Emma's Week in Boston (Warning: Very Long!)

After a week in North Carolina and a week in Tennessee, we were ready to come home: by way of Washington DC to pick up Cousin Emma and bring her along for a week's visit in Boston.

SUNDAY: Back to Boston
After a night in Arlington, VA, with Jennifer and Parker and kids plus Mack and Emma, we killed some time on Sunday by visiting the Smithsonian's Native American Museum then made our way to Baltimore to collect Britt from the arrivals curb of BWI at 3:30 pm.

Heading home to Boston, we made good time until New Jersey (of course) where we hit Sunday afternoon traffic, so we left the NJ Turnpike and drove through the countryside, including the town and university of Princeton. We didn't save any time, but it was more interesting than stewing in stalled traffice. West of the turnpike we picked up the interstate but hit heavy traffic north of NYC, and we finally made it home shortly after midnight.

MONDAY: Plimoth Plantation
Despite everyone's general travel fatigue on Monday, we were back in the car for a trip to Plimoth Plantation. Although the weather forecast included possible showers, the skies were clear and the weather was hot. This did not keep down the crowds at Plimoth. First, we visited the Wampanoag village where we learned that in their traditional lifestyle to prove oneself ready for marriage, the girls only had to grow out their hair but the boys had to survive on their own in the woods for a whole winter!



Next, we toured the English village where docents in period costume and persona answer questions about the colony. When we were there three weeks ago with Dante, we admired a house under construction. Here's an updated photo (for Dante!). Building a home with not much more than an axe and a pair of hands seems to take a while.



Like I said, it was hot and sunny.



Before leaving the English village, we paused for some refreshing (but non-traditional) Dipping Dots. Then we headed over the Mayflower II -- a reconstruction of the Mayflower ship, which was even more crowed than the villages, but we got a brief look at what was a remarkably small vessel for 120 to ride across the Atlantic in.



TUESDAY: Boston's Freedom Trail
Tuesday afternoon, we made it into Boston for an NPS-guided tour of Boston's Freedom Trail: the colonial Boston events leading up to the Revolutionary War.

Against his will, Beau was conscripted to carry the American flag for our tour group. I call him the Reluctant Patriot.



We saw the Old State House (seat of the British governor for the colony and later where the Declaration of Independence was read from the balcony), the site of the Boston Massacre, the outside of Paul Revere's House, and finally the base of the Old North Church.

Of course, after the tour, we went into the Old North Church so all the kids could sit in the "William Rideout" pew.



After leaving the church, the kids threw pennies in the fountain in the Paul Revere Mall.



And our last stop on our way out the North End was Maria's Pastry shop for fresh canollis.



That night, Emma and I stay home while Britt and the boys joined the rest of the cub scout pack to perform color guard duties at Fenway Park.




WEDNESDAY: Orchard House and Walden Pond



On Wednesday we headed to Concord. Instead of going to the Old North Bridge, Emma chose to see Orchard House: home of Lousia May Alcott's family.



Emma was pleased to learn that the very progressive Alcotts were vegetarian and that Louisa's father, Bronson, a forward-thinking educator, built Louisa her own desk -- it was nearly unheard of at the time for a woman to have her own desk. It was at this house (and desk) while convalescing from typhoid, that Louisa wrote Little Women. Previously, Louisa had written "blood and thunder" (mystery-type) books, but when her publisher suggested that she write something for little girls, Louisa drew on her own life (referring to her journals), and wrote Little Women, which she didn't think was very good. The publisher didn't think it was very good either, but he had his niece read it. The niece loved it, and of course, the rest is history; it became a best-seller, and she even wrote a second part in order to marry off Jo, although she didn't want the character to marry and in fact, Louisa herself never married. But the public demanded it, so Jo married a character somewhat modeled on Ralph Waldo Emerson.

It probably wasn't the boys' first choice for an outing that day, but at least it was someplace they hadn't been before so they behaved and paid attention.



After our tour of Orchard House, we stopped at Walden Pond for a picnic lunch and a swim.



Before leaving Walden Pond, we took a quick look at the replica of Henry David Thoroeau's cabin that he built at Walden Pond and lived in for 18 months.



And, of course, we stopped for ice cream at Dairy Joy.



THURSDAY: Cape Cod
On Thursday, we accepted an invitation to visit some friends at Cape Cod for the day. Though it was hot and humid in Boston, on the Cape it was overcast and windy. It wasn't cold, but the water was less warm than it sometimes is. The kids were in the water for all of five minutes before Casey came out sure that he'd been stung by a deadly jellyfish (very small, nearly invisible, often fatal sting -- lives in tropical waters only...) and was sure that he was going to die. He told me that if he got a headache and started having muscle convulsions, I should take him to the doctor. No amount of reassuring could convince him that it probably wasn't even a jellyfish sting that he felt and that he wasn't going to die. He is banned from watching Discovery Channel until he is 25 years old.

Emma came out of the water not too long after Casey. She didn't like the seaweed in the water.

Mostly, the kids played around the house for the day.



Emma made the best of being stuck inside with four boys.



Later in the afternoon, our intrepid friend Robin L. led most of the boys (all but Casey) on a swimming trip further down the beach.



Here is Emma with all the boys. What a good sport.



FRIDAY: The Aquarium
On Friday, we took the T back into Boston



to visit the New England Aquarium.



We saw penguins,




and sharks,



and sea turtles,



and, of course, jellyfish.



After visiting the aquarium, we had lunch at Wagamamas.



And we watched a street performer; here he's juggling baseball bats.



SATURDAY: Historic Salem
Emma's request for her final day of sightseeing was to visit Salem, MA, site of the infamous witch trials back in 1692.



Salem was settled nearly as early as Plimoth and has a long history of shipping and commerce. Of course, today, it is often best-known for the "witch hystaria." ALL of the Salem venues given over to the witch trials are t-a-c-k-y. And just scary enough that Casey had no interest. Beau and Emma took in two of the witch-trial museums, including the Witch Dungeon Museum that included a live reenactment of a portion of an actual trial followed by a manquin-staged dungeon exhibit in the basement. It was creepy.






Salem also has many old buildings, a cute downtown walking mall,



a children's museum,



and a pleasant and historic waterfront.



Since we ate lunch at a Thai restaurant in town, after touring Salem, we took our packed lunch and had a seaside picnic dinner in historic and charming Marblehead.




SUNDAY: Bye Emma
Sunday we ate pancakes, played cards, and watched Emma pack.



In the early afternoon, we bid Emma good-bye and Britt took her to the airport for her flight back to DC.



Emma hadn't even left the block before Casey was in tears, crying that he already missed his cousin.