The House of Usher and A walk through the trees...

Last night, Nicole and I were at home when all of the sudden we started to smell something. The furnace had just kicked on, and the air coming out of the vents smelled really bad! I went to grab my neighbor, and by the time I came back, our house smelled like a sewer. It was horrible! We checked the basement (with great sacrifice on my part since it was dark and scary!) but we didn't find anything wrong. We turned off the heater, but we couldn't leave our windows open to air the house out because we don't have screens. So me and my 2 roommates came over to the Inn and took refuge in one of the empty rooms until around 12am. Our manager was not here and I was tired, so I went back to the house and turned our fans on and went to bed. The smell was definitely not as strong, but it was still there.
On a more positive note....Since I don't have my car out here, I get a lot of chances to walk. I thought that I would take you with me on a little walk today. One of the things that I love about being here is all of the trees and how green it is.

More from Naples...

My camera ran out of batteries over the weekend, so I have not been able to take any new pictures. I thought that I would go ahead and post another picture that was taken over the weekend in Naples at the grape festival. These last few days have been pretty quiet, but I'm looking forward to going to Niagara Falls this weekend! This picture is of Tricia (my manager), Michelle, and me! :)

Yummy grapes at the Grape Festival....

On Saturday (after I worked the night shift from 12pm-7am), we went out to breakfast and headed down to Naples to a grape festival. We had a lot of fun! I had my first grape pie. They had several antique and vintage stores that were fun to go through. They had booths everywhere with all different kinds of grape foods (and other things too!). It was a cute little town. You could smell the grape vinyards in the air. Even their fire hydrants are painted purple. They have several wineries and juice stores. We had a great time!
This picture is me with my manager-Tricia, my roommates-Michelle & Nicole, and two of the other interns in front-Rachel and Chelise.

Commemorative walk....

Last night and this morning we celebrated the anniversary of the appearance of Moroni to Joseph Smith on Sept 21, 1823. This morning we walked 4 miles from the Joseph Smith log cabin to the Hill Cumorah. It was a beautiful morning! These pictures are of me with my roommates, Michelle and Nicole. They are supposed to put an article in the Church News about it, but we'll see. You guys will have to keep your eyes open for it because we don't get it here!

Just another Monday...

Well, another week has started. Now that I know how to work all of the shifts here at the Inn, I can now start working mostly in the mornings. I will probably end up doing the continental breakfast Tues & Wed each week, as well as inventory and stock. I am starting to get the hang of things, but there are always new things to learn. I try to take a walk at least every other day to take some pictures and to get to know the area. This is yet another picture from the Grove.

Weekend adventures

This weekend has been pretty busy and pretty fun. On Friday I had the whole day off, so I went to Watkins Glen State Park with the students. It was a beautiful gorge with a lot of waterfalls, bridges and trails. Friday night we headed out to Newark (20 min away) in order to see a movie. Today we headed out to town for Canal town days. There were booths up and down Main St. I had my first Italian sausage hot dog and a funnel cake. It reminded me a lot of the Orem Summerfest at home. Overall, it was a great weekend!


This is a picture of me with some of the students: Shelly, Kelly, Danielle, Anna, and Nicole.


While I'm glad that I tried the Italian sausage, I don't think that I will be buying it on my own anytime soon!

The changing of the leaves

Well, the time is finally here for the changing of the leaves! The temperatures are getting cooler and we are getting a lot more moisture (even more so than normal!). I can't wait for October when the colors will really be out.

We are all excited for Canal Town days this weekend. They have horsedrawn wagon rides, a parade, a flea market, and a street dance for everyone. It has to be one of the biggest events in Palmyra for the whole year!

Just another day...

The sun finally came out for a full day and we were able to enjoy some time outside. My roommates and I spent some time taking pictures and enjoying the sunshine. In this picture I am sitting on a rock that was part of a fence that was built around the Smith property to block off certain sections and to keep the cattle in. Part of the original fence is still visible in many areas of the Grove.
The other day I was in charge of preparing the continental breakfast, which has to be out by 6am. We had a beautiful sunrise! I guess that is one bright spot about being up so early in the morning!

Just a day at work

I just wanted to show you guys what a day at work is like for me. This is a picture of me at the front desk. I spend most of my shift in this area. The other picture is of the front lobby. I think it's actually pretty nice. The Inn has only be open for a year, so it is still pretty new. There are around 65 rooms, 3 conference rooms that they use for events and for the students, a jacuzzi, a fitness room, and kitchen area for the continental breakfast.

A day in the town...

Michelle and I spent Saturday cruising Main St in Palmyra. We visited some fun, quaint little shops and met some really nice people. I found a book store that I really like. We talked with the owner of the store for a little while, and we even got to meet her cat. Of course, while we were there, we visited a couple of the most prominent Church sites in town. This picture is of Alvin Smith's grave. He is a buried in a beatiful cemetery just off of Main St on the top of a hill.

We also went to E.B. Grandin's bookstore. The missionaries there were great and they gave us a great history lesson on how the Book of Mormon was printed. I've heard most of it before, but I did learn a few new facts. We finished off our day by going to one of the best pizza shops in town (one of the only places to eat in town!), Nima's Pizzeria.

The Grand Tour continues...

These pictures are both taken from different angles in my kitchen. The one picture shows the hallway down to our bathroom. You can't see it very well, but my clothes are all hanging up by the bathroom at the end of the hall. The other picture is of our kitchen and it was taken by the back door. The refrigerator is to the right and the sink is to the left. My bedroom is the one that you can kind of see in both pictures. We keep our chairs folded up so that the chipmunks won't jump on the table. But I don't think that will stop them! Chip & Dale are very determined, as we have learned!

Hangin' with Bert and Ernie

The other day we got the chance to go to the Outlet stores in Waterloo. It was fun, but it didn't stop raining that day and it was pretty busy because of Labor Day weekend. After I finished shopping, I decided to hang out with Bert and Ernie until it was time to leave.

Weekend adventures

This picture is me and Michelle eating YELLOW watermelon. It was the craziest thing I have ever seen! It actually tasted really good!

We had some crazy adventures this weekend with our "Edgar Allan Poe" basement. I took a picture from the top of the stairs, but that is the best that you will ever see because I'm not going down there again unless I have to. (You would understand if you could see it!)

This is a picture of me, Michelle, and Nicole outside Joseph Smith's log cabin in Palmyra. We got to tour both Smith homes on Friday.

The Grand Tour

Dad requested yesterday that I post some pictures to show you where I live. So I thought that is what I would do today. Here is my "condemned" house and the Inn. We live right next door to the Inn, so it is pretty easy to just jump back and forth. Especially since that is where we go for breakfast. The last picture is of my room. I share it with Michelle Risenmay. She's my roommate from Washington. Its pretty small and there is not much there. We don't even have a closet or blinds. We're trying to fix it up on our own. I have 2 drawers in the dresser and I use my suitcases to store my books, shoes, and winter clothes.