Back From Boston

A splendid time was had by all, and the weather was way agreeable. Not too hot, not too cold. Just right. Baby bear conditions. Stops were made via automobile in Hingham, Revere, and Roxbury for family genealogy enquiries, and all of Boston proper was spent on foot. Exhausting.

In Hingham, I all about climbed the walls due to impatience through an obligatory 1 1/2 hour tour of the town's historical society. Things turned immediately to joy upon being shown several samplers made by our direct ancestors when they were young girls. These samplers were close to two hundred years old. Seriously, I simply cannot believe my greats left behind such an enduring legacy!

Our side trip to Revere was spent looking for a street sign of our family name. Since our ancestors founded the town of Charlestown, and settled all throughout the area; the name, the graves, and the remaining houses can be found all over Boston. Our maddening excursion, courtesy of the rotaries, was topped off by a visit to Kelly's for a delicious meal, which we ate on the beach.

The trip to Roxbury was less than forgettable. Driving around looking for the Eustis Street Burying Ground proved to be a huge pain in the ass. Unfortunately, we arrived several minutes after the 3 o'clock closing time. Still, it was one of those beautiful Gothic looking graveyards that is situated on a busy cross street, making it stand out all the more beautiful.

As I mentioned above, our day in Boston was lovely. Since Bunker Hill wasn't open during our visit last year, we decided to stop off for a tour. I climbed all 294 steps to the top only to be met by smelly, sweaty others who probably weren't used to so many stairs. Although my calves were killing me the next day. I discovered later that most of the photos I took up there were marred by all the scratches and smudge marks embedded on the plexi-glass windows. One of the highlights was a militia man dressed in period clothing giving a shooting demonstration on the grounds.

We settled on the Union Oyster House near Faneuil Hall for our last night's dinner. Both of us chose the stuffed fillet of sole. It was delicious, but the seafood stuffing was something less than desired. Nothing bad, it was the kind of stuffing that is all seafood with scant amounts of cracker. I prefer it to be the other way, more crumbly cracker, less seafood. But that's just me. Prior to our meal, we watched a cool street performance by two drummers.

Now for the NPS Passport book. I mentioned in another post how I introduced this program to my mother when we were at the Grand Canyon last month, and that she was now an stamp addict. Boston is loaded with stamping stations and I think we got most of them. This included bagging some bonus stamps which weren't part of the NPS program, but from a now defunct citywide Freedom Trail scavenger hunt. Score!

Photos can be found here. Drummers here --