level is on the side of the dock.

In the next few pictures, notice the waterline on the side of the dock.  We’re being lowered down so as to be able to sail into the lower part of the canal on the other side of Lock 33.

Lock on the low end beginning to open so that we can pass through.

We started out in this lock way above the edge of the lock.  Now see where we are as the lock opens to let us pass through on the low side.

As we came around a bend in the canal and entered the Genesee River the city of Rochester came into view.

This is the “Fredrick Douglas/Susan B. Anthony Memorial Bridge” which has won many awards.  We turned around just before passing under it.  Just beyond the bridge there is a waterfall and a change in the river….so that’s as far as boats go.  We docked just before the bridge on the right side of this picture.

Notice the buoys in the next picture.

One of the things we like in Palmyra right now is all of the Canadian Geese have come back to nest and raise their families here along the Erie Canal and every other pond and lake around….and there are plenty of those to go around.  We have a pair of geese (they mate for life) here at the Facilities Management pond.  The babies grow so quickly.  Here they are one week ago.

And here they are again, yesterday, one week later, almost as big as the parents.

This pair only has 3 goslings, but over at the Temple President’s home there are 3 pair of geese with a total of about 19 goslings.  It has been fun to watch the parents taking care of, guarding and teaching their young how to survive.  The other day we watched a pair teaching their 6 goslings how to “take off” from the water.  The goslings don’t even have their flight wings yet, but they were practicing “running” on the top of the water which is what they do just before takeoff.  The whole lesson thing was interesting.  The father goose watches for any sign of danger with his long neck stretched out as tall as possible.  The mother goose gathers her goslings around her and somehow, I don’t know how, she gives directions.  Then the goslings spread out and all at the exact same time they “perform” and then return to the mother for further instructions and it all begins over again.  They practiced diving and taking off from the water without actually taking off.

In Fayette, at the Whitmer Farm where the Church was organized, there is a house that houses young sister missionaries in one apartment and one senior couple in another apartment. Here is Elder Poulson scraping and painting the “worn out” places on the garage, the home.   

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And here he is in front of his newly painted doors to the Grandin building where the first Books of Mormon were published. Looking good.

Robin's Eggs

We went to work on a project at the public restrooms behind the Hill Cumorah Visitor’s Center.  Elder Poulson needed to do some caulking around the sinks in the women’s restroom.  These restrooms are closed all winter and we are getting ready to open them up for our summer “traffic”.  As Elder Poulson was unlocking the door, I spotted this nest on the hose wheel right outside the door.

 

   Here’s what was inside….3 robin’s eggs.  Spring has finally come to our part of the world.

Nathan, our grandson with his mission call to Madrid, Spain, came to visit Palmyra and his girlfriend, Kendall who has her mission call to the Philippines.  Kendall received her endowments in the Palmyra Temple and here we are in front of the temple. 

Then we took very quick tours of the sites.  Here is Elder Poulson (aka Grandpa) and Nathan entering the Welcome Center at the Smith Farm.

Nathan and Kendall inside the Smith Log Cabin.  And Grandpa & Kendall outside the cabin.

Nathan on the road/path to the Smith Frame Home with the Palmyra Temple in the background.  He is one happy boy.

   

Grandpa and Nathan with the apple orchard in the background.  It’s finally spring in Palmyra.

 

 Nathan in the Sacred Grove.  It was a rainy, thunder storm kind of afternoon.

Looking up at one of the “adversity trees”.