Cleveland/Kirtland Trip- Days 2 & 3. Oh, and my overzealous opinions. Enjoy!

After leaving Cleveland and getting some french fries into Eleanor, we drove the short 10 miles or so to Kirtland. We stopped first at the temple. The next tour was an hour off, so we walked around the grounds. Here are Clayton and Eleanor. She was still a happy camper at this point.

We walked through the cemetery right across the street. There are a lot of really old headstones there. Including this pretty, albeit slightly macabre one.

Hey, we know that name.

We toured the John Johnson farm the next day.

Eleanor was wearing thin after all the walking around near nap time. By the time the tour was about to start we decided to bail. Someday we will have to go back to see the inside of the temple, but without a wiggly one year old who is discovering her powers of negotiations.

We went back the next day after lunch and took a few more pictures.

Eleanor became excited by a flock of geese. She followed them for a good twenty minutes.

Our best self-timed effort.

We then headed down the street to see the town of Kirtland. The LDS church owns the town property while the Church of Christ owns the temple. I've heard people say it before, but there really is a difference in the feeling of the two. While the temple holds a lot of significance for our early church history, at the end of the day it is just a building. We went through a tour of the town. Well, most of it. Clayton had to take Eleanor out after a bit. It was impressive to walk the floors that Joseph Smith walked. To see the buildings where he taught and received inspiration and revelation from God. It really makes me appreciate the histories so much more.

Eleanor enjoying restored historical sites. It's totally one of her favorite things.

Us.

Them.

Next we drove to the John Johnson farm, where Joseph and Emma lived for over a year. It was another amazing place. I was impressed with how many original "parts" are still in these old buildings. Floor boards and mantels and so forth. The church has done an impressive job in restoring so much. Side note, the Church of Christ (that runs the temple) charge a fee for their tours to help with ongoing restoration. I have no problem with that, it's only about $3, but then my friend who knows all this stuff (Hi Julie!) told me that our church actually paid for the major restoration for them. Kinda funny. I'm glad we take that approach and don't strong-arm them into selling to us. Where the LDS church now has over 130 temples with about 20 more under construction, their church only has one operating temple and the original Kirtland temple. The one room "museum" they have is full of replicas and not much else. I'm not saying that we're God's true church and he favors us, but, oh wait, yes I am.
Suck it other churches!
Kidding! Geesh!

But really, the LDS church is God's true church. Don't just take my word* for it, I know two nice young men who can tell you all about it.

Back at the farm, we toured the inside. Eleanor was adorable, as proven here. Me? This is the picture that made me repluck my eyebrows for thirty minutes this week. Well, not this exact shot, it's actually the one after it that is in NO WAY ever being shown on this blog. Upside? My eyebrows are now looking goo-ood. Sorta.

At the end of the tour you end up outside on the front porch. We both took turns shouting REPENT to a few squirrels and birds. This is the porch where Joseph preached from one morning when he had been tarred the night before. Take that stupid mobs.

After the tour we then made our way back to East Lansing.
It was a good trip.
Up next, my parents visit Michigan and home projects!!!
Get excited folks!

*P.S. I think only I have 2 readers who are not LDS, and I am pretty sure they know when I am kidding and when I am not. And to anyone reading my blog: I hope you know I do take things seriously some times. I'm not knocking other religions. It just seems I never really get to say how awesome being a Mormon is on here without offending someone. Visiting church sites makes me incredibly proud to be a Mormon and part of such an amazing heritage. The Gospel of Jesus Christ really is the best thing in my life. It just makes everything easier and better. Any good I have is from trying to emulate Christ and any bad I have is from my less than stellar obedience to His ways. If you've known a lame Mormon sometime in your life, (I really hope it wasn't me) all I can say is that it is a perfect church filled with normal everyday people who make mistakes.

I highly recommend it.