Kirtland, OH

Tyler and I are really having a lot of fun visiting Church history sites together this summer. Last August during our visit to Boston, Tyler and I drove up to Vermont to the Joseph Smith birthplace. Since then we have gone in order along the saints' path from New England to Salt Lake City (with the exception of their final destination, of course), making our third destination Kirtland, Ohio.

In Kirtland we visited the Newel K. Whitney store and home (note the famed sign :), the Isaac Morley farm (where none other than Alpheus Gifford himself attended the 4th General Conference of the Church), the Johnson farm and home, and, of course, the Kirtland Temple.

Because the Kirtland Temple is not owned by the LDS church the tour inside was very interesting, and only inspiring so far as the architecture and workmanship of the building itself. I was able to finally learn what all those letters on the pulpits meant though, so I'm happy.

The Johnson farm and home were my favorites of the trip. I had never heard of the Johnsons nor their home located in Hiram, OH (about 45 min. south of Kirtland), until the sister missionaries at the Kirtland visitor center suggested we visit the farm if we had time. I liked the Johnsons' home best because the farm was gorgeous, Sister Johnson loved color and decorating so the house was very interesting and fun, the senior missionary couple who gave us the tour were the BEST tour guides ever, and the "Room of Revelation" (where Joseph Smith recieved the 76th section of the Doctrine & Covenants) was very powerful. The sun was setting outside the window as we sat inside the room and listened to the elderly sister missionary bear her testimony- everything was so cozy and made me feel like I was home.

On our way back to Chicago, Tyler and I also drove up to Michigan for a little bit which means we can now cross off Indiana, Ohio and Michigan from our 'Tour of the 50 States' list. Hooray. We also stopped and walked around the Notre Dame campus- soooo pretty! We decided this was the perfect weekend to take the trip because autumn is in full swing and we couldn't have had a more beautiful drive :)



P.S. On Saturday nite Tyler and I went to see Secretariat at the local cinema. It was AWESOME! I already knew the incredible story, but I still got nervous during every race and wanted to yell out "Go Red, go!" Alas, the only reason I didn't was because Tyler might have gone to sit by someone else. Go see it!