The Land of Brotherly Love and Unicorns (Day 29)

Okay lets get one thing straight right off the bat: today had absolutely nothing to do with unicorns.  I just felt like adding that in because I felt like the title was missing something.  But today we went to Philadelphia which, as we saw on a sign, is the land of brotherly love (that's where that part comes from).  We obviously went to Philly to see the sights and whatnot that was around that area.  We saw such places as: Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and Ben Franklin's home.  Fun fact for you: did you know that when politicians heard about Franklin's death they calmed and soothed themselves by writing poetry.  We heard that in a movie about him and me and Adrienne thought it was hilarious until we realized that no one else in the theater was laughing.  After Philly we went on to Valley Forge and spent an hour or so in there.  Once we finished in there we continued to the hotel.  After we checked in we went out and got some classic cheese steaks, which I have to say are absolutely delicious.  Thus ends another fun day on our trip.

GG22

P.s. vlog coming soon

The Big Apple and the Likes (Days: 26-28)

Day 26:
Today we went to the Newport mansions.  We saw the Breakers, Marble house and The Elms.  They were all very interesting and had cool parts on each house.  For me the best part by far was the behind the scenes tour of the Elms where you got to see where all the servants worked.  You weren't allowed to take any pictures inside, so I don't really have any photos to post for today.
Day 27:
Today we did NOTHING outrageously exciting, we went to a ward in Groton, CT where Mom actually knew someone, and then we continued on thru CT and NY to Sparta New Jersey where we are now staying with our friends, the Richards.  That is all that happened today.
Day 28:
You can tell this is being written late at night because these are all really short.  We got up nice and early and caught the 8:55 to Manhattan where we immediately got out and went to the Empire State Building.  It took us about two hours to do it, but we did, I forgot how great of a view it was.  After that we took the 1 down to the ferry that takes you to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  It took use 2 hours just to get onto the ferry and then a lot more to see everything we wanted.  After that and one incredibly crowded train ride back and now I'm here writing this.  I may post pictures tomorrow, but I'm a little tired right now so this is all you get.

GG22

OHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! Half way there!! OHHHHHHHH!!! Unicorn-ian prayer (Day 25)

Today is the half way point of our trip!!  Right now our overall status is very tired but still excited for what's coming up next.  Today we drove around Massachusetts and through some of Cape Cod.  Before we went to the cape though, we decided to stop by Plymouth Rock.  We got to see the actual rock lots of other cool things that were there.  In the park they also had the "Mayflower II" which was a recreation of the original.  We would have gone in for a tour but it was something like $10 a person so we decided against it.  After our stop at Plymouth, we continued on to Cape Cod.  Once we were on the cape we stopped at Panera Bread for a bite to eat and then continued on.  Mom stopped at a Visitor Info center and was told that the Glass Factory and Marina were two cool things to see.  So we took that advise and went to the Glass Factory.  At the factory we found a wall of stained glass-ish (The ish because they were only one color and one piece of glass) hangings that we thought would be great for my bathroom.  They probably had a hundred different imprints.  Some of the crowd favorites (as in mine and Adrienne's favorites) included: a "humpback", a hippogryph, a dragon, a cat, and of course a unicorn.  We were especially adamant about the unicorn one, but for whatever reason mom insisted on not getting that one.  Finally, incredibly disheartened, we gave up and left to go see the marina.  That concludes this day that makes us half way.

GG22

Today we walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked (Day 24)

Today we did the freedom trail and it was really long!  In the morning Adrienne was feeling sick, so by the time she felt better it was about 10 o'clock. After we finally got to the visitors center where it started it was about 11 and that's where you get the walked and walked and walked part of today.  Although it was long and slightly painful, we say tons of cool places and we got to see downtown Boston which was super cool as well.  We ended our tour with bunker hill at about 6:30 and then we took a ferry over to a T station and rode the train to our hotel.  By then we were all exhausted so we spent the rest of the night watch the history channel and learned about helicopters and parallel universes.  I could try to tell you some of the cool things we saw, but there were so many I don't feel like listing them all. But I think everyone should do the Freedom Trail at least once in their life because it was and interesting thing to go and do.

GG22

Minute Post From the Minute Men (Day 23)

As you can guess from the title, we visited the Minute Men National Park in Lexington/Concord today.  Before we went there however we visited the Lighthouse in York Maine.  It was a cool lighthouse and the rocks right on it's edge were also very cool.  After the lighthouse we had to stop at a model ship shop because it was the one thing I decided to buy before we went on this trip.  After I bought my ship, we finally traveled down to Lexington and Concord, where we saw tons of historical videos and got loads of information on "The Shot Heard Around the World".  One particularly interesting building we saw the the Luisa May Alcott/Nathaniel Hawthorne/Other people I don't remember home.  It will be great for when I go back to school since I'm supposed to be reading The Scarlet Letter right now.  After the National Park visit we stopped by the Boston Temple to see the grounds for a little.  We decided to get to the hotel earlier than usual because we're all tired and we have the freedom trail to see tomorrow.  I hope you have enjoyed your minute update.

GG22

PS: I know that this isn't too much of a vlog anymore, but vlog sounds so much cooler than blog.  But the week 2 update (Yes I know it's week 4) should be up by sometime tomorrow (If everything goes according to plan) I know I've already said this, but there will be no Week 3 update b/c it was the week in Orchard Park.

The New York Rain in Maine falls Mainely in Vermont/New Hampshire (Day 22)

Today we left the Tomeck's house and all of their 5 cats and went on to many different lands and places. We stopped in Sharon/South Royalton where we saw the Joseph Smith birthplace monument.  We also found a farm out in the middle of nowhere in around that area where we got authentic Vermont Syrup.  Our last stop in Vermont was Grumpy's "Favorite Covered Bridge", which since the last time we saw it has been remade.  Before we left the New York/Vermont area, we stopped at a Stewards where we got the classic "create your own" sundae.  Adrienne and I both put down a few too many toppings which was a little sickening.  But I was able to get my favorite flavor: Peanut Butter Pandemonium.  After those exciting events, we continued on straight through New Hampshire to the bottom corner of Maine which is where we're staying.  After we checked into the hotel, we went to Warrens Lobster House which was amazing for Mom and Adrienne, but not so much for me (I despise seafood).  Adrienne got to crack a lobster into smithereens for the first time so it was a fun place.  After the Lobster House, we spent an hour or so trying to find the York Lighthouse.  We found out later that the lighthouse isn't that cool to see at night so we'll be going back tomorrow.  That is our excitement of going through about half of  New England in one day.

GG22 

And We're Back (Day 21)

Welcome Back!  I'm sure we just lost about half of our near few readers but that's okay because it's more for us than for anyone else.  We had a great time in Orchard Park and are now in Saratoga Springs, NY.  We've had a great time here seeing mom's old friends.  We also went to the Saratoga battlefield and Congress Park which were pretty cool sites.
In Orchard Park we saw almost all of our old friends and some of the main attractions such as: Niagara Falls, Maid of the Mist, The Anchor Bar, and other small OP attractions.  We got to see just about everything we wanted and left satisfied.
The hotel in Nauvoo found our video camera so it is now back in our possession thankfully (still no word on my BYU hat though...).  I tried to get the week two video out last week, at the end of week two, but I didn't quite get the quality I wanted from it and then I got caught up with other things so sorry about that, I'll post it eventually.  Tomorrow it's off to Maine for us to continue our journey which we are almost half way done with!

GG22

A Little bit of Root Beer and Champange (Day 10)

  Today we had a great time relaxing in Verona, WI.  We really didn't do anything particularly exciting or mentionable.  Most of was us getting ready for this next leg of the trip.  I vacuumed the car and cleaned it well.  We now have ample room in our trunk because Cousin Matt is gone now.  We also saw the Brewers get beaten by the Giants again while eating Chinese food from the most amazing restaurant ever: Dragon City.  We left at about 3 o'clock and went about half way before we stopped for something to eat in Ogelsby.  We went to a place called "The Root Beer Stand" which was almost exactly like an old A&W store with the frosted root beer glasses and everything.  We thought it was awesome because earlier that day we were talking to the Milo's about those old A&W stores where you had the trays on your car windows, you could order from your car, you could buy root beer by the gallon, and of course the frosted root beer glasses.  We just thought it was awesome that we found a place that did all of that on the day that we talked about it.  After that we continued on to Champagne, IL where we currently are enjoying the relaxing home of Uncle Andy and Aunt Tepa.  Also the vlog and the sculpture video that I've been talking about may not actually be happening because, we (or I) have lost our video camera which is a major problem.  I don't think I'll ever go to Nauvoo again because I also lost my new hat there and I'm sure I somehow lost something else I just don't know it yet.  So that's unfortunate but we still have to move on.

GG22

Verona is Where You Want to Live...(Day 9)

Verona, WI...It's only the greatest place ever.  This update is coming out a little bit late because we were just having way to much fun in this pure paradise that is America's Dairy Land.  The day started out nice and relaxing with the viewing of various episodes of Psych and Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and then took a twist with us going to the Brewers game where they got completely dominated by the S.F. Giants which was too bad.  Our day ended with some more Psych and discussions on the absurdity of a certain app on a certain Cousin John's iPod.  But the day was of course not complete without a picture of us with the fam, and flat Janae...and Dorthy.  Dorthy is an outrageously creepy doll recently purchased by the Milo's, while "Flat Janae" is a drawing of Hermana Miller which we are supposed to take on all of our amazing adventures and take pictures with her.  It's a fun idea that Janae thought up while on a p-day so we're excited to do it.  I'll post the picture tomorrow if I can.  You'll also notice the new vlog video above you.  After a plentiful amount of rendering and uploading problems I finally got it up.  I will hopefully get that promised sculpture video out by Saturday along with the "scheduled"  vlog post.  Also just a heads up the week after this I may not be posting any videos unless I have some spare time because we'll be in our hometown of O.P. that week and I'll be having a fun vacation.  So don't be too hopeful, but hey you never know.

GG22

Tyler=EPIC FAIL

Yea, Yea I know the vlog is coming.  I had it all ready, but after I took the three hours to upload it to Youtube in HD I found out that one of the songs I used was new enough to still be under copyright.  So on Youtube instead of only taking out the part with bad audio, the remove the whole audio.  So I'm redoing that section to audio that is not copyrighted.  So unlike my other promises, I PROMISE it will be up by tomorrow night so that you can give it as many negative ratings as you want, which I find perfectly understandable.

GG22

Mississippi Rain (Days 6/7)

Happenings: We drove from Alton, IL – 20 miles north of St. Louis. It was a wonderful drive through many wonderful small Illinois towns and a lot of farm country. We arrived in Carthage and took the tour there. It was wonderful, as always. The thing that really struck me was the movie that they showed at first. It made me think of the prophet as a regular man but a deeply committed person to want to tell all about the gospel. I really loved that movie. I really enjoyed hearing the sisters tell the story of the martyrdom. I thought, are obsessed with bloody, gross stories by retelling the martyrdom? I decided no, because we need to remember what others have gone through to give us what we have. I am so grateful for the prophet and his life. I am grateful for the commitment of him and of his family. I know that he could not have accomplished as much if he didn’t have that family support. What a wonderful opportunity to go there and remember the great sacrifices that were made there. How my testimony of the prophet is increased whenever I go there.

We drove up the river into Nauvoo where we had to stop at the state park first to eat a lunch of cheese and crackers. Then on to the visitors center where we saw the movie Remembering Nauvoo…very good. Then we visited the brickyard and some of the homes. Ty and I walked the trail of Hope. What a powerful experience that is to read and think about those who sacrificed so much for the gospel. How grateful I am for them. How I pray that I can be as faithful as they are. The sister at the tinsmith gave a great illustration that I will use in a talk someday. She showed a piece of tin and said by itself it is not very strong, but put some bends and curves in its, as in a can, and that piece of tin becomes really strong. People are the same way, through our trials and troubles, we can become really strong.

This morning – Monday, we woke up to rain. The boys slept in while I went and did a session in the temple. What a wonderful spirit was there…what a beautiful place. I came back at 10:30 and woke them up. We headed to the blacksmith, variety store, Brigham Young home, Family living center, and lots of others. The boys stayed at the pioneer pastimes while I toured 3 more homes. We both had a great time. The rain had stopped around noon.

Tonight we went to the pageant. It was nice until about 30 minutes before it was to start. We all gathered under tents and watched it rain. We went to our seats; the cast went through the finale. Then we all went to our cars to wait out the 30 minute of storm. Well, an hour later it is still raining and lightening. I am really disappointed because this may be the only opportunity I have to see this pageant. I guess I will have to plan another trip to Nauvoo during pageant time and try and be here for 2-3 nights so that we can actually see one of them.

Vlog....In Progress

Don't worry (I totally knew you were), the vlog is coming, it's just nigh on ten minutes long so its taking forever to upload especially since it's in HD 5.1 Surround Sound:) I may be able to get it up by the end of the day because I might have to resume the upload later... And also in case you were wondering its got plenty about Day 5 in there.

GG22

And I Thought We Were in the Middle of Nowhere Yesterday…..(Day 4)

Today was probably the day we saw the most sites of this trip so far.  We started with the Kanesville tabernacle in the morning and then started to head east.  We went through Iowa which was kind of like Nebraska only with trees and a whole heck of a lot more windmills.  We didn’t go all the way to Des Moines before we turned off the freeway and headed south.  That’s where the adventures of going down hundreds of small highways, hoping that we were going in the right direction.  We eventually ended up in Lineville.  We stopped to eat there at the Old Home Café which had great food, but was obviously the big hang out for old hick farmers and their cigarettes.  That was the only restaurant that I’ve ever been in that has allowed smoking and now I see why companies do not allow smoking in restaurants because it was unbearable.  After lunch or “lupper” (we didn’t get there until 3 in the afternoon) we stopped by Grandma Mosterts Cemetery.  We then headed back into the car for another hour or so of driving aimlessly trying to get to Spring Hill and from there Adam-Ondi-Ahman.  We picked up a map at the Kanesville Tabernacle and we used it to find the town.  We all loved the map because on it instead of Adam-Ondi-Ahman it said “Mormon Sanctuary”.  While that is not exactly how I would explain it, it was very nice and peaceful and I was able to film a lot of the vlog in it for tomorrow.  After that we went on to Far West and from there to Liberty Jail where we had a missionary from Virginia give us a tour.  She was an funny person to listen to because she had a deep southern drawl and had problems pronouncing Wilford Woodruff, but it was a great tour. 

   I’m not sure if I’ll even be able to post the vlog tomorrow though with the luck I’m getting with internet in hotels so far.  It’s even worse internet in this place than it was in the other, I talked to the lobbyist about it and apparently a lot of the bandwidth for the network within our range is already being used so I’m going to have to post all of this in the lobby instead of in the room.  So I’m going to get to that since it’s already 10:30.

GG22

P.S.  Was kind of requested (Not really) to post the thing that gave us a slight delay in our trip: my ruptured cist.  It’s pretty cool now because I have this giant hole in my neck which kind of makes a smiley face with my two freckles, anyway…

**ATTENTION ALL WILTBANK FAMILY MEMBERS, WATCH VIDEO ABOVE**

You must watch this video...NOW
 Youtube Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXaWt3xLfUs

Answer

Forgot about yesterdays question. Well, the answer was A. Yes, everytime you get out of your car you're supposed to get your bag of sand and pour it around the car so that you make sure no "suspicious" footprints are around your car, because you know, no one ever walks by your car in a parking lot. Anyway that really bothered us last night, we just couldn't wrap our minds around that question. And now I'm going to turn in because it's 11 here in glorious Nebraska.

GG22

Nebraska-At the end of your rainbow(Day 3)

Today was a longggg day. We went all the way across Nebraska today and it was a boring, barren wasteland. The only attraction that we could see on the way was a pony express station where they had a time capsule that they were going to open on July 13 2010 so we were a little to early for that. Our second stop was a Subway and there I learned that Subway has NO wifi! That's why this is coming out late, we had to wait until we got to the hotel to update it. Which by the way the Internet at this Days Inn stinks, all three of their routers wouldn't connect to the laptop, but luckily I got one on my iPod so this is where it's coming from.
So Nebraska has not impressed me in the slightest today. They fill their state with filthy deception at every turn that tries to make Nebraska look like a great place to live. For example the title of this post " Nebraska the end of your rainbow" came directly from a postcard we got in a gas station, but the worst part is that on the front in has a comely farm house with a rainbow over it and some trees next to it. Seriously? We drove all across Nebraska today and I saw about two trees, EXCEPT for in Omaha which somehow ended up looking like New England. I'm sure that whenever Nebraska makes a film about their state it's made in Omaha because it's the ONLY place that is slightly presentable. But tomorrow we're going down to kanas city and then we'll be out of Nebraska! Honestly though Nebraska was an interesting state to drive through because you could pretty much see out 200 miles in every direction. I would avoid living here, but hey I may just end up retiring here because after all, Nebraska is the end of my Rainbow

GG22