So let me tell you about my weekend. It all started two weeks ago when DJ Micaiah (that's short for disc jockey) invited me to go to the Palmyra Pageant. I'd never been and I'm usually game to do anything legal, moral, and ethical at least once. So we met at his apartment at Davis Square in Somerville bright and early Friday morning. He disc jockeyed the 6 hour trip there.

We arrived around 1ish at a KOA in Canandaigua, about 15 miles south of Palmyra. I wasn't crazy about camping but I also wasn't crazy about forking out for a hotel bill on this trip. When we got there, DJ discovered this HUGE "bouncy pillow" on the campground. It looked like it's made of a tough elastic plastic and is big enough for several adults to jump on. But there are rules. And I didn't see the rules. So without knowing it, I immediately broke the first two: 1. Wear socks and 2. Don't flip. What's the purpose of a bouncy pillow if you can't flip? But it's not the flipping that became problematic. I developed and popped a huge, THICK, deep, blister on my big toe from the hot elastic plastic from jumping barefoot. It was 90 degrees and I know that's winter weather in Arizona country, but I've never truly been an Arizona girl, even though I was born there. One habit I did develop in AZ is wearing as little as possible. That includes on my feet.

Then we went swimming. My favorite part of a swimming pool is the diving board, you know, so I can flip. But they didn't have a diving board. So I decided to see how long I could wade in the deep end. It's a funny thing about Mormons. Once we discover the other is LDS, it's like an instant comradery develops. That's how it was at this camp. Lots of Mormons there for the pageant. There was a cute little French-speaking family at the pool that kept me entertained while I tested my wading endurance abilities. They were from Montreal. The dad served his mission in Taiwan and knew one of my cousins who served there - Joshua Westover. The mom, Karen, had three adorable kids and looked like an athlete. My raw blister starting stinging after 40 minutes, so I reluctantly threw in the towel. When I was drying off, the youngest boy of that family, probably about 3, embraced my right leg like a long lost friend. Karen was embarrassed but I was flattered. As a single person, I love getting hugs from cute boys!

Before retiring for the evening, the two boys I went with (Micaiah and Jason) and I went to Palmyra to scope it out (my second there. I was there in 2004). We drove passed the pageant site and to the Sacred Grove, where we walked around. We left Jason in there to take care of some personal spiritual business. I slept pretty well that night in the car. Yes. Alone.

The highlight on Saturday was a session in the Palmyra Temple. The windows and Celestial Room are amazing! It's the 16th temple I've gone to a session in. (Other places include California, Massachusetts, NYC, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Washington, DC, and Colonia Juarez, Mexico). Then the guys decided they wanted to see Lake Ontario 20 miles away. But we kept passing fruit stands. And DJ Micaiah decided he wanted some fruit. So we had to find a Bank of America ATM. After asking every blond girl along the way where the nearest B of A ATM was, two hours later we finally found one that we'd passed by. Then we spent the next 4 hours looking for a clean, sandy piece of Lake Ontario beach. No such luck. We did find one beautiful area with open green space and shady trees, but like everything else, the beach was rocky. The other areas were full of green stuff with big (2 feet long) dead fish strewn about.

We finally gave up and went to the Palmyra Pageant at Hill Cumorah. But not before stopping by a fruit stand. I bought freshly picked raspberries. After having been to a million Mesa Temple Easter Pageants, I've become jaded to pageantry. But it did have some cool special effects and it was cool seeing Joseph Smith (who we met earlier) get the gold plates on the actual Hill Cumorah right before us. The pageant started at 9:15 and ended about 10:30. One pageant member estimated there were 6,000 people in attendance.

On Sunday, since the boys felt jipped from getting in good beach time the day before, they decided the finger lakes was the way to go. So we hit the biggest one. Cost: $3.00. Fun: limited because the lifeguards watch every move you make. We found that out after Micaiah swam to me wading knee deep in the water, swooped me up over his shoulder, carried me to an area of sufficient depth, and slam dunked me into the water. Fortuately I had my swimsuit on. Unfortunately, I had my only clean shirt on over that. It was a wet ride home. We did stop in Albany where I took pictures of the state capital - the 21st state capitol I've been to. Albany rivals the Connecticut state house in detail and beauty. Downtown Albany is stunning though. Very original architecture. They have a building called "The Egg." Can you guess what it looks like?
So that was my adventurous trip to the Palmyra Pageant.