Mom's Trip to Boston

Mom went on a trip to Boston with her sister Melanie. It was such a fun trip! It was hard to enjoy so many amazing places without Dad and the boys. I really missed them and can't wait to take them to Boston one day. It really was a great time, though. Melanie likes to vacation like the Ockeys, so we did a lot in just a few days. My feet hurt so much at the end of every day. I also learned a ton of American History by touring with Melanie because she knows so much more than I do and loves to see the historical sites.

Mom and Mel on our way to Boston!

We arrived late at night, but this photo-op was in the Boston airport.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was visiting six different Targets trying to find Red Sox gear and baseball cards. I really wanted to take something home for the boys, and Target was the cheapest place for souvenirs.

Day 1: After arriving late into the Boston airport, we spent our first day in Concord and Lexington. We spent the whole day visiting different sites, and we still only hit half of the things on Melanie's list. The places we visited were: Walden Pond, Alcott House, Wayside House, Concord Museum, Old North Bridge, Hancock-Clark Parsonage, Belfy in Lexington, and the Emerson House. This area was the jumping off place for so many authors, and historical figures. We ended our day by eating at the Colonial Inn, and I had the most delicious steak salad. It was so good!

Walden Pond was beautiful. 

It was fun to see the house from Little Women!

One of the lanterns giving the signal that the British were coming. 

Old North Bridge was also in a beautiful location. 

The Hancock house was an unexpected surprise.
I learned so much about that fateful night when Paul Revere stopped here before heading on to spread the news. 

Inside the Hancock house they found shoes in the walls when they were restoring it.
Apparently this was a tradition for good luck. 

The bell that rang the warning to Concord and Lexington. It has moved many times, and now it is here. 

There were lots of people laid to rest in the Concord cemetery.

Day 2: The second day of our trip was walking the Freedom Trail through Boston. We parked at Boston Commons, then road the subway up to the Bunker Hill. Next we worked our way down the Freedom trail passing the USS Constitution, Copp's Hill Burying Grounds, Old North Church, Paul Revere's House, Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall, Boston Massacre Site, Old South Meeting House, Parker House, and King's Chapel Burying Grounds.

We ate lunch at the Old Oyster House, which is the oldest restaurant in America. We had some great fish and were able to rest our feet. We also stopped at the site of the Molasses flood which was fun because Mark and Dax had read a book about it.

The best part of this day was going to a Red Sox game at Fenway Park. It was one of the best games that I have ever been to, and I've seen a lot of baseball games. Being in Fenway Park was also amazing. It is such a historic place. We had great seats out in centerfield behind the bullpen. The Red Sox had 20 hits and ended up winning 14-10. I can't wait to take the boys one day!

I hadn't been on the USS Constitution before. I really enjoyed exploring this old ship.

It was neat to be able to wander around and touch everything. 

The USS Constitution!

This is Paul Revere's house, and it has some authentic wood beams, but they won't let you take pictures inside. 

Paul Revere was a silversmith. They have some of the items he made, and his name is engraved on them.

John Hancock's grave, and there were many others like Paul Revere and Ben Franklin in this cemetery.

It was like a dream being in Fenway Park!

It was so much fun!

I took 100s of pictures of the players for the boys. 

Mookie was the closest to us, and he was always smiling. 

We all love JD Martinez. He was playing left field this game instead of DH.

Our seats were right behind the bull pen, so we saw everyone warm up.
Here's Joe Kelly snapping the glove at 100 mph!

There was a huge party going on in the street before the game.

I had to get a Fenway Frank and it was delicious!

Dad and the boys watched the game, and they spied us on TV!

Day 3: We spent this day driving through Maine and New Hampshire, which is beautiful country. We started out by visiting a lighthouse and then headed to the Robert Frost farm. We took a tour of the Longfellow house back in Cambridge, which was so neat. It was George Washington's headquarters for a while during the Revolutionary War before Longfellow later lived in it. Then Mel and I ended the night by going to a session at the Boston Temple, which was just the relaxing evening we needed.

I love seeing light houses. 

These are the reasons I love the Northeast United States. Old Wooden Bridges!

It was so picturesque.

Robert Frost's Farm was beautiful. 

It was raining the entire time we were there. But he lived in such a green place.

Two roads diverged in a lonely wood....

The Longfellow House was beautiful inside and out.
Used by Washington as a base during the war, and later owned by Longfellow. 

These stairs were in the house when Washington lived here. I walked on them, too!

The Boston Temple is beautiful.

Day 4: This day began by spending some time walking through Salem. We checked out the old graveyard, the Custom House, and took a tour of the House of Seven Gables. This house was so cool, and we even walked through a secret passageway. We drove to the Rebecca Nurse Farm and learned about her life. She was one of the people convicted and killed for being a witch. Then we hustled over to the Adams National Historical Park, which was Mom's second favorite thing on the trip behind the Red Sox game. You tour the house that John Adams was born in, then his house he lived in early on where John Quincy Adams was born, and then Old Manse where John Adams lived after he was president. This house stayed in the family until it became a National Site, so John Quincy Adams also lived there. They have a separate building for the library, which was amazing. The grounds were beautiful, and it was neat to see so many historical things inside. Then I drove Melanie through Rhode Island and Connecticut so she could add them to her states list before heading back to the hotel.

Samantha from Bewitched has her own statue in Salem. 

Salem is a cool city because it is SO old! 

But it has a sad history with the Witch Trials.  

This gravestone says 1692 and is from a passenger of the Mayflower.

The Customs House where Nathanial Hawthorne worked. 

The House of Seven Gables. 

The secret passageways were so cool.

This house has been around for a long time. 

I could totally live here. John & Abigail Adams had a beautiful home.  

This is an actual copy of the Constitution.  

The library has its own fireproof building. 

There were a million books inside. I don't know actually know how many, but all the walls were filled with books.

This tree is as old as the property. Can you see the stick holding up it's branch ?

We laughed at this sign on our drive through Rhode Island!

Day 5: We were heading home this evening, but we still had a lot of things to do on our last day in Boston. We started at the Saugus Iron Works, which was super interesting. I learned a lot about how this town was built purely around the iron works and how iron was made. Then we drove into town to see JFK's birth place. It wasn't open on the day we were there, so we just walked around the yard and peeked in the windows. Our last stop was Plymouth. We spent a little bit of time at the Plymouth Plantation, which is a reenactment of pilgrim life. Melanie was not impressed and I had been there before, so then headed to the cemetery where we saw William Bradford's headstone. We are his direct descendants, and of course we stopped by Plymouth Rock. Finally we headed to the airport to eat dinner and then fly Home!

The Saugus Iron Works was a cool place. It was opened in 1647, so soon after the pilgrims landed. 

I love the big trees that line the streets on the east coast. This is near JFK's birthplace.

JFK's birth place. We didn't go inside, but the home is beautiful.

Plymouth is special to our family because William Bradford is my direct ancestor.

We stopped at his gravestone. The view from the cemetery was beautiful! 

This was the first church built in Plymouth. 

We went to the Plimouth Plantations, which is built to look like the 1620s.  

We made sure to stop by the Wampanoag village, too.

It was a busy 5 days, but I was so glad that I had the chance to go with Melanie. It was great to spend some time with her. Boston is one of my favorite places, so I am always happy to go!

It was the best sister trip!