Boston...A Patriot's City!
When we pulled through the burroughs of Boston to our resting spot for the week in Wompatuck State Park you could see the history everywhere. The people are kind and very opinionated about their city, staying true to it's relevance in history. As one acquaintence at the campground put it...we are from New England and we don't change. The city has changed but much remains to be respected and admired.
The city is protected by federal and state historians who have created a way for people to come for a short stay and get the most out of this city. Boston is one of the first major cities to form in our nation. It was on the red-bricked lined streets known as The Freedon Trail that we learned about Paul Revere's midnight ride and the course of both the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 that gave our founding families their independence from a controlling British monarchy. We started from Boston Commons, in front of the State House, and walked the entire 3 miles of the city through the cemetaries that honored notable leaders and commoners alike. Some dignitaries buried in Granary Burying Ground are Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Robert Treat Paine and Paul Revere. Ben Franklin's parents also are buried here. The kids became fascinated with all the tombstones and they spent the entire time we were in these cemetaries looking for the person born first. Boyd found a tomb of a settler born in 1588. We loved touring the Old South Meeting House, a place where speech has been protected and great orators throughout history have come to debate major decisions in our country. A place that George Washington came to...that's cool! We visitied Faneuil Hall marketplace to shop a little and admire the community of New Englander's who were out enjoying the beautiful evening. We ate a greasy meal at Cheers pub where nobody called us by name and then listened to a busker sing popular covers and some really good originals.
On Monday night we went to see the "Green Monstah" at the oldest Major League Baseball field, Fenway Park. We experienced the local fandom and the hospitality shown us Cardinal gear wearing baseball fans was perfect. We witnessed the Redsox win their 106th game of the season and clinch home field advantage throughout the playoffs by winning 6-2 over the bottom-dwelling Orioles. Mookie Betts hit a shot over the Green Monster and showed us how it's done! The kids loved it as much as we did:)
We spent a full day visiting Plymouth, MA to see the landing site of the Mayflower at Plymoth Rock. The rock was a small boulder at the sandy coastline of the city. We rubbed the one at the Pilgrim Hall Museum where we also viewed original pieces of history that came to America with the pilgrims on the Mayflower. We walked the coastal boardwalk and spent a couple of hours searching for seaglass in the sand. We hit the motherload of seaglass here and so Blythe was in heaven. Boyd also found about 50 sand covered coins, presumably washed down the beach from the Plymouth Rock site that we plan to clean to see what treasure we might have. Maybe a coin from the 1600's???
We got to spend a few down days at the campground due to rain. I spent one day replacing our RV's AC/DC converter that went out on us a week prior. We had been finding work arounds to charge our house batteries which kept us in the dark a lot. lt was a frustrating week of trying to solve a problem I knew nothing about...but I got it done after using Amazon Lockbox for the first time to get the new converter. We saved a bunch of money by avoiding taking the RV to get serviced. In the end I felt good!
Boyd and I did a little biking and Erica got a ride in too.
We spent a full, rainy day at Harvard visiting the Museum of Natural History and it was by far the most comprehensive display of animals we have ever seen.
We went back to Boston to finish parts of the Freedom Trail that we didn't get to. We got to see the Old North Church where lanterns were hung..."One if by land and two if by sea". We ended at the USS Constitution which was perfectly restored.
I hope the kids found their own reasons to be patriotic while they were here.
Peace and Love