Boston

I couldn't think of a good way to begin this post, so I thought I'd let Caleb start things off. He looks prepared to give a history lecture or two.


Since we were in Boston for a conference on history, we thought we'd see some history ourselves. Neither of us had spent much time in the northeast, so everything was a new experience. The first few pictures were taken at Lexington at night, just a few hours after we flew in.

This is a sign for the Hancock-Clarke Parsonage. John Hancock and Sam Adams were sleeping here when Paul Revere rode through town sounding the alarm.


Here's the parsonage itself, or at least the rear part of it.


After our drive through Lexington and Concord, we wanted to do some hiking. So after a stop at the ubiquitous (i.e. everywhere) Dunkin' Donuts, we drove up to southern New Hampshire to the Monadnock Mountain area. It was a good place to get out and stretch, although at parts, the path was completely covered in ice.


Me in my winter gear, which doesn't get out much in Texas.




The diner in Peterborough, NH where we ate. It was very quaint, local, and affordable. Who could ask for more?


Mom, I thought you'd like this. It's actually only a few years old.


Back to history. . .
The Minute Man statue at Concord. After a brief battle at Lexington, the British took Concord easily. But across the Old North Bridge, some patriots who had previously fled decided to take the offensive. They sent the British back across the bridge, thus starting the British retreat all the way back to Boston.


Ralph Waldo Emerson's famous "shot heard round the world" poem, engraved on the monument.


The Old North Bridge itself, reconstructed.


You can see the old house in the background. It had seen a lot. Click on the picture and read the sign to find out.


Our historic rental car.


Walden Pond. Henry David Thoreau thought deep thoughts here.


Paul Revere's house. This was the house he lived in during the American Revolution. It even has some of the family furniture in it!


Another view.


The best picture I could get of the Old North Church, from the steeple of which a patriot hung two lanterns ("two if by sea"), which signaled Paul Revere and William Dawes to start their ride to warn the colonists. William Dawes was just as instrumental as Paul Revere, but Longfellow didn't write a famous poem about Dawes, only Revere. Poor Dawes. . .


The U.S.S.Constitution ("Old Ironsides"), so named because in the War of 1812, a British vessel couldn't penetrate her old oak sides even at point-blank range!


I stumbled upon this site while following the Freedom Trail (explained below).


Boston Common - it's an active city park, complete with an ice-skating rink.


The Freedom Trail. The city has mapped out some of its key historic sites and maps them out with a red line (or sometimes a line of red bricks) that you can literally follow from place to place. It was wonderful! John is holding a box of canolis from the Italian area. They were oh so good. I also had Boston Cream Pie while I was there, which was good, but not as good as my canoli.


The view out our hotel window. Loved the snow!


John enjoying a gyro at the Quincy Market (from sometime in the early 1800's)


Panama City. My plane stopped there on the flight back to Houston and it was so pretty!