Music Festival

I spent this past weekend at the Willamette Country Music Festival. This year's lineup was awesome! We saw...

Pam Tillis

Rodney Atkins

Sugarland

Lee Brice

Billy Currington

Martina McBride

Jana Kramer

The Band Perry

Trace Adkins

Solo Boston - Day 2

Today was my second solo day in Boston. I decided to take it easy, and sort of made it difficult. I didn't plan very well, so I spent some time retracing my steps.

I slept in so my day started a bit later than yesterday. I took the T into the city and walked over to the Paul Revere House. It was interesting, and they have big plans for the future. As I was walking back down Hanover street I stopped in for lunch at Piccola Venezia where I had cheese ravioli with marinara sauce. It was very yummy.

From the restaurant I wandered over to the King's Chapel, then the Granary Burial Ground. Boston Common, and then into the Boston Public Garden. I decided to take part in a Boston tradition, and rode the Swan Boats and took pictures of the Make Way for Duckling statues.

My next stop was the Boston Public Library. It's beautiful.

I had planned on walking the Black Heritage Trail, but only made it part way. I got a bit sidetracked when I ran across the sign for Louisa May Alcott's Boston homes. And at that point my feet were done, and back to the hotel I did go.

Solo Boston - Day 1

I padded this trip with a couple extra days to do some solo exploring and that is what I did today. I started with an early trip out to Brookline to visit the John F. Kennedy Birthplace. The Kennedy's lived in this house from 1914-1920 when they were expecting their fifth child. Jack was three at the time. The house tour was very interesting, and really gave some insight into the family dynamics.

From Brookline I took the T back into Boston and walked through Boston Common before it got too warm. Then I wandered back to Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market for a slice of pizza. Then I caught the water shuttle near the aquarium out to the Charlestown Navy Yard.

The Navy Yard is the home of the USS Constitution (aka "Old Ironsides"). Since the ship is still an active military vessel, you have to present photo identification and walk through a metal detector. When I got there in the early afternoon, it was a fairly quick process. When I left, there was a rather long line.

The ship is pretty cool. She's the oldest ship in the Navy, having been commissioned in 1797. Her service in the War of 1812 is being commemorated until 2015.

After touring the ship I visited the USS Constitution Museum. It's really good, and has some great hands on activities for kids.

Then I took a ranger led tour to the Bunker Hill Monument. It was really interesting, but I declined to climb the 292 steps inside the obialisk. It was just not going to happen in today's heat and humidity. Instead I booked back down to the harbor to catch the boat back to downtown Boston.

I then spent some time wandering the shops to haul stuff home for the family, and had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.

Quincy

Goodbye to Concord. I hauled my bags to the depot and took the train back to Boston this morning. The weatherman predicted rain, but it didn't happen.

Since I arrived at my hotel too early to check in, they were happy to hold my bags so that I could do some exploring. I walked back to the subway and took the red line to Quincy Center where the Adams National Historic Park is located. I have to say I have visited many NPS sites, but I really liked this one.

At the visitor's center I paid for my tour, but had to wait for about an hour. There was plenty of time to wander across the street to the United First Parish Church (Unitarian) to see the crypts of John & Abigail Adams and John Quincy & Louisa Catherine Adams.

The trolley takes you out to the birthplaces of both presidents. John Adams was born in this house.

John Quincy Adams in this one.

The trolley then takes you to the Old House, where John & Abigail lived at the end of their lives, and was occupied seasonally by family members until 1926. When it was turned over to the government in 1946, it was left intact by the family.

One of my favorite things about the house was the library. Unfortunately, you can't take photos inside. This was built specifically for John Quincy Adams' books. It's not an "official" presidential library only because the Adams' papers are not stored here. They are at the Massachusetts Historical Society.

Last Day

Today we visited the Old Manse, home to both the Emersons and the Hawthornes (at different points in time). Aside from the house tour, we spent a time discussing another revolution; that of the 19th Century authors who were centered in Concord.

I had the opportunity to play (just a bit...I don't play often and have very little memorized) an 1860's vintage Steinway parlor grand piano that was owned by the Emerson family.

We then treked to Sleep Hollow Cemetery. I'm glad I visited earlier. It was a bit crowded with all of us.

This afternoon many of us visited Orchard House, the home of Louisa May Alcott and the place where she wrote Little Women. Louisa had a very interesting life. I'm going to have to go back and reread her books.

Minute Man Park - Day 2

We returned to Minute Man Park again today. The most interesting part was a discussion and tour led by Brian Donohue about the landscape in the Battle Road Farms area. It was really interesting to see how the colonists rearranged and managed the land and water resources to work for them.

We revisted the Hartwell Tavern for a writing workshop and historical investigation. That was really good.

This evening we had an 18th Century culminating meal at the Noah Brooks Tavern accompanied by 18th Century music. They were fabulous, and dinner was really good.

Minute Man Park - Day 1

Our workshop site today was Minute Man National Historical Park. We walked along part of Battle Road, visited the Paul Revere Capture Site, and saw a really good multimedia program at the visitor's center.

We visited Lexington Green, and had a catered box lunch at the Lexington Historical Society  at Munroe Tavern before returning to the park and visiting the famous North Bridge.

This evening we had some free time, so Rhonda and I wandered into Sleepy Hollow Cemetery to see Author's Ridge (the burial place of the Alcotts, Emerson, Thoreau and Hawthorne) before having dinner at Helen's. The food was fabulous!

Boston

Today our workshop to a quick trip to Boston. And by quick, I mean the pace we kept. It was a long day beginning with a walk from our Inn to the Concord Depot at 9:00, and returning more than twelve hours later.

Boston is a town made for walking and that's what we did. in the course of the day we saw: Copp's Hill Cemetery, Old South Meeting House, the North End, Boston Harbor, Quincy Market, Faneuil Hall, Old State House, Old South Meeting House, King's Chapel, the Old Granary and Boston Common. Our tour was led by Dr. William Fowler of Northeastern University. And after we saw all that, we visited the Massachusetts Historical Society were we able to view some original documents from the Revolutionary War era.

One of our participants recommended Gennaro's for dinner. The food was great, (I had the chicken saltimbocca) but the service was slow. Part of that was the fact that our group was so large, but I don't think they're overly speedy.

Concord

Today we got acquainted with Concord. Our day began at the Concord Museum and a presentation by Robert Gross, author of The Minutemen and Their World. It set the stage for what will come both in April 1775 and for us teachers this week.

The museum has a very nice collection, which we were allowed to photograph. I probably went a bit overboard, but I'm enjoying my new camera and we'll need some photos for our lesson plan project this week. Besides, I've never been here before! Some of the most notable things in the collection are one of Paul Revere's lanterns and Ralph Waldo Emerson's study. Yes, the entire study has been recreated in the period rooms wing.

After dinner at the Main Street Markets and Cafe with Rhonda, (I had a very good gyro panini) the entire group went on a walking tour of town. It's cute, but very quite. Most of the businesses keep bankers hours and are closed by 6:00.

Massachusetts

Yesterday I flew from Knoxville to Boston. I have been accepted into a National Endowment for the Humanities workshop titled "At the Crossroads of the Revolution: Lexington and Concord in 1775."

Today I left my hotel in Quincy and took the T (subway) and commuter train to Concord. Luckily, I met up with my roommate, Rhonda, and Siggi at the station so I had some company for the trip. When the train arrived in Concord, we discovered there were many more of us on the train.

There are about 40 of us embarking on this adventure this week. We started this evening with a trip to the Hartwell Tavern, one of the sites in Minute Man National Historical Park. We were met by some of the inhabitants of 1775 Concord, who helped to set the stage for what we will be experiencing this week. It was a fabulous evening. I just wish it had been drier.

Dollywood!

One of the things we wanted to make sure and experience was Dollywood. Four years ago when we were in Tennessee we didn't have time, so this year we made a point of getting there.

The park has a policy of allowing a second day of admittance if you purchase your ticket after 3:00 pm, so we actually spent a couple hours in the park last night, and then went back today for more.

I love rollercoasters. And it doesn't take much to talk my father into riding them either, so I'm happy to say that we rode all of them with varying responses. We loved the wooden coaster, Thunderhead, and the steel coaster, Tennessee Tornado. The Mystery Mine was fun, but jostling. And I have to say that our favorite was the newest coaster, The Wild Eagle. It's a wing mounted suspension coaster with 3700 feet of track, a 145 foot drop, maximum speed of 61 mph, and it take 2 minutes 22 seconds. It was awesome!

In addition to riding the coasters, we watched local craftsman, toured Dolly's bus and museum, rode the steam train, did some shopping and eating. It was a really good way to spend a couple days.