We're heading back east for the first time in four years (at least for a big trip)! We were off to Boston to stay with Aaron and his girlfriend for the week. On the way there, we stopped in Scranton, PA. We drove around to see different sites from The Office opening credits. We also had to visit Cooper's Seafood restaurant. They had a huge gift shop right inside the restaurant. We bought some souvenirs for a friend of mine. This town had many hills in the downtown area, and Evan started getting very frustrated driving in this town. We rolled into Boston late that night. We left our car parked at Haley's apartment for the week so we didn't have to pay for parking at Aaron's. Aaron could look out his apartment window and see the Boston Massacre site. We were absolutely starving when we got there, so we ordered a pu pu platter from a local Chinese restaurant. We had never ordered that before, and oh my gosh. This comes with so much food! I ended up eating it for breakfast every morning so I didn't waste anything. I still get sick to my stomach thinking about all of that food!
Day 1- Our first day we spent walking around the city. We wanted to just hit some highlights on the Freedom Trail, but we ended up completing the entire thing in the first day! We walked almost 10 miles that day! The Freedom Trail is marked along the city with a line of red and gray bricks. They have guided tours, but we chose to do a self-guided tour. It is 2.5 miles long. With all of the stops, I would definitely recommend at least two days to spend doing this, depending on how much time you want to spend at each stop. This trail is FULL of wonderful historic sites. Some of the things we saw included the Boston Massacre site, Paul Revere's house, Old State House, Old North Church, USS Constitution, Bunker Hill, etc. We also visited the Bell in Hand Tavern and the Green Dragon Taverns. These taverns were the site of planning for the Boston Tea Party and for the Revolution. Standing at these iconic locations that were so vital in the birth of our nation was such an amazing experience that I will always cherish.
The USS Constitution has a tour where you can buy tea to throw into the harbor. I was looking forward to this, but unfortunately when we were there, it was still closed due to COVID. Thankfully the museum was still open. This ship is the oldest commissioned warship that is still afloat. It was launched in 1797 and was used in the War of 1812. Bunker Hill was the furthest stop on the trail. One of Evan's ancestors was in the battle here during the Revolutionary War, and we were excited to be standing where he fought over 200 years earlier. We walked there but took a train back across the river when we were done. While there, it started snowing. It was so pretty in the open grassy area. While walking back through the historic neighborhoods, the snowflakes got heavier and fatter! We also walked through Chinatown where we had Boba tea for the first time (now one of our favorites).
Day 2- We went to the Museum of Science. It was a little bit of a walk, especially with the wind along the river front, but we didn't want to deal with transportation. We also went to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. This museum started as a private collection. The museum got attention in 1990 after a robbery of 13 pieces of artwork, worth over $200 million dollars. This is the largest robbery to date. It remains unsolved. Walking through the museum, there are empty frames where the pieces of artwork should be, signifying the hope of return. We also went to Fenway Park and ate at Wahlburgers.
Day 3- This day was spent to ourselves. We drove to Plymouth Rock, site of the Pilgrims' landing on the Mayflower. We walked along the beaches, and I brought home my own "Plymouth Rock". We saw the Mayflower II. There was still some ice and snow around the ship. We visited the Founding Fathers Monument. We also went to Pilgrim's Cemetery. When we were trying to figure out if we needed to pay for parking along the river front, a local graciously informed us "there's free 'pahkin' 'til April!" with a very Bostonian accent. Evan was very excited to hear such a thick accent for the area. When we were done here, we drove into Rhode Island to knock another state off our list. Since this was Haley's home state, she recommended "hot wieners and coffee milk". Hot wieners are basically a chili dog but with a unique flavoring to the topping. Coffee milk is a mix of coffee syrup and milk (similar to chocolate milk). I really enjoyed it!
Day 4- Haley dropped us off for our visit to the Franklin Park Zoo. Evan quickly made friends with an ostrich who tried to follow him everywhere he went. The zoo was much smaller than we expected, so we had more free time this day. We ended up walking around the downtown area to do some shopping. Evan ended up getting a new pair of shoes (his were so worn out), and I got new books from a quaint little shop around the corner from Aaron's apartment. That night was St. Patrick's Day, and our plan was to do a bar crawl (even though Evan and I don't drink) and find some corned beef and cabbage! We started at the Cheers bar. I was super excited to be in the original bar where many of the stars from the show have also visited. Evan was not as excited because he has never watched the show! We moved on to the Bell in Hand Tavern where they were already at capacity. Unfortunately due to COVID, the laws stated that we were not allowed to line up outside. We quickly realized that every place was going to be like this, so we gave up and went back to the apartment. We did end up finding a restaurant that would deliver us some corned beef and cabbage! Aaron also introduced us to a new board game, Horrified. This quickly became one of our favorite board games!
Day 5- Evan and I walked towards the harbor and the North End (Little Italy) to do some sightseeing. We ordered some pasta from one of the restaurants. It was so delicious! After Aaron got off work, we packed up to drive up to Maine. Haley and I spent a lot of the time singing Disney karaoke to the boys. Haha! We stayed at The Inn on Mount Desert. This place was so cute!
Day 6- While Haley stayed in the room to do homework, Evan and I walked the trails behind the inn. It was so windy and freezing, but the views were so beautiful! The rocky shores with the waves and sun were classic Maine scenery and worth being frozen. The four of us drove into Bar Harbor to walk around the downtown area. We went to several gift shops and decided to pass on the ice cream. We ate at a seafood restaurant called Geddy's and got Bar Harbor lobster! It was delicious! We drove into Acadia National Park. Unfortunately it was still early in the season, so parts of the park were still closed, but we were so happy to be there. We stopped at a lighthouse for some pictures and walked along the beach areas. I would love to return one day when I can see the rest of the park. We drove back to Aaron's that evening. We stopped at a rest stop that had live lobsters in a tank!
Day 6- We woke up bright and early to start the 18 hour drive back home! We took a detour to drive through Delaware (a new state for Evan). By taking this route, we ended up driving through the Bronx and part of Manhattan. Evan got his first views of the NYC skyline. He also likes to brag that he drove in Manhattan, even though the furthest south we got was taking the George Washington Bridge. I guess we'll let him brag about that though!
This trip gave us more down time than we were used to (hard to believe when looking back at everything we did). Evan wanted to do more and explore more, but I absolutely loved this trip! I enjoyed the combination of relaxing time with family and playing with the cats and seeing such monumental classic American sites.
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