Church history & a surprise

This week (June 2-10), Jeff and Danny flew to NJ then criss-crossed the country heading east as they hit all the major church history sites. They started with the Priesthood Restoration Site in Pennsylvania and ended with Winters Quarters Site in Nebraska. Along the way they stopped at the Whitmer Farm, Grandin Printing Press, the Hill Cumorah, the Sacred Grove, Kirtland, Carthage Jail, historic Nauvoo, Adam-ondi-ahman, Far West Temple Site, Liberty Jail, Independence Visitors Center, and the Kanesville tabernacle. They also enjoyed Niagara Falls, Shippshewana (an Amish community), Notre Dame, and whatever else they found interesting. Danny said he really loved historic Nauvoo and the Priesthood Restoration Site. Here are a few pictures from their trip! (To be honest, I was surprised I got this many! Haha!)

Sugar Tree Grove at Priesthood Restoration Site

Susquehanna River

Whitmer Farm

Sacred Grove

Carthage Jail

Nauvoo

Adam ondi ahman

Liberty Jail

Kansas City Temple

Meanwhile, Jonas and I started a little road trip of our own to meet up with Jeff and Danny in Denver (unbeknownst to Danny there was a surprise waiting for him there). Our road trip wasn't quite as long so we started a few days after they left. On Wednesday (June 7), Jonas and I headed towards Vernal (our first stop). Along the way, we made a pit stop in Midway to swim at The Crater. It was Jonas's first experience. He loved swimming in a "cave" (more like a mini-volcano or giant ant hill) but wished it was bigger. After our allotted time, we made the rest of the drive to Vernal where we enjoyed dinner and some time at a local park.

The next day (Thursday, June 8) we headed to the Utah Fieldhouse Museum to learn about the amazing geological and jurassic finds in this region. Vernal is known for its dinosaur discoveries. While at the museum, Jonas got to pretend he was on a dig site, pan for precious stones, and roam through a garden of dinosaurs. 

From there, we moved on to the real thing: Dinosaur National Monument. We went straight to the Quarry where we were able to view dozens of dinosaur bones preserved in stone. It was wild! Both Jonas and I were so fascinated with the deposit of bones permanently petrified in stone. We grabbed a little booklet that illustrated where the bones were in the wall of stone. Jonas spent quite a bit of time finding each of the bones. Afterward, we took the Fossil Trail back to the visitors center where we were able to see (and touch) more bones stuck in stone on the trail. So crazy!

Before we left the monument, we drove to see this old cabin that Josie Morris Basset lived in for 50 years. She was quite a resourceful woman. She lived alone for most of her time there. She was also associated with the infamous Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Along the route, we stopped to see some ancient petroglyphs and pictographs. 

After a few hours there, we pushed on to our final destination: Steamboat Springs, CO. However, we stopped in Craig, CO to show Jonas where Jeff grew up. I took Jonas to the house he grew up in and showed him Jeff's high school. Jonas loved running around on the field in front of the school. Once we reached Steamboat Springs, we just checked into our hotel then went outside to play yard games. It was a fun way to wind down for the evening. 

On Friday (June 9th), we started our day with a yummy breakfast from Winona's. We actually picked it up and took it to the trailhead at Fish Creek Falls to enjoy. The hike was so beautiful, but the water was tumultuous! They actually shut down the bridge half-way through the hike because of safety reasons. Still, we found plenty to do on the trail to explore and enjoy. Because the trail was partially closed, we had more time than we originally thought so we stopped by a park in downtown Steamboat before we officially moved on to Fort Collins. The drive was so incredibly beautiful!

When we got there, we dropped our stuff off at the hotel then met up with Tyler and Sydney at their house. Tyler moved to Fort Collins to finish up his degree over a year ago. It was so fun to see them and spend a few hours with them. We grabbed dinner and they showed us around downtown a little. Fort Collins is such a cool college town! Unfortunately, it was a little rainy so we didn't explore too much. That evening, Jonas and I went to a drive-in movie. It was Jonas's first time at a drive in. They had plenty of yard games to play too. We enjoyed the games while we waited for the movie to start. The next morning, Jonas and I quickly explored a couple of places before we headed to Denver to surprise Danny. We stopped by the university's trial garden. Here, students breed different kinds of flowers. Many of the flowers weren't quite in bloom, but those that were were really pretty. We also headed back downtown to grab a couple photos. Did you know the guy who designed Main Street Disney grew up in Fort Collins? He took some of the buildings he loved and used those as inspiration for his designs. 

We had limited time so it was a quick exploration before we met up with Jeff and Danny at the gas station near the rental car return. Prior to that, Danny knew something was up. There were little things that didn't quite add up to him...like why were they "flying" out of Denver and not Omaha? Why did we keep telling him he wouldn't be home until Sunday when he was headed to the airport on Saturday? Etc. etc. etc. Still he had no clue that Jonas and I would be sitting in the backseat of their rental car when he returned from using the restroom. He was so shocked! I then presented him with logo stickers for a Hellcat, Lamborghini, and Ferrari and informed him that he would get a chance to drive/ride in each of those cars. He was so surprised...and so excited! We headed straight to Pikes Peak International Raceway in Colorado Springs. In the space of a little over an hour, Danny sped around the track in each car. He did a ride along with a professional driver in the Hellcat and said they were doing near 140 mph going into a turn! Yikes! He then got to drive the Lamborghini and Ferrari. He got to race at over 100 mph in each car. I'm pretty sure we just fed his speeding addiction! Once he finished up, we debated sticking around Colorado Springs to do one of the many activities around there, but ultimately decided we all simply wanted to start heading home. We drove to Rifle then finished our drive the next day. I can't believe Danny only has two weeks left until he officially becomes a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.