Comments on: “Embellished with Parks and Groves”: Washington Irving in Missouri http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2011/09/02/embellished-with-parks-and-groves-washington-irving-in-missouri/ Where our past is never very long ago Fri, 24 May 2013 02:22:50 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Cliff http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2011/09/02/embellished-with-parks-and-groves-washington-irving-in-missouri/comment-page-1/#comment-85808 Cliff Fri, 02 Sep 2011 16:21:17 +0000 http://www.keepapitchinin.org/?p=13342#comment-85808 Always nice to read about places from a different point of view than what may be the normal for LDS folks! I agree with Grant, it is beautiful there in Missouri (haven’t had the pleasure of seeing Upstate New York yet, it seems every time I plan to go and visit I lose my job) and to quote my BYU Professor of Geography, BY said when he reached Utah, “this is a disgrace, I mean, the place, drive on” or so I have heard…grins.

]]> By: Grant http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2011/09/02/embellished-with-parks-and-groves-washington-irving-in-missouri/comment-page-1/#comment-85786 Grant Fri, 02 Sep 2011 14:40:23 +0000 http://www.keepapitchinin.org/?p=13342#comment-85786 I’m no Washington Irving, but my first visit to Missouri was just a few years ago and I was impressed by the beauty even in our time. Modern-day KC and Independence itself may leave a little to be desired, but that rolling, green lawn behind the LDS (our) visitor’s center, which was part of the original “Temple Lot” is a hint. Far West in its empty desolation surrounded by green hills and farms is warmth to the soul. Adam-ondi-Ahman has a wild and beautifully haunting quality to its wooded hills.

I had visited Palmyra country just before moving to Utah in one of my previous residential periods here. Upstate New York is such a beautiful, green country too. I was in a Gospel Doctrine class in Bountiful and they were going on about the great blessings of living here in garden-like “Zion.” I raised my hand and said, “I thought we lived in a desert – in exile.” I got some funny looks and they went on.

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