Beantown

Ahh Boston. How I love you. What I dis-like about Minneapolis, Boston delivered on. Public spaces to sit and read, sit and eat, sit and chat, or just sit were everywhere. On every-street, on seemingly every corner. In fact, on our first night Katie and I just sat at this really cool outdoor space and talked for 2 hours (with Mike's Pastry of course). Here is Katie at a beautiful garden. (Mom do you know what these flowers are called?)...


And Boston is the setting of our country's history. It was a good reminder of all those things I learned in US History (or didnt' learn...thanks Mr. Williams). And we tried to photo-capture the whole Freedom Trail which took us on what we thought was a 7-mile walk (turned out only to be 2.5 miles)...

It all started at the State House...and progressed to Old South Meeting house where apparently the sign was given to start the Boston Tea Party. Here is Katie making what she thinks the sign would have been...




That is me pointing out the mosaic that marks the first ever public school, and standing in the doorway of the site of the Boston Massacre, which was also our orientation point for the entire trip.

So on our Freedom Trail trek, we ran into these two:
It was very ironic because Katie and I had JUST had a conversation about how I really want to have twins when we have babies but she reminded me that most twins have some weird tendencies. These women had to have been 40+ and were COMPLETELY matching, and (unfortunately not captured in the photo) HOLDING HANDS for at least a few block. It was...well...interesting.

Once we lost the twins we finished out the Freedom trail by climbing all 294 steps of the Bunker Hill monument (the site where our army first held their own against the Brits). As you can tell from the glisten on our faces, it was quite warm.





We visited the Cheers bar, which made me think of my dad. Not because it is a bar, but because I always remember him watching Cheers (that was back when he stayed up past 7PM...JUST KIDDING DAD)

AND, there was JP Licks..the most amazing ice cream. ever. In fact, I couldn't make up my mind, so I bought 2 'kiddie' sizes so as to maximize the amazing flavors. I got Coffee Oreo, and a Peanut Butter Cookie Dought (which was supreme). Katie got Banana Oreo which was also ridiculous.

We found the "Friendship Arch" which was in Chinatown and we thought the boys (most specifically Ryan) would appreciate the picture under it since they tease us non-stop.

And we visited Fenway. It was a bummer there wasn't a game, but we still got to see the stadium and see what it was all about. Plus, we set-up this kick-ass photo in front of the Absolut Club. In case you can't tell, that is Katie celebrating a homerun in the window.

And that about sums it up. I dont' feel I have done an adequate job capturing the essence of this vacation because it was the perfect, relaxing long weekend. The Indian restaurant that we went to described it as food for people who are "fun, passionate, and on a mission." I am so lucky to have such great friends as my second family. Katie and I have many grandiose travel plans concocted so stay tuned to see if them actually happen!

P.S. Becca--all the graves had these skull faces with wings, so I am posting this just for you!