My Historical Journey

           I had recently turned twelve when my mom told me something that would bring me a lot of joy, and that still brings me joy today. My interests and passion in history and government were satisfied when I learned that I would be given the privilege of going on a trip to the east coast of the United States. I was ecstatic. Now, I would get the chance to see all of the places that I had read and imagined about in American history. It was July of 2011, and my uncle and aunt were to be married in the Manhattan New York Temple. My grandparents would be attending, and I would have the chance to go with them and my cousin, Dennis, to celebrate the wedding and visit historical sights on the east coast. Compared to what I know now, I knew almost nothing about American history and government when I went on this trip. Throughout this experience, though, I developed a clear picture of the places where events that shaped this nation really happened. In addition to that, I also improved my relationships with my cousin and grandparents, and I even learned a little bit about American history.

            We departed on July 16, 2011 from Sandy, Utah. A little blue car with 4 ½ seats and a bulging trunk was our transportation. Dennis and I were squashed into the two back seats with suitcases between us and on the floor of the car, which resulted in almost no leg room for Dennis’s giraffe-sized legs (not to mention my legs as well). On top of that, my mom thought it would be a great idea for me to bring billions of books on American history to read during the ride. I will admit that this was a good idea, but I hardly read any of the books and they only took up leg space. At that time, my grandma and grandpa were working with a company called “Nikken” that purified water, so they gave Dennis and I each water bottles that purified water. It turned out that the Nikken water bottles still had dust and debris from shipping, and they were never cleaned out, so all we drank was dusty water. The water bottles were also leaking all over the place, so my cousin and I called them leakin’ instead of “Nikken”. However, the joke wasn’t funny anymore when the water bottles got the books wet.

            We rode in these conditions for twelve hours until we made it across Wyoming to a small town in the middle of Nebraska, where we spent the night. We were behind schedule because the plan was to make it to Omaha, which is on the eastern border of Nebraska. As a result, the next day was much worse. At about 7:30 A.M., we departed from the hotel. It was a Sunday, so we listened to the previous General Conference in the car. 18 hours later, at 2:30 A.M. the next morning, we made it to our hotel near Kirtland, Ohio. I had just survived the worst car ride of my life in a tiny, hot car riding through half of Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and most of Ohio. After visiting some church history sights in Kirtland for the next two days, we drove to Palmyra, New York. We stayed at one of my grandparents’ friend’s house. We saw more church history sights the next day, including the Sacred Grove. As we walked into that grove, I felt peace and comfort. 20 minutes later, I had no idea where I was or where I should’ve been going. I was lost in a maze of trails in the Sacred Grove. The one thing I regret from that experience was not kneeling down to pray. Luckily, I eventually found my way out.

Palmyra, NY

            That night we drove to Nazareth, Pennsylvania, and we spent the night at my aunt’s house (but she wouldn’t be my aunt until two days later). In the morning, we drove to the Manhattan Temple, where I did baptisms for the dead with my cousin. It was an awesome experience because it was my first time doing baptisms in the temple. Afterwards, we picked up my other uncle at the airport (not the one who was getting married), and it took us forever to get to our hotel in New York. There was a ton of traffic, and we only moved a few inches every hour. We were supposed to drive across the Brooklyn Bridge, and there was a sign that said “Brooklyn Bridge—Next Left” directly in front of us. Unfortunately, my grandpa kept on turning right, and we came back to the sign at least three times before finally turning onto the bridge. On top of all of this, the hotel room was miniature. The next day, we went back to the Manhattan Temple (via subway this time), and Dennis and I waited for hours and hours in the hot, humid waiting room while my uncle and aunt got married. We were bored out of our minds, so we went outside and bought a huge pretzel for a snack. When we came back in, we found an elevator and took it up to the third floor, where there was a stake center above the temple. We explored some more, and believe it or not there was a basketball court above the temple. There was even a basketball, so we were occupied for the rest of the afternoon. After the marriage was over, we went to take pictures at Central Park, and we had a fancy dinner afterwards. We were also going to go to Times Square with my aunt and uncle, but my grandpa said, “It’s just a bunch of lights”. So, we took the subway to see my grandpa’s niece, who lived in Manhattan with her family. Later that night, my cousin and I explored our hotel and found a way to get onto the roof, where we saw the Empire State Building in the distance.

            These are only a few experiences that I had from the awesome trip that I went on a long time ago in a land far away. This is only about 1/3 of my trip, and I didn’t even really write about the American history sights that I later saw. After this point in my story, I saw more things in New York, and then I went to Philadelphia, Valley Forge, Washington D.C., many different places in Virginia, and several more historical sights. I hope you got to know me a little better from this story, and I am very glad that I got to experience and write this. Even now, more than two years later, I talk with my grandparents and cousin all the time about this trip. This is a trip that I will remember forever, because the experiences that I had are unforgettable. When I got home, I was happy because I hadn’t seen my family for three weeks, but I was also very sad that I couldn’t still be traveling. This is a story that changed my life, and I hope that someday I can experience something like it again.