Birthday in Boston

Brian's birthday was Sept. 5, so we went up to Boston with some friends from church for the weekend to explore. We stayed with my sister and her husband, who we convinced wanted to go on the "Freedom Trail".

The Freedom Trail is about 2.5 miles if you stay on the red line. Yep, this trail is so popular that Boston has drawn an actual red line in bricks throughout their city for tourists to walk on. The Freedom trail featured: Boston Common, Massachusetts State House, Park Street Church, Granary Burying Ground, King's Chapel and Burying Ground, First Public School Site, Old Corner Bookstore, Old South Meeting House, Old State House, Boston Massacre Site, Faneuil Hall, Paul Revere House, Old North Church, Copp's Hill Burying Ground, Bunker Hill Pavilion, Charlestown Navy Yard and the USS Constitution, and the Bunker Hill Monument.

The Freedom Trail takes you on a journey through many American Revolution historical sites. Below you find a (very long) picture safari of our Freedom Trail trip.

Starting Point (notice the big Red Pin) in Boston Common.

We took a little detour and went over to the Public Garden (Boston Common is right across the street)

Casey and Brian in front of the George Washington Statue. (Boy Power!)

We saw the ducks in the lake and the Swan Boats. We also saw this statue based on the children's story "Make way for Ducklings"

Group photo (minus Brian, he always takes most of the photos on our adventures) on the Lagoon Bridge.

This is the Massachusetts State House, it is closed on the weekends, but sometime I would love to make it back there and actually go inside. My guide book shows that there is a lot to explore in there.

We went to so many places that I can't remember what church this was, but I think it is the Park Street Church

Notice the benches in the church face each other. That is because the parents would sit on one side and the children would sit facing them, so that the parents could see the person giving the sermon and their children at the same time. I thought it was a great idea, maybe we should adopt that same idea at our church?

Granary Burying Ground (Where John Hancock and Paul Revere rest)

The First Public School site was located where this hopscotch is now located. I gave it a try!

This trip wasn't all serious, here is Casey making an "ass" of himself.

I am inside the Old State House on some beautiful spiral stairs. (They were also having a wedding there that day)

I really love this picture. The small building is the Old State House (now a museum), but the reason I love this picture so much is that it shows a building built in the 1700's then a newer building and then an even newer building (I would love to know when each building was built, this picture could show a building from each century - That would be great!).

This is the "North End" of Boston. I liked this part of Boston the best, it was very cute!

We are in a little alley next to Paul Revere's House. This weekend they happened to be hosting a class on how to write with a feather pen (I know they are called something else, I just can't remember), but the best part of the class was that the instructor was all dressed up for the time period, he looked like Benjamin Franklin. It was really funny.

A park outside the Old North Church.

Brian with the Paul Revere Statue.

The Old North Church. Looked similar to the first church we went to.

We didn't get many pictures of the people who we went on the trip with. I think Brittni, Jim and Scott (shown in this photo in front of a fan) hid from all photos. But the purpose of this photo is to show you just how hot it was in Boston that day. It was overcast outside, but very hot and humid. I thought we were back in Texas, that's how humid it was.

Bunker Hill Monument

We ran up the almost 300 step monument to the top. My legs were shaking when we got back down and my calves were sore for a whole week!

This is the view from the top of the monument. About an hour after this is started to down pour.

Goofing around in the Charlestown Navy Yard.

Casey in front of the USS Constitution

Group Photo (Minus Brittni and Jim, they didn't come on the ship, they viewed it from the ground) on the USS Constitution.

Swinging from the ropes just like Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates Movies.

We were all tired by the time we got to the end, so we decided to take a ferry and the train back to were we parked our cars. Just as we boarded the ferry it started to pour rain. The rest of the night was a rain and thunder storm. We planned to go out to eat for Brian's birthday at a seafood restaurant, but we were all too tired so we went to eat just up the road from Brittni's house.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIAN!!!

~ Nicole