Mission Musings: ON THE WAY HOME!

Friends kept asking if I planned to continue posting on Mission Musings after our mission was finished and I said I wasn't sure. Here is what I now know:
1. I have at least three posts from our mission that I didn't get time to finish. I will finish them sooner or later and post them.
2. I want to post our trip home.
3. I will probably continue to post mission experiences when we get home.

Sooo, here is the first post of our trip home. On Monday, July 18 we left our beloved home in the north end of the Hill Cumorah Visitors' Center about 1:30 PM and headed for Watkins Glen State Park.

That afternoon we spent some time hiking in the park. This park is the most famous of the Finger Lake State Parks. The glen's stream descents 400 feet past 200 -foot cliffs, generating 19 waterfalls along its course.

Later in the afternoon we drove on to Corning and that evening we had dinner with some friends that used to live in Oregon, Mark Beck and his family and his brother, Andy Beck and his family. They both work at Corning and have now lived in New York for several years.

The next morning, Tuesday, July 19, we went to the Corning Museum of Glass. We enjoyed visiting the museum and viewing beautiful glass artwork.

Steven even tried his hand (or breath) at glass blowing. It was fun to watch him at work.

He made this beautiful Christmas ornament.

Cooperstown was our next stop on Wednesday, July 20. There we visited the Baseball Hall of Fame.

It was quite an experience to be in Cooperstown and to spend time in the wonderful museum. I found it very interesting, even though I'm not really a baseball fan and Steven loved it!

Steven stands next to a life size picture of Babe Ruth.

That same day went to the Farmers' Museum, also in Cooperstown. It is an open-air museum that opened in 1942, mostly because of the efforts of Stephen C. Clark, Sr. He owned the large barn and property which now houses many original homes built in the late 1700s to the mid 1800s. The carousel is called the Empire State Carousel and the animals and paintings represent the history of New York. It took 20 years to complete. I couldn't resist having a ride.

This picturesque building is a blacksmith shop. We got to watch the blacksmith and his assistant hard at work.

A large barn was the beginning of the museum. It was inherited by Stephen Clark and he donated it along with the property to the state of New York for the open-air museum. Other buildings include a pharmacy, a store, a school house, barns, a hotel, etc.