Boston!

Boston ~ Thanksgiving 2013

 

Everyone we talk to tells us we have to visit Boston. With Thanksgiving weekend and no plans, we thought why not! So we booked a holiday house through Homeaway.com and set about planning the itinerary. As we had not been up North before we wanted to see as much as possible, including a little side trip into Maine for some lobster!

Our final itinerary looked like this:

 

Weds 27th – Drive to Boston (Somerville)


Thurs 28th – Thanksgiving Day
Take a drive by Harvard University (1350 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge)
Cheers Bar (84 Beacon St, Boston, MA 02108)
Skywalk Observatory (800 Boylston St, Boston)
6pm - Faneuil marketplace, Chrissy light show.
7pm – Dinner booking McCormicks & Schmicks, Faneuil Hall, Boston

 

Friday 29th – USS Constitution 10am tour (Charlestown Navy Yard, Charlestown)
Drive to Salem
The Witch House Salem (12-3pm, 310 Essex St, Salem, MA)
Salem witch walk (3pm) need to book (8 Central Street, Salem, MA)
Salem witch trial memorial (Liberty St, Salem, MA)
The house of 7 Gables (10 – 5pm, 115 Derby St, Salem, MA)
Bewitched statue (235 Essex St, Salem)
Drive to Maine

 

Sat 30th – Plymouth Plantation allow 2-3 hours (9-5 137 Warren Ave, Plymouth)
Freedom Trail
Fan Pier (photos of city op)
Sam Adams Brewery tour

 

Sunday 1st Dec – Drive home via Rhode Island

 

The drive to Boston was long, very long, 14 hours long!! It was pretty cold when we got there too. The house was not at all what we thought it would be and despite booking for 5 of us and the details stating it slept 6, it had 3 beds! One double and 2 singles, one of which was an air bed on a base. The house was filthy and the owner had literally walked out and gone to stay with friends while we were there. There was dirty washing in baskets, food scraps on the floor and even dishes on the draining board. No kettle and pots full of water soaking on the stove. the whole purpose of booking a house was to cook ourselves and save some money. I called the person who we rented it from and explained the situation. She had her brother come over and drop an airbed off for us (as Korey spent the night on the couch) and apologized for the mess.

We couldn't even use the wifi without it asking for us to pay the bill!!! It was a good location though and nice and warm, so we stuck it out! (and wrote a review for it!)

The next day we set off on our adventure. First stop was Harvard University! The grounds were so beautiful and the buildings were magnificent! So old, yet so perfectly maintained. We even got to rub the foot of the John Harvard statue!

John Harvard ~ Harvard University

 

 

The Cheers bar was great, but sadly the set was closed on the day we went. We did get to eat/drink at the main bar though, so it was fun!



Where everybody knows your name!!

 

 

The skywalk was awesome! We even got in for free, the whole family, because of Cols US military ID :) They love their military over here!

We had a lump in a throat moment when we saw the finish line for the Boston marathon below us. Such a sad spot after the bombings during this years race. It makes it so much more real when you are standing there. The rest of the view was beautiful and it was a pretty clear day, so we could see for miles!

 

Dinner at the restaurant was great. We had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, it was Thanksgiving Day after all :) We also got to watch the music and light display at Faneuil marketplace. The kids really enjoyed it, but my goodness it was freezing cold!!

 

We enjoyed the tour of the USS Constitution. The kids love going on these ships and seeing how the Navy lived back then. They ask lots of question and enjoy going down below deck to see the cannons! It is very well preserved and actually still sails!

 

Our trip to Salem was a big disappointment. Despite the web pages saying things were open (it was the day after Thanksgiving), they were closed. We did get to see the outside of the Witches House and the memorial for those who lost their lives under the assumption that they were witches. it was pretty interesting and I wish we could have experienced more of the history there.

 

We carried on up to Maine, checking out the Red Hook Brewery and a spot of shopping for the sales along the way. We enjoyed a great Seafood feast for dinner and Col got his lobster!

 

Our last day in Boston was even colder than the rest! It was snowing on and off and the wind chill was below zero. So cold! But we ventured on out and spent a few hours exploring the Plymouth Plantation. Its the place where the pilgrims and Indians set up home. It was really interesting to see both sides of the story. Mitchell really enjoyed it as he had just been learning about the pilgrims at school, so it added to his learning experiences :)

 

We also checked out the Mayflower II ship that the pilgrims arrived on and also Plymouth Rock, the spot where they first landed on US soil.

 

After our visit there we headed back into town to walk part of the Freedom Trial. Sadly it was just too cold and the kids were well and truly done! We did walk some of it, but didn't truly get to understand what it was all about.  Again parts of it were closed.

 

We visited Fan pier to grab some photos of the city and then headed to Samuel Adams Brewery for a tour. Hubbys love of home brewing sees us doing many tours these days! The kids really enjoyed it and our guide was a hoot! Kids got a bottle of root beer each too!

 

Looking back, we did have a good trip, but we both felt that we didn't truly get to experience Boston. It would be nice to get back there someday and do the trolley tour around the town and complete the Freedom Trial.

We drove home via Rhode Island, which saw us tick off another State! Again it was a long drive home, lots of traffic delays, but we are glad to have done Boston!

 

You can check out our photo book here:

 

 

 

 



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Hawaii ~ August 2013!

7 days in a tropical paradise ~ HAWAII

On the 7th August we took a flight over to Hawaii on route to Australia.
We have friends over there so the plan was to stay with them and catch up as well as enjoy the beauty that is Hawaii!
We had a fabulous 7 days and saw many wonderful things!
The highlights for me was the drive up the North Coast, seeing green sea turtles in their natural habitat and some gorgeous island scenery.
We also enjoyed the day at the Polynesian Cultural Center, which saw hubby & I renew our wedding vows in a traditional Tahitian ceremony! It was a great experience to have!
The boys and Hubby enjoyed surf lessons on Waikiki beach, while Mitchell built sand castles and I took photos.......even if some were of the wrong man, thinking it was my husband! lol
We visited the Kualoa Ranch which is famous for many Hollywood films. We took the movie set tour and even got to have a photo taken where the scene from Jurassic Park was filmed by the fallen tree! Again a beautiful scenic place to visit and the kids really loved seeing all the movie sets and some props!

Hubby & I were very fortunate and thankful to our friend for having the boys one of the days, so we could fly over and explore the Big Island. We hired a convertible and cruised around to some fantastic places, like the Southern most point of the USA and the Volcanoes National Park. We walked through a lava tube, onto solid lava and even put our faces over active steam vents! It was a really great, long day exploring, kidfree!!!

I have just completed a photo book using Shutterfly of our time in Hawaii, so hoping this link works and you can see some pics of our awesome holiday :)

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4th of July Celebrations in New York City!

With the girls in town for 4 weeks holidays, we decided it was the perfect opportunity to head up to new York for 5 nights. The timing was great given it would be over the 4th July weekend!
It was extremely hot, especially given we were walking several miles a day, but we still enjoyed it!
We watched the fireworks over the Hudson River, visited the Statue of Liberty, Top of the Rock, Brass Bull, 911 Memorial and so much more! We also hired bicycles for 2 hours and set off on a ride through Central Park. Our last day was spent chilling at the beach and a turtle water fountain at Midland Beach on Staten Island. The kids were relieved to jump in the water and cool off!
We spent our last night in Manhattan at Time Square. There is something about seeing that place at night, all lit up and the atmosphere as hundreds of people wander the area.
We were fortunate to come across a street artist making paintings from spray cans. We put in a custom order and got a terrific piece of work. We also brought one of his pre sprayed pieces of New York through the eyes of Spiderman! very cool!

Check out this album of our trip!

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Statue of Liberty ~ 5th July 2013

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