8-6-12

Good Monday Morning,
When I was writing the last post I couldn't remember if I had shared our time in Mass. with you.  It was a Senior moment or I was having trouble remembering where we are.
We spent 6 days in Mass. We did a trolly tour of Boston.  We had a great time along with the other 100,000 tourists.  It was busy, what I noticed at first was all the noise.  The fire trucks, police, ambulances and just traffic.  As we walked the streets sightseeing the side walks were full.  No one made eye contact and everyone was in a hurry.  I decided I would never make it in a city.  That time of my life has passed.  Give me a lawn chair in the sun where I can watch the world go by and the quiet of the country and the stars at night.  I just love the sunrises and sunsets and we have seen so many.
Back to Boston, the tours were great and we saw so much History.  The Freedom walk was nice and we saw so much.  The old cobbled streets, the old cemeterys (graves dating back to the 1600's.)  The city is very protective of all the History and I would definetly recommend it.  We took a tour of Fenway Park.  Alot of Baseball History and it was a great tour.  We did a lot of walking and stairs after stairs.  It was hot, perfect baseball weather.  It is the oldest baseball park still in use (they are celebrating 100 years this year).
We found an Irish Memorial dedicated to the immigrants.  It was very nice and peaceful.  It was right on Beacon Street.  People were sitting on the benches and enjoying the little park and the pigeons were enjoying the statues.  We had lunch at "Cheers" bar it was an experience and good lunch worth waiting for.
We spent a day on Cape Cod.  We really enjoyed that.  It was great to see the Atlantic Ocean and the rugged beaches.  The Atlantic coast line is alot of rocks, cliffs and a few beaches.  Every beach we saw was full of people.  If you have time, look up Greenbrier on Cape Cod.  Amanda told us about it, they had visited the place.  I had such a great time there.  It was full of gardens, bird houses, and resisdent bunnies and hedge hogs.  I met the most delightful 2 boys that were so willing to give us a tour and tell us all about the bunnies, bugs, butterflies and turtles.  They were young volunteers that took their jobs very seriously.  In an old house volunteers make jam and jellies the old fashioned way.  Our unit is getting full of maple syrup, maple spread, jam and jellies.
We also toured Kennedy's Library.  We enjoyed it very much. It was very peaceful on the ocean looking towards the Boston skyline.  Could see the Boston skyline and the old North Church steeple from the Kennedy Library (from Paul Revere's ride "two lanterns" in the Church steeple-the British are coming by sea.
We also saw the U.S.S. Constitution in Boston harbor.  It is the oldest sailing ship still in use.  It is considered very desirable duty for the Navy-very sought after by the sailors stationed there.  It dates back to battles of the War of 1812. It was nicknamed "old ironsides" by the opposing forces because their cannon balls couldn't breech the sides.  It wasn't actually made of iron, but the 12" oak beams that it was made of apparently were as tough as iron.
We also saw a replica of one of the ships from the "Boston Tea Party." That skirmish with the British was over taxes.  The British thought that the colonists liked their tea so well that they would pay the extra tax on the tea.  When all of the tea (from three sailing ships) ended up in Boston Harbor, the British found out that the colonists were a rather subborn group that were ready to fight for their beliefs.
Our housekeeping chores are about done and must get ready for the tour of the day.  Sometimes, it is only to the store.  Love you much, Mother.
(I think Mother has pretty well covered our Boston trip, however I have to add just one tidbit about Paul Revere that the trolly driver mentioned.  He said Paul Revere had 8 children by his first wife.  After his first wife died, he remarried and had another 8 children with his second wife.  "It woud appear that he didn't spend all of his time on horseback).
Love Dad.