Freedom Trail

 Following our visit to Minute Man National Historic Park, we continued to learn about Paul Revere and the foundations of the country in Boston. 

On Monday we took the train into Boston and first went to the Quincy Market. 

 Had some yummy clam chowder and explored the market while we enjoyed some street performers. 

 
 

Next we went on to visit the Paul Revere house and the oldest church in Boston. We got a taste of how people lived prior to the American Revolution. Lots of walking brought us to the historic sites in Boston including the Old North Church and the cemetery which includes the graves of many famous individuals including, John Hancock, Paul Revere, Mother Goose and Sam Adams. 

We had some delicious cannoli from Mike's Pastry to hold us over until dinner. 

The final stop in Boston on Monday was Boston Common. Once we got back to the hotel, we took a sunset walk on the beach and had dinner at Kelly's. One of the best roast beef sandwiches and THE best clam strips i have ever had! Best part is the beach is right on the flight path for the airport so we got to see lots of planes coming and going. 

We spent most of the day on Tuesday at the Science Museum. This took us on a nice walk through Boston. Great museum with lots to do including the original (and largest) Van De Graph generator in existence. 

After the Science Museum we walked over to the USS Constitution. The oldest ship in the Navy and it is still commissioned! We learned about life as a revolutionary sailor. 

Afterword we walked to a brewery for a quick bite to eat went back to the hotel. Another walk on the beach and some ice cream to end the vacation. 

Overall a great trip! It is always tough to identify the favorites, but we all loved the Tuna fishing, seafood, visiting Mimi and Grampy, seeing Grammy Jeanne, the hikes in Acadia and the history around Boston. LOTS! 

Boston was a neat city and very clean. while it had all of the "Big City" things, we felt very safe and comfortable. Seeing and learning about the foundations of the country were great. It really puts into perspective all of the text of the constitution and Bill of Rights. Seeing how patriotic the colonies were without even having their own identity at the time; Great stuff. 

My favorite quote was from the Mark Twain house. 

My hope is that through our travels our children will learn about our own culture as well as the culture of others. In today's world, it is too easy to formulate opinions through other's eyes. After seeing firsthand all that is out there, though we may not all agree, but we can understand different ideas in the world. 

The revolution

On Father’s Day we visited Grammy Jeanne again and then had a yummy sausage and meatball lunch before heading out to minute man national historic site. We walked through Lexington and concord and the north bridge.  Lots of American history right here. 

The north bridge 

Original 1700’s era house

Site of Paul revere’s capture by British soldiers 

Another junior ranger badge

We walked the path between Lexington and concord seeing some historical sites including where Paul Revere was capture the morning after his midnight ride. We learned about the shot heard around the world and saw some very old buildings including a house that Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne lived in. 

We checked into the hotel and there happened to be a melting pot a block away. So we got the kids some food and headed over to our favorite restaurant to learn we couldn’t get in… uggh 

We had a nice Father’s Day dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and headed back to get some rest. Boston tomorrow…

Back to Connecticut

Friday was Maggie’s birthday. She became an Acadia junior ranger after we had a really good breakfast (chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream) and took a hike up Gorham mountain. She does like the junior ranger program. 

Then we started our drive back to my parents house in CT. We stopped for some blueberry pie and ice cream and took the scenic route a good part of the way. Lots of cool little towns and things to see. We stopped in Kinnebunkport to see the president Bush’s summer house 

Other than a little late night traffics it was a good drive. 

Saturday we visited Grammy Jeanne who is doing darn well for 92 yrs old and my sister came over for lunch. 

Today we get to spend a rare Father’s Day with my dad before we head to Boston for the last part of our trip. 

Acadia

We went up to Cadillac mountain and took in the views.  It sure is amazing scenery around here. 

After Cadillac mountain we went to Jordan pond since parkycna be difficult there. We walked around for a bit and went to the restaurant for the famous popovers. Everyone agreed they were delicious so we ordered another round! 



After lunch we decided to try and rent some bikes. We drove to bar harbor and were able to rent some. It was interesting since Maggie had never ridden a bike with hand brakes and a couple of us had not ridden bikes in years but were able to bike 12 miles on the carriage roads and stopped at a couple of lakes. It was a nice trip. 





We some good pizza for dinner and took a walk to bar island.  During low tide you can walk over to bar island on the rocky sand bar. It was a nice walk and the kids enjoyed building rock towers and skipping rocks. 

Not to brag but we do have some great kids!! I constantly enjoy seeing our kids help one another or just talk and enjoy their siblings.  Don’t get me wrong they have their moments but for the most part, they all get along and are awesome kids. I love watching them laugh and talk while we walk/bike/boat or whatever we are doing. It is my favorite part of these trips. I love that nobody is ever excluded; they may have one hiking bush for a few days then switch to another, it gives me joy to hear them laugh and see the fun jokes they come up with. 

Maine

Our trip to Maine has been awesome!! It was a roughly six hour drive but we found time to stop at a friendly for some mega ice cream sundays and had an awesome lobster dinner  

Before we came, we had talked as a family about what we should do. The big boys were really wanting to go fishing. So we looked into lobster fishing and some fishing charters but they are quite expensive and we just weren’t sure.  They kept saying they really wanted to go tuna fishing, but I kept saying that will never happen. Well while eating dinner at 7pm my sister called and asked if we can be in Portland at 7am. Now we are in Bar Harbor so it is a ways from Portland but when she said “I have a connection and I lined up a fishing trip with a guy who does commercial fishing not charters but he will take the family out tuna fishing.” as much as I didn’t want to set an alarm for 3 in the morning, that is what I did. And off we went. I can’t thank her enough for the awesome experience. 

I have never seen the show wiked tuna, but our captain, Pete was on a season. Awesome guy. The whole experience was great. We didn’t catch a tuna but did catch a shark and saw whales, seals, puffins, lighthouses and other cool stuff. This is one of those stories our family will never forget. 

After the long day yesterday, today we hiked in Acadia national park along with Mimi and grampy. Amazing scenery here! Finding parking was tough but we did the thunder hole hike to otter point. After that we went to echo lake and the kids did some swimming. Went to a lighthouse had a yummy clam chowder and blueberry pie supper and came back for a campfire.  We are  sure enjoying spending time with my parents today. Unfortunately they need to go home tomorrow. 

2022

I guess I don’t really know when the vacation officially starts this year. We started in grand forks and Fargo because I was providing some teacher professional development.  Lots of fun and good event but that was really work not vacation:). From there we drove to Minneapolis spent the night and flew out in the morning. We flew to Hartford and are now officially on vacation.  

Friday afternoon we visited Mark Twain’s house visited Mimi and Grampy all weekend. Our Rhode Island family came to visit on Saturday and we had a family BBQ. Sunday we attended Alexis’s softball banquet and visited Grammy in the hospital.  So far a good weekend and today we are off to Maine.