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!