Boston

Boston

We didn’t make it into Boston on Wednesday (that’s what I get for not setting an alarm – we way overslept!)  Instead we took the girls to an old Iron Works site run by the National Parks.  We got there just in time to join a group of cub scouts on their guided tour.  This site only produced iron for about 20 years during the mid-1600’s – but it was very interesting to see how it was done back then!

Thursday we set the alarm clock and made it into Boston at a decent time!  I really liked Boston!  What a great city – so much history!  We caught the “T” (MTBA – I found myself singing the old Kingston Trio song – “he may ride forever, ‘neath the streets of Boston, he’s the man who never returned…” – that’s for you dad!)  into Boston Common.  Boston Common is the first public park in the USA.  Here we caught a trolley tour that took us around Boston, up to M.I.T. in Cambridge and back.  We stopped to eat lunch at Quincy Market (in Bahston – they say “Quinzzey”) – lots of food and lots of people.  We then went to see the U.S.S. Constitution – a.k.a. “Old Ironsides” and caught a glimpse of the Bunker Hill Monument (we found out we actually lost this battle after three days – but it’s considered a turning point in the Revolution because we could have won if we had not run out of ammo -  oops!)  

We also took a walking tour around Beacon Hill – one of the more prestigious neighborhoods in Boston (townhouses can go for as much as $10 million!)  All the streetlamps in the neighborhood are gas lanterns that they continuously keep lit.  It was a beautiful, old brick neighborhood.

We couldn’t leave Boston without walking at least some of the 2.5 mile Freedom Trail.  (We walked about ½ of it!)  Along the route we saw the “new” State House built in 1795, several old churches, the Old South Meeeting House where Bostonians met to “discuss” the British tax on tea – from here they left to dump the imported tea into the bay – the “Boston Tea Party”, the Old State House (site of the Boston Massacre – where five colonists were killed by the British), Paul Revere’s House, the Old North Church (where the lanterns were hung to signal the colonists of the arrival of the Redcoats – “one if by land, two if by sea”), and the cemetery where Paul Revere, John Hancock, and Samuel Adams were buried.  Along the way, we also saw the oldest restaurant and tavern, a beautiful memorial to WWII holocaust victims, Little Italy (boy, did it smell good!), at least eight Starbucks (one of which we were fortunate enough to get our drinks before the young employee shut down the espresso bar because his rotator cuff was bothering him (???!!), and so much more!

We left our campground in Salem this morning – just in time to leave behind the mad rush of people coming to participate in Salem’s Halloween festivals (the campground we stayed at is booked solid through the 31st!)  We are now heading up through Maine to see Acadia National Park.  We managed to find a campground that is still open (through the weekend!).  The colors are beautiful (and where we are driving they are only in the low to moderate range of peak!)  If it doesn’t get too windy and blow all the leaves away, we should be able to see some amazing colors in the next few days!