Finally, here's my post about Boston!
After we spent a week in D.C., we were off to Boston where my brother and his family live. It took us a full day to drive there. We should have left earlier but we were slow.
That drive to Boston was during a tropical storm (Bertha, maybe?) and it rained The. Whole. Day. It poured. Being from the dry West, we don't see a ton of rain but on this day, we did. It was tedious to listen to the rain beat down all day but at least we weren't out trying to see sites.
We wanted to see the Statue of Liberty as we went by New York. So our plan was to get on the Staten Island Ferry and cross over to Manhatten, seeing the Statue en route. There were a few problems with this plan that we discovered about an hour away.
1. It was pouring rain--not ideal weather to see the Statue.
2. The Staten Island Ferry no longer carries cars, unfortunately.
We tried to come up with alternatives but finally decided that seeing the Statue of Liberty was not going to work out for this trip. Our family saw the Statue back in 1996 but our children who were alive then, don't remember it.
The traffic on the east side of New York City was terrible. I had forgotten how bad Friday afternoons can be and when there's bad weather in the mix, it's even worse. We ended up driving farther out of our way, through Hartford, Connecticut, to avoid the worst of it.
Finally, though, we got to my brother's house, late on Friday evening. On Saturday, we decided to go into the city and walk the Freedom Trail. Fortunately my brother was willing to be our guide, although we went slower than he wanted to. We saw the Old North Church, the King's Chapel and Burying Ground and the Granary Burying Ground, among other things, and sadly, I can't tell you which is which. But those cemeteries are looking pretty old.
About lunchtime, we decided to veer off the trail and have lunch at Boston Common near the Frog Pond. After lunch we crossed the street in between the marchers in the Gay Pride parade and saw the duckling statues of "Make Way for Ducklings" fame. We took a ride in one of the Swan Boats just like in the book. This is one of our favorite children's books; my husband and I quote the book now and then and have the names of the ducklings memorized, we've read it so many times to our kids.
We continued on the Freedom Trail, passing by Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall, and especially enjoyed visiting the Paul Revere house where we got to listen to a guy impersonate Paul Revere and give some background on the whole story of his famous ride. I really like getting more details like that.
We headed back to our car in the late afternoon. I stopped by the Farmer's Market which had surprisingly inexpensive produce and then we crossed the big bridge and visited the U.S.S. Constititution. Sadly, my son and I could not go on the boat because we had left our driver's licenses at home and they required that for entry for those 18 and older. But everybody else could go so that was good.
Saturday evening we took my brother and his wife out to eat at a ribs place, which is not what you think of for Boston food, but it was good.
On Sunday we went to church and enjoyed that experience--I played the piano in the women's meeting because no one else could play! That evening we visited the family of my old college roommate who never thought I would make it out to Boston to visit her. Our children got along really well.
On Monday, our last day, I wanted to go see Concord and Lexington or the Boston LDS temple, but everybody else voted to go to the beach. It was a cloudy day with a high of about 70 and a cool breeze blowing. I was sitting on the beach with the hood of my jacket on and a towel over my capris and I was still cold! But the rest of my family actually went in the water and spent a lot of time playing in the sand. They really love the beach.
The next morning we took off for New York, leaving our 18-year-old son to take a flight back home so he could start physical therapy on his shoulder because he had had a surgery 7 weeks earlier.
I appreciate my brother and sister-in-law being willing to host us for that whole time and cooking us lots of delicious food. It was a good visit!
After we spent a week in D.C., we were off to Boston where my brother and his family live. It took us a full day to drive there. We should have left earlier but we were slow.
That drive to Boston was during a tropical storm (Bertha, maybe?) and it rained The. Whole. Day. It poured. Being from the dry West, we don't see a ton of rain but on this day, we did. It was tedious to listen to the rain beat down all day but at least we weren't out trying to see sites.
We wanted to see the Statue of Liberty as we went by New York. So our plan was to get on the Staten Island Ferry and cross over to Manhatten, seeing the Statue en route. There were a few problems with this plan that we discovered about an hour away.
1. It was pouring rain--not ideal weather to see the Statue.
2. The Staten Island Ferry no longer carries cars, unfortunately.
We tried to come up with alternatives but finally decided that seeing the Statue of Liberty was not going to work out for this trip. Our family saw the Statue back in 1996 but our children who were alive then, don't remember it.
The traffic on the east side of New York City was terrible. I had forgotten how bad Friday afternoons can be and when there's bad weather in the mix, it's even worse. We ended up driving farther out of our way, through Hartford, Connecticut, to avoid the worst of it.
Finally, though, we got to my brother's house, late on Friday evening. On Saturday, we decided to go into the city and walk the Freedom Trail. Fortunately my brother was willing to be our guide, although we went slower than he wanted to. We saw the Old North Church, the King's Chapel and Burying Ground and the Granary Burying Ground, among other things, and sadly, I can't tell you which is which. But those cemeteries are looking pretty old.
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| A statue of Ben Franklin |
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| I love how these gravestones are sinking into the ground because they have been there so long. |
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| This is a gravestone marking the bodies of the victims of the Boston Massacre in 1770. |
About lunchtime, we decided to veer off the trail and have lunch at Boston Common near the Frog Pond. After lunch we crossed the street in between the marchers in the Gay Pride parade and saw the duckling statues of "Make Way for Ducklings" fame. We took a ride in one of the Swan Boats just like in the book. This is one of our favorite children's books; my husband and I quote the book now and then and have the names of the ducklings memorized, we've read it so many times to our kids.
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| Mrs. Mallard and her 8 cute little ducklings (my little nephew is there at the back) |
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| My sister-in-law and her children plus our family on the Swan Boat--an inexpensive ride, BTW. |
We continued on the Freedom Trail, passing by Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall, and especially enjoyed visiting the Paul Revere house where we got to listen to a guy impersonate Paul Revere and give some background on the whole story of his famous ride. I really like getting more details like that.
We headed back to our car in the late afternoon. I stopped by the Farmer's Market which had surprisingly inexpensive produce and then we crossed the big bridge and visited the U.S.S. Constititution. Sadly, my son and I could not go on the boat because we had left our driver's licenses at home and they required that for entry for those 18 and older. But everybody else could go so that was good.
Saturday evening we took my brother and his wife out to eat at a ribs place, which is not what you think of for Boston food, but it was good.
On Sunday we went to church and enjoyed that experience--I played the piano in the women's meeting because no one else could play! That evening we visited the family of my old college roommate who never thought I would make it out to Boston to visit her. Our children got along really well.
On Monday, our last day, I wanted to go see Concord and Lexington or the Boston LDS temple, but everybody else voted to go to the beach. It was a cloudy day with a high of about 70 and a cool breeze blowing. I was sitting on the beach with the hood of my jacket on and a towel over my capris and I was still cold! But the rest of my family actually went in the water and spent a lot of time playing in the sand. They really love the beach.
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| Yes, those are my crazy children out in the water. |
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| Are their lips blue yet? |
The next morning we took off for New York, leaving our 18-year-old son to take a flight back home so he could start physical therapy on his shoulder because he had had a surgery 7 weeks earlier.
I appreciate my brother and sister-in-law being willing to host us for that whole time and cooking us lots of delicious food. It was a good visit!
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