Boston, Massachusetts

We left Maine knowing that we would always feel a sense of attachment to our family time there. However, we were also looking forward to the string of big cities awaiting us as we traveled down the East Coast. I may be the only geographically-challenged person I know, but I was surprised to discover a small portion of south-eastern New Hampshire touched the Atlantic Coast between Maine and Massachusetts.

Franz called a college roommate and friend of his who lives with his family in the Boston area. We had plans to meet them for dinner that evening. He recommended a few suburbs to us for our overnight stay. We booked our hotel while on the road, and he called us back with a nearby restaurant where we could meet for dinner. He has a teenage step-son and another son between Maddie and Katie in age.

When he mentioned the reservations that were required at the restaurant, Franz and I hesitated. We were thinking of Jackson, in particular, and the level of restaurant implied; wondering if the two were compatible. The girls, well, we don't worry about them in formal settings. They are great fun and we are so very proud of them. Dear Jackson, however, has not had the time yet for proper restaurant grooming or an understanding of even basic good manners. No, Jason reassured us, the restaurant was just fine for a small boy; noisy even.

We pulled in, a few hours later, to a very VERY nice Italian restaurant. The kind of restaurant with muted colors and a hushed atmosphere. The kind of restaurant where the served places the napkin on your lap for you. That kind of restaurant. Jackson had been in the car ALL DAY. Just let your imaginations run wild for a minute. Probably some of what you are imagining did actually happen; perhaps all of it. Suffice it to say that I spent a great deal of the meal in the lobby or struggling to hear and reply to questions directed at me by Jason's wife, whom I had never met before, while simultaneously keeping a stranglehold on a squirming and squawking baby. The only thing he would eat for dinner proved to be french fries, which came off the plate of Jason's younger son. I always swore I would not raise a kid like that! (Ah, how unprepared I was for this little boy!!) The whole evening left me with a headache and a couple sweat stains I tried to hide.

However, it was very nice to meet Jason's family, and the girls got along with his son very well. They gave us some excellent advice on our Boston visit the next day as well. We were glad to have spent the time with them despite the incongruity of a one-year-old and a beautiful Italian restaurant.

Just after rush hour the next morning, we headed from the suburbs into downtown Boston. Upon arriving, we discovered that no one drives large SUVs and very few parking garages accomodate them. We were, apparently 6-feet 3-inches tall, and that was something the urban designers couldn't quite imagine, apparently. We did finally find a garage with about a one-inch clearance, and descended below-ground. In the parking garage, we unloaded the back rack and squeezed the two suitcases and two coolers onto the seats we were vacating inside the car. Before heading up to street-level, we opened up the coolers, and fed the fam all that good cooler food we used to complain about eating when we were kids. It was a funny moment for Franz and I.

We were excited to follow the 5-mile Freedom Trail laid out in downtown Boston, covering 16 historical sites linked by a brick path cut into the sidewalks, and marked by circular plaques sunk into the concrete in front of each. For more information on the specific stops, click on this link to visit The Freedom Trail.org.

These are pictures of the trail and plaques we followed around the city, starting from the center of the city.

The Massachusetts State House, right downtown.

The King's Chapel, and attached burying ground. The cemetery is as old as Boston itself, and hosts the graves of Massachusett's first governor and the first woman to step off the Mayflower, among others.

Benjamin Franklin's statue marks the spot of the original Boston Latin School, which schooled four of the signers of the Declaration of Independence (Franklin did not graduate).

Copp's Hill Burying Ground, Boston's largest colonial burying ground.

Paul Revere's house, which we toured (the only museum on the trail we did tour, due to our company with limited patience). It was very interesting.

The Old North Church with a statue commemorating Paul Revere's ride in front of it.

The second to last stop was the USS Constitution.

Here is a great picture of Jackson, grateful to be out of the stroller, confidently making his way through urban America.

Just after we finished walking the decks, a brief rain storm moved in and we were forced to wait it out inside the associated museum / gift shop. Finally, exhausted by the heat and the walk, we pushed out into the rain, heading for the memorial at Bunker Hill.

Oddly enough, The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on Breed's Hill, and not on Bunker's Hill, which is why the memorial is also located on Breed's Hill, despite it's name.

While the rain had let up some on our walk from the USS Constitution, it began to come down in earnest after we left the Bunker Hill Memorial. We were trying to make our way to the train station to take the train back, as we were all worn out with walking. However, the rain drove us into a deep covered doorway of an old brownstone building in a beautiful neighborhood. With nothing else to do but wait, we pulled out some snacks and enjoyed the cooling temperatures. Unfortunately for me, I had a migraine onset at that particular time, so the waiting was a bit less enjoyable for me. We finally made it to the train station at a local community college after a few round-about searches. The train dropped us a couple of blocks from our parking garage, which I was so, so grateful to see.

We pulled out of the parking garage, not quite sure where we were staying that night, or where we were eating. We just knew we needed to get out of town before rush hour. We set the GPS for Providence, Rhode Island, and arrived there in the dark and a bit late for the dinner hour. We finally located an easy chain restaurant, and carried Jackson in through the rain. I was never so glad to see a margarita in all my life! We enjoyed a relaxed dinner all by ourselves in a back corner of the restaurant with very nice staff.

After leaving, we booked a hotel for the night in Connecticut and let the kids fall asleep on the road. We carried them in when we arrived, but had no breakdowns. It had been a packed, fun day and we needed to rest before we hit the Big Apple the next day.