Rainy Week in Boston

We left Ohio and drove through a corner of Pennsylvania seeing mostly trees, on through more farms in the rolling hills of New York all the way to Boston, Massachusetts.  We stayed in a state park just south of the city, camping in the woods, just down the street from a neighborhood. It seems funny to be in the woods, yet so close to homes.

our little tent in the big woods

We spent the first day walking the Freedom Trail, which is 2.5 miles through the city and stops at 16 of the major points of history in Boston.  We enjoyed touring the ancient graveyards, seeing gravestones from the 1600s and 1700s, as well as Paul Revere's, Sam Adams, Mother Goose's, and many others of importance in history.  We saw Paul Revere's home, the Old North Church, the Old State House where the Declaration of Independence was read, the site of the Boston Massacre, the USS Constitution, the Bunker Hill Monument, and more. 

the balcony where the Declaration of Independence was read to the public

We stopped at the Omni Parker House to have Boston Creme Pie, where it was invented; delicious of course! 

We walked around the Boston Common, and went to the Public Garden and took a refreshing ride on the swan boats and saw all the ducks.  It was fun to stop at the "Make Way for Ducklings" sculpture and see all the tiny kids sitting on the ducks.

And what visit to Boston would be complete without some Boston Baked Beans? We had some with our dinner.
Then the rains came.  We took a lazy day and just hung out in the tent.  It was a crazy, fun challenge cooking in the rain under umbrellas!

The next day cleared up a little, so we went into the city and visited the JFK library and museum.  It was a great place.  The museum was set up as if we were walking through his life from his childhood, through his presidency and his death.

They even had his favorite little boat that he sailed around the cape.

They also had memorablilia from the 60s.

We went to the Prudential Center and went up in the tower to the Skywalk to see the city from the 50th floor viewing area.  It was great!  We also got our free visitor's packet and had our free bowl of New England clam chowder in the food court in the mall on the first floor. 

We drove around Boston to see all the brick buildings in Beacon Hill, with the gas lamps and brick sidewalks.  There are brick buildings and sidewalks all over Boston, which we just loved.

 
We drove to Fenway Park and saw the home of the Red Sox, the first baseball park.  It is a small baseball field,  with housing all around it.  We drove all around the park, and enjoyed seeing it. 

We went to the harbor and saw the tea party ship, too.   It was so small!  I expected it to be much larger.

We drove over to Cambridge and visited Harvard, such huge iron gates and great brick buildings, and Harvard Square with all its shops.

We stopped and had some Boston brown bread before we drove past MIT. It was a great columned building with brick buildings all around.

On our way back to the campsite, we stopped for Boston creme donuts.  A yummy treat for dessert!  Rebekah built a wonderful campfire that night with no lighter fluid using her old summer camp skills!

I must say the driving in Boston is not what I expected. Everyone warned me about it, but it isn't much different than driving in any big city.  The only unusual thing I found were the underground freeway tunnels in the downtown area, and driving on the shoulder during rush hour.  I didn't find it difficult at all.