Begin the Highlights: Massachusetts

There is no way at this point that I can produce thoughtful entries on each place/town we've visited. Correction: I do not have any desire at this point to produce thoughtful entries on each place/town we've visited. We will be home on Friday. I can tell myself that I can catch up when we're back home, but who are we kidding. I am taking advantage of this snowy morning in Salt Lake City to jot down some highlights so that when Facebook reminds me every year about this trip I can at least remember what we did. I do have plenty of thoughts/themes that have been stewing in my mind throughout this trip. I will make those posts a priority when we get home. HOME!!

Massachusetts Highlights: Hop-On-Off Tour. Boston Tea Party Ship tour and museum. Boston Commons. Dropped Jeff off at the airport. Plimoth Plantation, Plymoth Rock
It was only a short drive from Maine to Boston. We took full advantage of our morning with Jeff before we sent him off to Pittsburgh to watch the Seahawks game. If you're ever on a history tour of Boston, I recommend the Boston Tea Party Ship. Yes, is a revolutionary war era recreation with costumes and re-enactors but it's pretty well-done. They've built replica ships that are located on Boston Harbor near the sight of the actual Boston Tea Party. We walked throughout the ship and the kids got to throw replica boxes of tea over the side of the boat. The next day we visited Plimoth Plantation where we saw a replica villages of the settlers of Plymoth and the Wampanoag people. This was pretty great because the kids got to interact with the reenactors who actually were well versed in the history of the people and area. They got to play a few games of "find the bean" as well. Plymoth Rock was underwhelming as all the signs and tour guides will tell you that no one is certain that the rock they have called Plymoth Rock is the actual rock the settlers used as a make-shift pier when they arrived. It is, however, the only rock that was ever found in the area that fits the description in their journals.












Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Touching the Water

Image
Three years ago over Labor Day weekend I took the children on one last day trip to Snoqualmie Falls before the school year started. It's one of our favorite places to take out of town friends or just for a quick adventure to see the beautiful falls and play outdoors. Just beyond the parking lot is a viewpoint with a rail overlooking the falls and the Snoqualmie river. You travel down the viewpoint through a series of shallow stairs and landings until you reach the final landing where you can take the perfect selfie with the falls if the mist rising from the river isn't too high. Most people who visit Snoqualmie Falls walk the stairs, take their pictures, and then visit the gift shop and head home. We've done this many times. Just behind the gift shop is a trail about 1.3 miles down to the river. Along the way you see little placards naming the types of trees and other plants you see on the trail. The walk down to the river is a treat. You're walking under some pre
Read more

Polluted

Image
Brent and Paul were college roommates at UW. After about 20 years living and working post-college in Seattle, Brent and his girlfriend Robin cut ties with our city for good and bought 25 acres in eastern Washington in Nine Miles Falls just outside the Spokane valley. We knew that they lived on a sizable piece of land. What we didn't know was just how far away from everything it is. One of their favorite things about the place is that they rarely hear cars now which is the exact opposite of where they had lived on the Seattle/Shoreline border since the early 2000's. Brent and Robin live with their 7 year old kunekune pig named Oliver and their 3 year old border collie rescue named Django. They spend much of their time protecting their home from the local wildlife and raking up piles and piles of pine cones from the mini forest that surrounds their home. The previous owner lovingly designed and built the house with fun hidden nooks and crannies that are perfect for playing hi
Read more

From Pacific to Atlantic

Image
Day 12 We left Albany on the only rainy morning of our trip. We chose a slightly longer route to Maine so that we could drive through Vermont and New Hampshire. Though technically filling my requirements for having visited a state (either stayed in or driven through), we saw nothing but side roads and trees. To quote comedian Mitch Hedberg, if the stretches of VT and NH we drove through were representations of each state, they probably represented an equivalent of the, "Donate to Charity" slice on a pie chart titled, "What You Would Do if You Won $1 Million." Sorry, Vermont and New Hampshire. Fortunately, some enterprising person opened a singular gift shop along the road we were on which allowed me to buy "authentic" Vermont swag including a jug of maple syrup, Vermont cheese, and some banging maple ice cream. New Hampshire had no such entrepreneurs capitalizing on road tripping tourists thus leaving me basically nothing on which to comment. On the brigh
Read more