The Freedom Trail

Today we woke up to all sunshine, at least weather wise not necessarily attitude wise. Stacey was feeling better after getting a good night sleep. While I finished my work for the morning the kids and Stace did chores and got ready.

We hit the subway station about 11:30AM. This was a new experience for us all, but we have been told is the best way to get around Boston. We hopped on the T (subway) at Quincy Adams station and took it to downtown to the Park Street station. From there we popped up right at the Boston Commons which is the oldest park in America.

We bought tickets for the living history tour which is a guided walking tour on the Freedom Trail. The tour hit most of the famous spots in Boston and we really learned alot by doing it instead of just walking the tour. We really enjoyed it and put on probably three to four miles today of walking without a lot of whining.



"Steve", our tour guide, telling us about the "new" State House

Grave of Samuel Adams who, we learned, was apparently the poorest
of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and also very ugly

John Hancock's Memorial Stone

Bryn hopscotched on the site of the first public school in America

Paul Revere's Grave Marker

When the tour ended we went to the oldest restaurant in America and had a bowl of Chowdah (except Ben who had grilled cheese). The chowder was really good, but lunch took longer than expected which meant we could not make the USS Constitution tour in time. I also had trouble getting payroll transfers done via my tablet so we ended up also missing the tour of the Bunker Hill monument. We did get to see both from the outside though. We were happy with what we did get to see.


Old South Meeting House, where colonists decided to
start the revolution with the Boston Tea Party

Old State House



Faneuil Hall

Paul Revere's House



USS Constitution, "Old Ironsides"

USS Constitution viewed from outside

Spencer walking a pipe in front of a British naval ship called
the HMS Dauntless

Bunker Hill Monument

Burning up energy, STILL after the walking tour

Still loving the fall foliage

We took a water shuttle ride back to the downtown area and hopped on the subway. We had to transfer twice and both times people saw us looking dazed and confused and offered to help point us in the right direction. I think we were all impressed with the friendliness of most Bostonians.




 

The favorite parts of the day by person:

• Ben - Riding the subway
• Brynna - The guided history tour of the Freedom Trail as we learned a lot more than if we would have just done it ourselves
• Spencer - No answer as he is mad about not being able to go swimming tonight
• Brighton - The guided history tour because we learned things about historical figures we did not know
• Stacey - The tour also - hearing the real story behind some of the historical figures we had read about
• Brock - That we did not get lost and the weather was great

The subway was CONSIDERABLY more crowded
than this on our ride back out of the city. Standing
room only for most of the ride.

At the dog park at our campground which Heidi is, of course, loving. There hasn't been any other dogs when we've taken her, so we've let her run to her hearts content over the two acre enclosure.