On our road trip we got to spend four days in the Boston area. On the first day we drove to Salem, MA and spent a few hours walking around the town. Salem might have been the most crowded place that we visited on our whole trip. We didn't have anything in particular that we wanted to see, we just wanted to walk around the town and see whatever we could related to the witch trials. There were several witch trial museums throughout the town. They were expensive and they seemed like they were just set up for tourists rather than actual historic sites, so we didn't visit any of them.
This was an old church from that time.
We just liked the sticker that someone stuck on this post.
Salem was right along the ocean, so they have a lot of history with shipping and fishing in addition to the witch trial history.
Some different statues and decorations around the town.
I think this was the mayor's house or a prominent judge's house at the time of the witch trials.
This was a memorial to several of the women and one man who were killed at the height of the witch trials. It had a stone for each and told their name, age, and how they were killed. If I am remembering right, all of the women were hung and the one man was "pressed". He was accused because he stood up for some of the women who had been accused of being witches.
A cemetery with some of the grave stones dating back to the 1600s.
And we came across an authentic wand shop from that time :) Strange how it looks a lot like the one in Harry Potter.
The rest of that day we drove to Boston, found our hotel, and did some shopping at Costco. This was by far the best hotel that we stayed in during our trip. The rooms were pretty large and everything looked recently remodeled and well cared for. And they had an amazing breakfast that wasn't canceled due to COVID-19. Their pool was still closed, but we were happy to have a breakfast at least.
The next day we did the Freedom Trail in Boston. It rained on us all day long!!! Luckily it was just a light rain, but it made for some long walking since we were all wet and cold.
Our first spot was Bunker Hill/Breed's Hill. This was one of the first battles of the revolution. Although the Americans lost this battle, it was considered a win because it surprised the British (who experienced large losses here) regarding how well our troops could actually fight.
We all really loved walking through "Old Ironsides" (the USS Constitution). This is the oldest ship of any type still afloat. It got its nickname because during a battle with the British (in the War of 1812), the British shots just seemed to bounce of its sides. It was fun to walk through the different levels of the ship and see the cannons and guns and officers' quarters.
And then we walked through Boston. We stopped by several churches and spots that played important roles in the American revolution. I can't remember the importance of all of the spots, but it was cool to read about different stories and realize the importance of many single acts by individuals that in and of themselves seemed small, but they added up to lead to independence for our nation. We especially got to see a lot about Samuel Adams, John Adams, and Paul Revere.
Along the Freedom Trail walk, we made sure to stop for cannoli. We got these from Mike's Pastry, which seemed to be a really well-known spot. We got a variety of types including more traditional ones, ones covered in chocolate, dipped with chocolate chips, dipped with pecans, and so on. They were all delicious and very filling (the filling on the inside was made with ricotta and mascarpone).
Agnes and Asher shared and I think they were the only ones who were able to finish theirs. That meant I ended up eating close to four cannoli.
Outside the Paul Revere house.
The next day we went to church back in the downtown area of Boston. Even though it was raining again, we took a walk to see the Boston Commons and some of the downtown areas that we didn't get to see the previous day.
Julia outside of the church building.
The next day we needed to drive to New York city. We had pretty much seen everything that we wanted to see in Boston the previous two days, so we just started on our drive straightaway in the morning. On our way out, we did want to see Plymouth. After finding a parking spot in Plymouth, we started to walk down the main street to see Plymouth rock. As we were walking, Rebecca saw the Kunz family. They lived in Pocatello when we first moved there. In fact, when I was there by myself before our house was built, they had me over for dinner about once a month. They moved to Idaho Falls about two years ago, so it was really fun to see them. They were doing a guided tour of the east coast and some church history sites.
Looking at Plymouth rock.
We had a fun time in the Boston area. Some of our children said that Boston was their favorite city to visit. I think it helped that the hotel we stayed in there was the nicest one of our entire trip.
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