On the way home from D.C., we stopped in Rancocas, NJ, where the grandparents of my great-grandma grew up. Charles Sreeve Peterson was a grown man when he left the area and moved to Nauvoo, Illinois in 1843. This blacksmith shop in this tiny little town was built around 1833 and was possibly the blacksmith shop Charles used. Btw, this is my 6 year old cousin from Alaska, beautiful Eliana.  

My 6 year old cousin took this picture of me on the steps of the Supreme Court with the Capitol Building in the background. Apparently that much justice is blinding to the eyes.

While in D.C. this weekend, I was very excited about the future, especially after visiting with the Asst. Director of Admissions at the George Washington University School of Public Health in D.C.. I took a little time in the afternoon to look for a place to live, unfortunately, all the good places were taken already.

The Chrysler Building on east 42nd street - my favorite building in Manhattan. Would you believe that Thursday was my first time inside my favorite building? I had a job interview with a placement agency that allows me to earn a little extra money on the side with flexible hours. I won't actually be working in the building, but it was a nice treat to be up on the 32nd floor.

The Chrysler building is my fave building, but this is my fave place in NYC - Yankee Stadium! There is nothing better than a cool breeze through the upper deck on a hot summer night, watching the sun set as the Yanks win. This picture was taken from section 1, a particularly significant location in the upper deck for me. This is where Dad and I had a small season ticket plan in 98, where we were for Cone's perfect game in 99 and where I was after working as a vendor during the Yanks-Mets World series in 2000.

I took my dad to a taping of the Late Show with David Letterman as an early Father's Day gift, and we saw a fantastic show. The guests that night were Pres. Bill Clinton and former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr! We saw Ringo perform on the same stage as he did with John, Paul and George 41 years earlier on the Ed Sullivan show.

I like this photo for many reasons: 1) It was during a great weekend I had showing some wonderful friends around my home town. 2) I enjoy touring the UN, I find it to be an inspiring place 3) This photo proves that I've really finally shaved and 4) it was the first time I wore this new shirt, and it doesn't look so bad.  

Done!

We finished shooting around 10pm, and spent 20 minutes looking for lost items. I still can't believe we found James' chain! It felt so good to put on my own pants and some normal shoes. It was right at midnight that I was home and took this photo, the final picture of my beard, meaning that it was 19 hours between leaving and arriving in Montreal. And so ends the saga of my beard growing. I'll be honest with you, it felt so good to shave and get my hair cut. I head back to NYC on Friday, and will continue to post pictures throughout the summer of my travels through NYC, D.C., Utah, Idaho and Vegas. I hope you enjoy reading about these experiences as I enjoy having them.

Carthage mob scene

I think the final scene started around 8pm, but before we could join the other 50 men who had shown up, we had to hurry back to the wardrobe tent and change from being townsfolk to being mobbers. All I needed was a thin jacket type thing, a sash, a black hat and an even dirtier face. One of the people I came with got a heavy black coat, tied with a coon skin belt, complimented by a pistol and a bottle of whiskey. As we got to the main field in the village, we joined the rest of the mob, as they were camped out in front of a giant green screen, that will eventually have Carthage Jail projected on to it during post-production. Our job was to be drunk ruffians, shouting and hollering threats at the prophet who was being kept on the second floor on the night before we overtook the jail and murdered him. I had to cross in front of the camera a few times, and to be honest, it was hard to come up with enough bad things to shout at someone I admire and revere so deeply. I'm glad they had already done the killing scene, I wouldn't have wanted to be in that.

Dock close up

The dock was right behind this Church (built in 1837), and the next scene was to be a close up of some main character's reaction to the preaching. They had me and a couple others walk accross the "screen", but then they switched me and another guy, so that I was one of the three who were listening to the preacher. The camera was directly on me, and then moved right over my left shoulder focusing on the 2 girls behind me. The acting coach was very friendly and helpful, and I enjoyed meeting him (though I didn't appreciate his choice in baseball hats). Perhaps you would recognize him as the Apostle Thomas in the Church video, "Finding Faith in Christ." If they keep that scene, then my face will almost certainly be in the movie. Of course, it's supposedly at the same time that I'm on the other side of the canal, unloading the barge, but that'll be our little secret.

Dock scene

It took 30 minutes to set up the next scene along the nearby dock. You can't see it in this photo (since I pulled this photo from the website: uppercanadavillage.com), but this barge was parked accross from the dock, and 4 of us men were assigned to be unloading its cargo onto the shore. The best part was that the scene begins with the camera directly on the four us at work, before panning over to the preacher and crowd near the dock. Also, one of my friends was chosen to be a heckler, calling the sermon nonsense.

On the way to Carthage

They didn't use any of us extras in the first scene of the afternoon, so they moved us all to this location to shoot the next one. As we were sitting in the shade, the PA (production assistant) came and picked me and a young lady out of the group to be in the scene. Our job was to start around the bend and be walking towards the tavern. At the same time, Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum and a few others are riding by on horses, on their way to Carthage Jail, where they are eventually murdered. Who knows if we made it in the shot, but it was humbling to be standing near the Prophet as he was taken to his death.

Sleeping

Having already waited 5 hours without doing anything, I fell asleep around 2:30. We ate lunch at 3, and around 4 they took a few of us into the village to be on set in case they needed extras.

The Kane kids

A family from my ward (congregation) showed up around noon. It was so disorienting to not have a watch on, but I know I had been waiting for awhile before they arrived. We had a good time, sharing some trail mix; she got the M&M's, and I got everything else. We had fun pointing out that our batch even had some W&W's and E&E's! Don't they look great?

Waiting

While they were making my pants dirtier, the crew took 10 extras, leaving 3 of us behind. They said I would be doing some waiting, and so at 9:30, having just finished the complimentary breakfast, I sat in the tent and began to wait. I was alone for the first 20 minutes, but then some really nice people joined me. If these people weren't genuinely interesting, I don't know how I would've survived. I'm reading a great book right now, but it was locked in the car and so I had nothing to do. When I asked the caterer if I could pass the time by helping her, she had me go pick fresh lilacs for the vases on the lunch table.

How do I look?

As I sat down in the chair, the hair lady complimented my beard and then asked if she could shave it off. I'm not sure I was willing to let her after growing it for 7 weeks! She was kidding, but did shave my chin and mustache to give me chops. The final touch after this photo was pulling up my pants, making my suspenders tighter so I didn't have the 1844 Britney Spears look (in the words of the wardrobe lady).

Brian with Joseph

The atmosphere on the set was so relaxed and inviting, it was wonderful. Here's a picture of Brian with Joseph Smith. This actor was very kind, and from the scenes I saw, he has done a great job.

My group

This is me with the three others I came with. This picture was taken just after we changed, and obviously right before going to the makeup tent (since I still have chin hair, and Brian doesn't have sideburns).

Wardrobe

I was up at 5 am Tuesday morning, arriving at Upper Canada Village at 7:30. After signing in, they gave us our outfits and we headed to get makeup and hair.

Night before

Just before heading to stay at the Carpenters' on Monday night I took one last photo of the beard, combed out for maximum bushiness. In total, I had the beard for one day over 7 weeks. On a sidenote, this was the 4 year anniversary of the start of my mission to Idaho in 2001.