So much to see and do!

The visitor volume is increasing as we approach the summer season.  We're meeting great people from all over the world.  We are giving tours 6 days per week for 5 hours each day (often 6 or 7 hours as tours and conversations continue beyond our shift cutoff hour).  We work 9 am to 2 pm or 2 to 7 pm depending on the day of the week, with Wednesdays off so we can see the sights.

Tuesday June 10 visitors from Cameroon Africa, here for their daughter's graduation from Dartmouth College.
Each graciously accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon with a commitment to read it.  That same day Lynne gave a tour to a Catholic priest from Syria who visited to honor a Mormon friend from Salt Lake City who had recently died.  He was on his way to serve in the Montreal Canada Archdiocese.  He taught us a great lesson on how to meditate, as he sat almost motionless on a bench on a hillside across from the monument for over an hour.  He asked Lynne to pray for him two separate times during his tour.  She was quite impressed with his sincerity and pleasant demeanor.
  This afternoon, Friday, June 20, I gave a tour to a couple from the Congo brought here by two elders serving in the Concord NH area.  They were in colorful native clothing.  Her floor length dress was blaze orange!  The wife accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon in French.  He is a member while she is investigating the Church.

Wednesday June 11, 2014 day off.  Visited Burlington, Vermont and what did Lynne find?  A chocolate outlet, of course!

The Shelburne VT museum, a huge place with over 20 buildings chock full of carriages, circus artifacts, art works, blacksmith shop, old drug store, and much more.  Carousel ride, anyone?!

One of dozens of carriages, conestoga wagons, horse drawn hearses, etc. all in great condition.

The detail on these tiny circus performers was amazing!  Here's a fun example.

I actually had this happen to me on an airline flight years ago, so I had to capture this image.  The flight attendant cleaned my shirt with club soda.  It worked great.  It only burned for a little while!

This picture is in honor of the Durants in our family.  We had not known that a Durant
 vehicle had ever been built.  Did you?

How do you make this contraption go??  I'm working hard but not getting anywhere!

Some people kiss frogs.  Lynne goes for bigger game!

Try to count all the figures in this miniature 3 ring circus.

A good barber had one sharp straight razor for each customer.

We cruised Lake Champlain on the Spirit of Ethan Allen 140 foot cruise ship.  It was cool and windy.

Gerrit Dirkmaat and Michael MacKay are BYU church history professors, both Phds, who toured the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial with me on Thursday June 12.  They arrived about 6 p.m. intending to spend less than an hour.  After their tour they chatted with Lynne while I conducted another tour.  Michael was excited to learn that Lynne is the 3rd great granddaughter of Philo Dibble, one of Joseph Smith's bodyguards and a close friend of the prophet.  Michael has been trying to gather info about Philo, and Lynne had a booklet about him with her in our briefcase!  Talk about great karma!  At 9:30 p.m. they were still there, so Sister Osborn fixed supper for all of us so they could continue to regale us with their exploits as Joseph Smith Papers team members.  Their knowledge overwhelmed us!  They were to give lectures at Cornell University in Ithaca NY Friday morning - a 5 1/2 hour drive from our site.  We reluctantly saw them off about 10 pm.

Mitt Romney's summer home is in Wolfeboro NH next to Lake Winnipesaukee.  

Lynne on the dock in downtown Wolfeboro.  What a beautiful day to tour central New Hampshire.