We interrupt the Boston Travel series, to wish my darling sister and niece happy birthday!

Beth turned 16 this year, and Candace turned 1! Huge milestones for both of them!

Bethany is seriously one of the best people I know. Not afraid to say what she thinks, so kind to those around her, good at everything she tries, and involved with her friends, church, school, and extra-curricular activities, she’s a busy bee. She still finds time for family and we love spending time with her. I was lucky enough to go shopping with her and join her for a sushi birthday dinner. You’re the best Beth!

And Candace, the little lady who made me Aunt Vikki officially. She’s a doll and I can’t believe it’s been a whole year since she joined our family! She’s so sweet and fun, she loves family and Pooh Bear and reading books. She’s the best niece I could ever ask for, good job Ben and Kim!

Happy Birthday to these two lovely girls, now back to your regularly scheduled Boston Travel series!

Day 3 of our trip to Boston was a Sunday, so we got up and went to church with Ben and Kim! Their church building was very different from ones in Utah, with an underground parking lot and several floors. The talks were really wonderful, and it was fun to be with Candace and our family during church! After their Sacrament Meeting, we took Ben, Kim and the baby home and we jetted off to Lexington and Concord!

*Travel Tip – we didn’t end up needing to rent a car (HUGE THANKS BEN AND KIM) but I did some research, and found the cheapest way to do it is to rent it beforehand for the days you’ll be needing it.

We stopped first at Lexington green which is really amazing. It’s a large park with a statue in front, and a monument in the middle. It’s where they fought the battle of Lexington. Something Randy and I found funny throughout the trip, is that there seems to be disagreement as to where the “Shot Heard Round The World” actually happened. On the monument at Lexington, it said that this was the site where British soldiers first fired on the colonists, making it the place where the Shot Heard Round The World happened. Here several colonists were killed as they stood their ground in front of the approaching British troops.

It was so cool to stand on the green, and look out at houses and the tavern which all look pretty much the same as they would have then.

We stopped in the tavern, which is now a shop and museum, and of course Randy had to get a Root Beer! We saw monuments to all the ships that were named after the historic city, and glanced at some churches and homes as we drove out.

We then made it to Concord, which is one of my favorite places! It’s a quaint and picturesque little town, and once we got there we stopped for lunch at Helen’s, one of my favorite places. It was bustling with locals and tourists alike and was really yummy.

We then drove up to the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery which is really amazing. The cemetery is beautiful, full of hills and winding paths, and almost all of the headstones are up out of the ground, making it look textured and beautiful. Some of the people buried there include Louisa May Alcott and her family, Ralph Waldo Emerson and his family, Henry David Thoreau, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, and many others. It was quiet and peaceful there, and it was such a nice way to spend some time on Sunday.

After we went to the cemetery we drove to the North Bridge, where we learned that maybe the Shot Heard Round The World happened there! This is where the British troops came after the fight in Lexington, where the Concord and other colonial minutemen were gathered. When the men saw smoke coming from the town, they decided to go to the North Bridge and meet the British. And then the colonists received their first order to fire on the British. We walked across the bridge and up to the Visitor Center where we learned more about the battle that happened there.

Next, we went to the Old Manse right next to the North Bridge. The Manse has been home to MANY literary figures, including Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne’s wife has actually inscribed on the window with her diamond in a couple places, and you can also see a lot of the original artifacts including desks and books. This tour was incredibly cool, because we were alone! So we got to see some extra things they don’t show all the tours, ask as many questions as we wanted, and also play a piano in the house from the 1600’s! It was AMAZING. The house and the grounds are simply wonderful.

After going to the Old Manse we drove around Concord, past the Orchard House where Louisa May Alcott lived, saw Ralph Waldo Emerson’s house, and a dozen other historical places. It was so awesome, I just love Concord!

On the way back to Ben and Kim’s, we stopped at the Boston Temple, which was so awesome. It’s an incredibly beautiful building and it was wonderful to walk around and feel the Spirit that is there.

We then drove back to Ben and Kim’s where we had a delicious dinner, and dessert. We played games and watched stand up and had an awesome time hanging out with our family.

Check out our vlog here.

Boston Day 2 started nice and early with some breakfast courtesy of Ben and Kim. Randy and I had spotted a PRIMARK the day before and knew we wanted to head there first. For those of you that don’t know, Primark is like H and M but in the UK. I didn’t even know they had one in the US! It was my favorite place to shop when I was in London and I was SO stoked to go again. Randy and I went and shopped like crazy people for a couple hours. We bought Christmas presents, birthday presents, the works. Randy and I are kinda crazy and shopping is one of our favorite things to do. Yes, judge away. It’s kind of a horrible hobby because we spend money, but other hobbies cost way more!

Anyway we shopped and shopped until we had a huge bag of things. We realized we didn’t want to haul around a bunch of clothes all day. So we sat down on some random steps, and proceeded to shove all the clothes in Randy’s new backpack. Hahaha it was crazy, but luckily not too heavy for Randy during the day. I just felt so silly that we hadn’t thought it through! *Travel Tip – buy souvenirs or clothes towards the end of the day if you can!

After our shopping we walked through downtown to get to the Old North Church. On the way we passed by Paul Revere’s home, which was super cool! It was awesome to see the place where such an amazing historical figure was born and raised. We then got to Little Italy and the Old North Church! The church is AMAZING, so full of history! There’s a huge statue to Paul Revere out front which we loved, and going into the church is wonderful.

We were starving by this point, so we went to lunch at a little Italian place called Cantina. It was SO GOOD. I had mussels and pasta, and Randy had sausage and goat cheese penne. It was so authentic and the seafood is to DIE for! After lunch, we trekked on to the rest of the Freedom Trail! We went to another cemetery on a hill, which was so beautiful. It was a little hot so Randy and I quickly moved on. We crossed a bridge over the Charles river which was a little sketch! It was wobbly and we could see the water underneath the grates we were walking on. But the Charles river is beautiful and we saw birds catching fish, it was way cool. We then walked through a little park on the way to Bunker Hill. Let me say, it’s a little bit of a hike up to Bunker Hill! There aren’t any mountains or really hills in Boston, so this is one of the highest points. *Travel Tip – I brought a cross body bag that was neutral, so when I got exhausted from carrying it, Randy could just pop it on his shoulder for a little while. It was a lifesaver for weak little me!

We stopped in at the Visitor Center first and saw music, handkerchiefs, and other pieces from Boston in 1776. They also have a cool light up diorama thing explaining the places and events of that day. It was good to get a feel for what was happening in history instead of just seeing the monuments *Travel Tip – if history isn’t your thing, go to Boston! It will quickly become your thing, promise!

After the visitor center, we went to the Bunker Hill monument. They have people telling stories and giving you information about the people, and they had one shooting guns that they would have had at the time, which was sweet!

We then started our climb to the top. Bunker Hill has a winding staircase, and it’s really narrow and HOT. It’s 294 steps which doesn’t sound too hard, but I didn’t see one person who wasn’t huffing and puffing at least a little bit. It was a cool view at the top, but there were tiny windows, not much room, and too many people so we didn’t stay up there for long! Or get pictures, I’m afraid 😦 We then trekked back down, and our legs were a little wobbly for the rest of the day! We started walking down the hill to get back on the Freedom Trail. Right at the bottom of the hill, was an ice cream truck (genius location). Of course, we were hot and tired so we decided to get something. Well, Randy decided to get something, I said I would just have a bit. It was a $3.00 root beer float which really is highway robbery, but it was literally the best root beer float I had ever had in my life! No other root beer float will ever taste that good, because we were so tired and hot, it was like heaven.

We made it to the last stop on the Freedom Trail, the USS Constitution. It’s a ship that was used during the war of 1812 and is still able to be toured today! It was SO cool to get to see the ship, most of it still in original form. It was so cramped below deck, Randy had to stoop the whole time. Good thing he wasn’t a sailor! The crew’s quarters were so small, they taught us about what they would have had to eat and how they would have warded off scurvy, it honestly sounded miserable!

We then went into the museum and learned more about the ship, and ship life. Randy’s favorite part was the toy goat they had rigged up that you could pull in, like you would have done on a ship. We got to test our ability to be a sailor, see what our fates would have been (I died very quickly. Randy actually survived though!) and we had a blast.