Our big trip finally came and we LOVED Beantown (even though we never ate Boston Baked Beans). Our flights were smooth and we ate lunch at the airport in Baltimore in a 50's Diner with tabletop juke boxes you could play for $.25 a song. We spent about $2.00 and loved it!It was so exciting to meet with with Beth and Scott at the Boston airport. We decided to ride a Duck Tour first to get a feel for the city. It was fun, informative and a great experience. Beth did not like cruising in the Charles River too much, but we got to hear lots of history and see the general overview of the town. Here we are in front of our duck...Olga Ironsides.
Stacey had recommended Legal SeaFood, so that was our first meal in Boston. It was my favorite restaurant of the trip. The clam chowder was fantastic and the crab cakes were divine! In honor of Becca and our college days, I recited the Ace Ventura monologue about New England clam chowder. Here is the delicious chowder!
Did you know there are 1100 Dunkin Donuts in metro Boston. That is not a typo...1100! They are on every corner. And we fell into peer pressure and ate 3 breakfasts there. My favorite was the Heath donut...go try one!
Friday we started the Freedom Trail bright and early. Poor Jason was driving and apparently the city of Boston does not believe in street signs or directions to the interstate. He did a FANTASTIC job navigating, especially when the Garmin broke. Anyway, we made it to Boston Common and started the Freedom Trail (FT). If you ever go to Boston (which you should!) the FT is a must!!! Someone told us you could do it in one morning - they were CRAZY! I guess you could actually walk the FT, but you would not go in any house or museum, which is the whole point of doing it. And wear comfy shoes. Stacey told me this advice and I thought I obeyed...but 4 blisters later I wished I would have left the boots at the hotel and worn my Nikes! :)
In the Public Garden there is this famous statue to the book by Robert McClosley "Make Way for Duckinkgs." Did you know it is the state children's book? Of course we HAD to find the statue and pose with it. This photo is glued into the cover of the book which Jacob and Rylan read everyday!
Did you know that I have a quest to see all 50 state capitals? Here is capital number 9. (The others we have seen are TX, AR, NM, AL, TN, MS, LA and NE). This was a beautiful building. The gold dome was one of the prettiest features, but was too tall for this pic.
On the FT we toured 4 cemeteries. We saw the tombs of many patriots - Sam Adams, Paul Revere, John Hancock and many more. This past reminded me of our girls trip to Savannah...
Did you know that Beth and i have been friends for 15 years?!?!?!? We met in July 1994. In some ways we are the same girls we were then and in some ways we have matured... however, we still laugh til we cry and tell silly stories until all hours of the night! She is a blessing to me and being able to spend time with her and her sweet hubby was priceless!
Paul Revere's House. This was TOO COOL!!! The house was TINY! And 18 people lived in it! I don't know the square footage, but the down stairs was 2 small rooms, upstairs 2 small bedrooms and the attic was the teenagers bedroom. It was full of Paul's real artifacts and the tour guides told really good stories. It was well worth the $3.50 admission.
Paul again...he's ALL over Boston! :) This is near the Old North Church...you remember, one if by land, two if by sea...
Me and my sweetheart walking the FT!
The next to last stop on the FT is the USS Constitution...the oldest commissioned warship that still sets sail. All 44 presidents have set foot on this ship...and we did too! Real sailors gave the tours and they were all outstanding. Their sense of pride and respect for the ship was very touching. I love this picture...it was about 4:00pm and Beth and I had sore backs, so our sweethearts carried our very girl-y bags. (My new love, Vera Bradley, is ALL over the east coast! I saw so many girls carrying her!)
One of our favorite shows is NCIS. This is the scuttlebutt. On the old ships there was limited fresh water. In fact, we learned that the fresh water was called "live water" because you would probably find something alive in it! The container for the live water was the scuttlebutt. When the sailors were eating, the only time they could talk was when they got up to get water. So they would congregate around the scuttlebutt and tell stories and gossip. Nowadays, scuttlebutt means "gossip." I took this in honor of Leroy Jethro Gibbs. :)
Exiting Old Ironsides
The last stop was Bunker Hill..."Don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes" battle. We were too tired to climb to the top. Whoever said that the FT is only 2.5 miles was CRAZY!!! I think we walked at least 10 miles...probably more! But every step was worth it! I cannot describe the awe of seeing all these relics and stories about the founding of our nation. It was a very patriotic trip.
All that walking made this stop a guilt-free place...Mike's Pastry. I met my other new obsession...cannollis. They were unbelievable!!!
While walking back to our car (parked at Boston Common - a million miles from the North End) we saw the Parker House. They are famous for Boston Creme Pie, so we HAD to stop and get some. We brought the $8 each desserts back to the hotel and dug in. Needless to say, they are not cannollis!
More coming! :)
