the freedom trail

The last two days went by in a blur.  Yesterday was capped off with a night at the House of Blues with Brian seeing an amazing performance of Thievery Corporation, and I was way too tired to blog afterword.  

Yesterday started off pretty early.  We wanted to get a jump start on our walking tour for the day.  We woke and had a bagel next to the hotel before wandering through Boston Common. We followed the Freedom Trail for quite a while and saw so many historical sites. It was such a beautiful day.  Warm sunshine on our faces was a welcome feeling after being so wet on Martha's Vineyard. 

We walked through the Granary Burying Ground first which dates back to 1660 and is where several historical people are buried.  Paul Revere,John Hancock, and Ben Franklin's parents to name a few.  Old cemeteries have a mysterious draw to them that I just can't seem to ignore.  It's so interesting to see the names, dates, and to see the decaying headstones.

 After the burying ground, we hopped back on the Freedom Trail through Boston Common. Aside from the small blonde child swearing, it was a lovely walk through the park and up to Beacon Hill.  Oh man that was a beautiful area.  Boston has become a favorite of Fiona's.

As you can imagine, Mack was not so in love with the aimless walking, but I just couldn't stop finding new things to take pictures of. I'm a sucker for a neat front door.  Maybe you have seen ours...

OK, break time.  Back to the hotel for a foot rest.  But, not for long.  It would be time again soon to hop back on the Freedom Trail.  We stood where the Boston Massacre took place, saw Paul Revere's home, and a few other historic spots.  The walk would eventually take us to Feneuil Hall where we met up with Brian's Family for lunch!  We had a great visit!  It's hard to see family when we live so far apart.  This was a nice treat! Mack insisted on pushing Raiden in the stroller which was very adorable. 

 As I mentioned before, the day ended with our adventure to see Thievery Corporation.  It was so much fun to be on an adult date and see an amazing show.  I got many texts from the babysitter telling me her sister was not being a very friendly client. She survived the night and awoke to another adventure!  Time for October in Salem!

We started at the Salem Witch Museum which told us all about the 1692 witch trials in a dated but interesting show.  I wasn't aware of the history behind it.  I'm glad we went early because it got very crowded very fast.  The whole town did.  It was like Halloween town.  There were some really interesting people wandering around the streets of Salem today.  I'll leave it at that.  I'm glad we checked it out, and I was happy to be done with the strange crowd.

Tomorrow morning we rise early and make our way back home.  The kids are going to be tired as we settle back into school and our routines.  I guess that is a part of traveling.  It's been another great adventure.  We have had great parts and not-so-great parts.  Great people, great food, and a lot of family time.  We have traveled a lot this year and I think I feel like maybe a summer at home might be nice.  I say that now... I guess we'll see if the travel bug bites again.  Thanks for coming along.  I think it's time for you to get out there and see the world too.  

the mack and max meet up

Well, we finally had some cooperation from Mother Nature today.  We did the pre-dawn pilgrimage to the bus stop and made our way to the ferry after confirming that the first boat was cleared to sail.  We (along with lots of other anxious people) boarded the second boat just before 7 o'clock, and made it to Woods Hole with no problems.

We had some breakfast and were on our way to Boston.  Today was an exciting day for me.  I have a really good friend, Charity,  who lives just outside Boston and we haven't seen each other in 6 years.  Our story is a long and interesting one, but I'll spare you.  Just know she is super important and having her son Max and Mack meet today was amazing.  She had zoo tickets ready to go and Mack has been counting down the days.  

The kids had a great time wandering around the zoo and I think it wore them out!  Mack and Max were go go go and that's good good good.  They are two peas in a pod.  It was fun to listen to her chat away with him.  

When we finished at the zoo, we headed over to Harvard!  Charity was a great tour guide as it is her alma mater.  We got to see a great marching band show march through Harvard Square and onto the campus.  It was perfect timing really.  I think Fiona really enjoyed being on such an amazingly beautiful college campus.  

What is going through her head?

We wandered around Harvard Square for a while and grabbed a piece of pizza before heading back to the hotel.  It was so much fun to hang with them today.  It's hard to have friends who live so far away and such a special treat to have our paths cross.  

Fiona is really loving Boston.  She says she likes it more than NYC.  I am excited to do some more exploring tomorrow!

wet hope

I'll start today by telling you how today was supposed to look.  Then, I will tell you how it actually played out.

Nor'easter- A nor'easter (also northeaster) is a macro-scale extratropical cyclone in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The name derives from the direction of the winds that blow from the northeast.

I googled for that definition.  My definition is a storm that makes it impossible for a family to leave Martha's Vineyard as scheduled.

We got up, ate breakfast, and planned to take the bus to the ferry around noon so we could head up to Boston where we have hotel reservations.  As each hour passed, we watched each scheduled ferry be cancelled.  There were two left on the schedule that hadn't been cancelled yet.  We gathered our suitcases and kids and headed for the bus stop. In the rain and crazy wind we stood. The bus stop is next to the ocean which was blanketing us with sea spray also.  By the time the bus came, we were soaked to the bone. But, it felt like progress toward getting off the island.

We made it to the harbor and once inside with all the other people trying to leave, we found out that our next boat option was cancelled.  We had 3 hours until the next one.  Brian and I went and changed into dry jeans which felt amazing and then made a decision.  We were going to give up on hoping for the last boat and take the bus back to the hotel we just checked out of.  The weather just really didn't look like it was going to let up enough for them to run the boat.  We would later find out that they cancelled all boats for the day so we were so glad we made that decision early. 

Passing time in wet clothes.

Lucky for us, the people who were supposed to check into the room we left were unable to come out to the island so the room was still open.  Let me just say that The Maddison Inn is amazing.  They have been nothing but helpful.  They even threw our wet jeans and jackets into the dryer for us. And, get this...the owner felt so bad that we were stranded that she offered us her car for the night so we could look around the island. A nice plus for people paying for two hotel rooms tonight and another day for a rental car parked in the ferry lot on the other side.

We had a pretty good dinner at a diner near our place, tried nearly unsuccessfully to get the girls an ice cream, and retired to our room where we would spend a long time trying to settle a dragon.  

It wasn't a bad day.  Just a bit frustrating.  There are worse places to be stuck.  There are better conditions to be stuck in though.  Tomorrow we wake early and start the whole parade of luggage to the bus stop again.  Please please please...we have zoo tickets in Boston for Mack and her buddy Max.  We need to get there...