Ohio Trip - Part 3

(continued)

Day 4 - Saturday, July 14th

First thing after breakfast we headed down south to Hiram, Ohio, to the Johnson Farm, where the prophet Joseph Smith lived for a while and received some of the revelations contained in the Doctrine and Covenants. It was wonderful to tour the home and grounds and feel the spirit of the great work of the gospel going forth.

The kids were impressed with a huge rock at the farm. It was just sitting there in the middle of a large lawn.... waiting for some curious children to climb aboard...... and then jump!
Then we drove back through more Amish areas.... Middlefield and Mesopotamia. I was amused by the name when my dad said we were going there, but I laughed out loud when I saw this funny sign outside the cute old-fashioned general store, "End of the Commons," in Mespo (as it is affectionately called). Click on it for a closer look.
I enjoyed looking at the merchandise catering to the Amish, and again couldn't resist purchasing a few small items... a delicious granola, whole wheat "ABC" pasta, and a bean soup mix.

Grandpa treated us all to tasty old-fashioned rootbeer.

While we sipped our sodas, my dad, not surprisingly, introduced himself to this fellow parked outside the store, and spent about 15 minutes quizzing him about his horse.

We got a kick out of the little barefoot Amish boys (they looked about 9 or 10 years old) who rode up to the market in their tiny 2-wheeled buggy pulled by a pony, bought ice cream and rootbeer (for floats?) and headed off again... much faster than a bike or scooter.

When we got back to Kirtland, my parents had to work an afternoon shift at the Isaac Morley Farm. Since it's pretty quiet there, and they have a private, roomy office, my mom suggested that we leave the kids with them for a few hours while Jay and I went in to Cleveland, about 20 minutes from Kirtland. Jay really wanted to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and it sounded fun. It's interesting....and pricey.... and much larger than I expected! We were there for several hours, and we practically ran through, and we still didn't see everything.

We returned to find our children completely enchanted by "Grandma's Magical World." My mom has this way of making every little thing seem magical and exciting. She is amazing that way. She had shown them a "fairy land" behind the office.... a small grassy circular area surrounded by trees and shrubs, and plenty of wildlife. My Mary was thoroughly convinced that fairies would come out when it got dark. Grandma Mary is the ultimate enchantress!
We also explored this little secret garden hidden in the side of a hill, long over grown. It was very mysterious, and the kids ate it up.

That night my sister and her family arrived for the big event the next day.