A little history lesson

First of all, I'm so sorry for all the pictures. I know many of you have seen Boston but I know many have not. So here is my weekend trip vacation in the middle of Jacob's business venture. 

I flew in on Friday night after a long day of delays and sitting in a packed airplane on the runway.  I really, really hate United Airlines right now.  Anyway I'm not going to let that part sink in and ruin my trip.  Boston is GORGEOUS!  I love all the history with it too.  It's an added bonus.  So here is how we spent our Saturday:

 

Jacob had talked with a few of his co-workers and somehow thought that the Boston Tea Party was in Salem.  But as McKay said best, "Well dad, that was silly.  Then it would be called the Salem Tea Party."  We didn't enjoy Salem all that much as witches isn't our thing so we drove up the coast to Gloucester to see all the ships and lighthouses.  I'm so glad he made that error!  Above here is a picture of an anchor.  They are huge.  Its also crazy how the salt has eroded the metal.

I really wanted to see a lighthouse.  Most of them are private and most of them you have to go to an island to even get up close.  So I'm happy with how close we were able to get to this one.  I think that maybe the Youth theme this year had something to do with my love of lighthouses.

I love the ocean.  I could just sit and watch it all day and feel relaxed and calm.  Jacob pointed out that what looks like cement slabs is really granite.  They have been there for a long time.  Gloucester had a lot of fish boats and sailing boats and everything else.  Yes, I'm still in awe!

That afternoon we met up with the sales manager in Boston and he toured us on the Freedom trail.  Now looking back, I wish I would have driven the kids up and stayed the full week up there.  So much to see and so little time.  This red brick trail goes all through Boston in all the Revolutionary War sites.

 Our first site was in Boston Commons in the graveyard.  We saw the graves of Samuel Adams,

Mary Goose, aka Mother Goose, (Notice the skulls on the grave stones?  This intrigued Jacob.)

John Hancock,

Benjamin Franklin, and of course....

Paul Revere.  Isn't it so amazing how these men came together and brought us our Freedom?!

This is the Old State House where they met to overthrow the British government.  There is now a law stating that no one can meet in that room to overthrow the government.  This is also where the Declaration of Independence was first proclaimed.

The Boston Massacre happened in front of the Old State House.  I had often perceived this the wrong way.  Did you know John Adams defended the British men?  Some drunken men come out of a bar and started throwing snowballs with rocks and ice at the soldiers and one accidentally fell and shot of his gun.  The commander yelled to "Hold your Fire!" and the soldiers heard "Fire!" 

As we walked, I took plenty of pictures of the architecture.  I've never seen anything like it.  By the way, did I mention traffic is horrendous here!  They are insane and drive that way too!

Then we went by Paul Revere's house and his statue in the park.  Here's another interesting fact.  I had always hear the he rode through the streets saying "The British are coming!"  I've also heard the version that he cried, "The Redcoats are coming!"  In reality, the colonists referred to them as British so he had rode through the streets in the night yelling, "The regulars are coming!"  You can't see the Old North Church behind the statue because of the sun, but we went there too.

This is the church that Paul Revere hung two lanterns in the bell tower signaling they were coming by sea.  His friend was there when the British came in and broke in the church.  Robert Newman dove through the right window and escaped.  This window is also called the "Newman" window.  There are also some angel statues that are at the top of the balcony.  Several decades later, a member of the congregation who was also a pirate seized a ship and found two angels.  He thought they would go good in the church so he gave them to it.  There is still stolen property there today.  : )

Jacob noticed how the sign that says the hymns looks like ours.  The statue in back of it is George Washington and is said to be the closest likeness of him.

At this point we decided we were hungry and went to Tapeo.  It was delicious.  I tried many different things that I had never tried before.

Here is a picture of a quail.  It was seasoned quite well but wasn't a favorite.  I really liked the lamb in apricot sauce and the duck in blackberry sauce.  The fried shrimp was really yummy too.

As we were eating on the patio, I saw this sign hanging in a store window. 

Hannah, this is for you!

We ended our night walking back through the Public Gardens and got a picture of the statue of George Washington.

And lastly, a picture of the skyline with the duck boats.  We also saw the duck statues that were replicated from the children's book, "Make Way For the Ducklings."  We ended up buying it for the kids as a souvenir (along with a couple books about Boston) because I refused to pay the outrageous prices of any other trinket or toy.  The kids had their doubts about their "surprise" but they have looked at them everyday since we have gotten back!  

To be continued....