Day 3: New York

As we were driving into NY, Chad, our tour director, was explaining the nuances of New Yorkers. People here are not really rude, he explained, you just have to understand what they are trying to say. "When people in NY City honk and yell, it's like us saying, 'excuse me, can you please move?'"

It's a good thing he explained that to our polite, West Texas kids- a few of them got to witness the NY "lingo" first-hand!

This Alice in Wonderland sculpture was in the north side of NY's Central Park. The photo doesn't do it justice; it is beautiful! More than that, it was a great place to take a picture!

This was the restaurant we ate in, at the bottom of the Empire State Building. (No beer for us, though; just a yummy dinner!)

Too bad it was cloudy the day we were at the top of the Empire State Building.. Pictures that I have taken on previous trips there are magnificent! But, these photos still still show just how high up we were. Since September 11, 2001, the Empire State Building is once again the tallest building in NY. (sad, I know.)

Waaay out in the distance in the photo on the bottom, you can see the Statue of Liberty in NY Harbor. You can barely see it in this picture, because of how cloudy it was that day.

Two more Boston favorites

On our way to NY, I was able to catch Micaela and Kourtney to get their favorite Boston highlights...
Micaela said she liked everything about the city, "How everything had so much history," and the Prudential Building, the city's tallest building. We went there on the last night- it has an observation deck that allows visitors to get a 360-degree view of the city. Beautiful!

Kourtney's favorite was also the Prudential Building, because "You got to see the the whole town and all the lights."

Boston DuckTour

This WWII vehicle, "The Duck" was used to invade the Beaches of Normandy by the US Army. Now, it is used as a tour vehicle in cities throughout the US. It is very unusual. If you notice, it has wheels, but looks like a boat. It drives through the city, like a regular tour bus, then as it goes down a ramp into the water, a propeller is engaged, and it becomes a boat! It is very cool! As we drove through town, and then in the water, people would "quack" at us, and we were expected to "quack" back! Our Duck tour guide was particularly competitive, and had us practice, so we would be the louded quackers (former Marine, what could you say ;) ) The tour guide on our "Duck" gave everyone a chance to drive it in the water. Unfortunately, Megan, Rebecca, and I got put on a different Duck than the rest of the group, so I was not able to take pictures of everyone driving...

Our Duck on the ramp, leaving the road, and entering the Charles River.

This beautiful church on Newbury Street, the Church of the Covenanent, is in one of several "No Quack Zones" throughout Boston!!  The residents and businesses of certain areas found the "quacking" annoying, and had ordinances passed to keep the Ducks silent as they passed through.

A few other interesting facts about Boston:

The gas lanterns used as street lights stay lit 24 hours a day- It is cheaper than having to pay for someone to light them each night.

Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in Boston, accidentally... He was trying to invent a device to help the deaf.

In 1919, there was a Molasses Flood in Boston- a 2.5 million gallon container of molasses burst open, creating a 30 foot wall of molasses to pour onto Commercial Street in the middle of the afternoon. Twenty-one people were killed.

Some more about Old North Church

A few more things about Boston's Old North Church... The church's steeple was the tallest point in Boston. On the night of April 18, 1775, Robert Newman carried two lanterns up to the top of the steeple, to warn of the advance of British soldiers. This was actually the beginning of the American Revolution. Unfortunately, soldiers saw the signal, too, and came to the church to arrest Newman. He escaped through a window at the back of the church. The next day, he was arrested anyway, because it was known that he was one of only two people that had a key to the church, and he was out past curfew!

The other cool story about this church made everyone laugh... In 1757, a man named John Chiles tried to prove that he could fly, and he did it from the top of the Church's steeple.  To everyone's amazement, he landed safely at the top of Cop's Hill, about 200 yards away. He tried a second time, and was successful again. (Not sure what his method was- possibly hang gliding?)

The  third time, he charged for the event, and the streets were lined with people to watch his feat. This time, as he landed, the police were waiting at the top of the hill to arrest him.  Chiles did not know that a new law in Boston made it illegal to fly off the Old North Church steeple.

The law is still in effect today. It is still legal, however, to fly off any other steeple in Boston!

Our Trip in the Standard-Times

The story about our trip is in today's Standard-Times! Thought I'd let you know, for any of you making  a scrapbook about the trip. It's on the back page of the local section.
Here is a link to the story...
http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2010/jun/26/kids-trip-breathes-life-into-history/

Sorry I have not been able to finish uploading pictures and stories to finish up this amazing trip. Between trying to catch up on sleep and other family stuff, I just have not been able to get it done. This weekend, though, it is my goal to finish!
Thank you all for being so patient!

So sorry I have not posted... The wifi in the hotel did not work. I promise to post the rest of the trip on Monday & Tuesday.

Capitol Building

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

On our way to Senate/HR- Sorry I didn't get to post last night- we got to the hotel @ midnight! Will catch up tonight.

While stopping at a rest stop in Maryland, a trailer hauling cars 10 miles ahead of us had a blowout, which caused a major accident and shut down I-95 in both directions.  Looks like we'll be here for a while... But at least we are safe, and not stopped on the road!

We are just pulling into Philadelphia now- Just passed the Betsy Ross house. We will see it again later; I'll post pictures soon!

Leaving New York (New Jersey, really- that's where our hotel was). On our way to Philadelphia

Kelsea riding the Stock Market Bull outside Wall Street.

Firefighters' Memorial

The 9-11 Firefighters' Memorial. This is outside the firestation across the street from the World Trade Center. 343 firefighters died that day. Aside from being an amazing piece of artwork, this small, touching memorial speaks volumes for those heroes that lost their lives.

Back to Boston

These are the pictures I promised to post from Tuesday, when we returned to Boston.

Old North Church. This is the church Paul Revere prayed in. It is the oldest church in Boston, an Episcopal church built in 1723.

So many cool things about this church...

The Chandeliers have been hanging in the church since Christmas Eve, 1794.

The Organ was built in 1749 by a parishioner (missed the name!) and his brother

The Angels were carved in what is now Belgium. They were actually stolen. When the church found out, they tried to return them to their rightful owner, but were told the church could keep them.

This church still has box pews. Box pews were used to keep the parisioners warm. They brought a metal box from home with hot coals in it. When placed in the box pew, the heat would stay in longer than if in a large, open room. Families would make donations to the church to "buy" the approximately 5 ft X 5 ft pews, and decorated them however they wanted.

Here is an example of how one of the pews was decorated. These were actual decorations used.

By 1806, most churches removed box pews, since they were centrally heated by then.

Memorial Gardens for troops and others who lost their lives in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Each of these blank dog tags represent a life lost.

A lot of dog tags.

Our group and the Del Rio group standing under the Paul Revere statue.

These stones are from England! When the US and England traded goods, the US's goods were lighter items, such as textiles. The goods coming from England were heavier, like iron pieces.The stones were used on the way here help keep the boat balanced. Since the stones were not needed on the return trip (because the items were lighter), they were left here, and used to build streets, like these.

In the background, Sally is on the phone, sitting for probably the first time all day. We are "on the go" from the time we wake up, until the time we go to sleep! (She's doing great!  :) )

Paul Revere's house. 90% of it is original, except for the windows.

Kelsia, Christine, Kayleigh, and Reagan posing on the observation deck of the Prudential Building. There was a beautiful view of Boston behind them, but it was hard to capture with a camera!

Although I could not get a good picture of the lights, I was able to get this picture of Fenway Park~ The Red Socks were playing that night!

Passing through Harlem now... I've heard it's been 'cleaned up' in the past few years, but it is beautiful now!

Favorite things in Boston/Salem

Since we're on the bus to NY, I took the opportunity to ask everyone what their favorite parts of Boston or Salem were. If your child (or mom/spouse, friend etc) is not listed here, they are sleeping right now- I will get their answers @ lunch!

Kayleigh- Duck Tour- "Cool going in the water and looking at all the stuff."

Christine- Prudential Tower- "You got to see the whole city."

Reagan- "That's what I was going to say (Prudential Tower)!"- "The whole city, and Fenway Park (The Red Sox were playing- will upload pics of that tonight.)

Kelsey- Freedom Trail- "I liked all the history behind it."

Coby- Street Performers  (and there were some good ones!)

Preston- Duck Tour- "Got to drive on a boat." The WWII vehicle used to storm Normandy starts off as a land vehicle, then changes into a boat and goes into the Charles River.

Rebecca- Prudential Building- "It was weird being up that high."

Megan- Salem- "Everything we saw was historical."
  Also, the weather- "We were able to walk around, and a lot of people were walking outside."

Sally (Nick's mom)- Salem- she said she liked the people and that the city had a "friendly quaintness  with a mysterious undertone."

Rebecca (Coby's mom)- Old North Church (LOTS to post on that tonight!).

Nick- "shopping for stuff" and the House of the Seven Gables.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

On the way back into Boston to go on the Duck Tour. Sounds like it will be pretty fun. I'll post details soon :)

Day Two: Salem, and Back to Boston

I don't think that anyone really knew what to expect when we were going to Salem, but overall, I think everyone was pleasantly surprised. So many cool things there! The "witch" thing was a very small part of our tour there. There was a lot of information about Nathaniel Hawthorne and his family. His great-great grandfather was actually one of the Salem Witch Trial justices. His famous words were "hang 'em."
Aside from his embarrassment of his great-great grandfather, supposedly a witch put a curse on the Hathorne name.  Nathaniel wanted to disassociate from the "Hathorne" family, so he added the "W."


At one point, Salem's port was the most successful in the world. But, as the boats started getting bigger, Salem's Harbor was just too shallow.
When ships went  to different islands for the first time to trade, they knew the island settlements were friendly if they were offered a piece of fruit, often a pineapple. Because of this, pineapples here are a sign of hospitality.
*I love this* Many people here had four-post beds with pineapples on each post in their guestroom. The pineapples were removable. If a guest overstayed his/her welcome, the hostess would remove one of the pineapples and hide it!  When the guest saw the pineapple missing, they would know it was time to leave.

The House of Seven Gables was amazing. We got to see the oldest known living quarters in New England, from 1680's  (sorry; didn't write down the exact year!). The house had period pieces and replicas, so we could see how it most likely looked at the time various parts of it were in use. I say that, because the house was built as a small house, added on to to create the famous gables, then the gables were removed to turn it into a Federalist mansion, then renovated again to replace the gables. A very cool piece of architecture. I could definitely see why Hawthorne would be inspired to write a novel about it.

The only sad thing about it was were were not allowed to take pictures inside (but I was soooo tempted to try!)

We went back and got to really see some more of Boston... I will tell you (and show you) all about it tomorrow!

Re-uploading pictures from Engine House lunch... Not sure what happened to them?

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

Getting to know each other

Listening to some of the girls from our group talking to the kids from Seattle about each other's cities, schools, slang, etc. So great to listen to them sharing details about their lives.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

I just changed the settings to make it easier for you to leave comments. Sorry, I had a wrong button clicked! Now you should be able to click one "comments" and leave on easily!

Just left the House of Seven Gables in Salem. Couldn't take pics inside, but will upload outside pics tonight (They're on my camera.) On our way back to Boston.

Lunch @ Engine House Pizza & Subs in Salem- across from the Salem Fire House.  (soory about the glare in some of the pictures)

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

Dead Horse Beach

After a fire in the 1600's that destroed half of Salem, the bones of horses that were killed were buried here. 
The only rule of the beach: No Horseplay! 

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

Replica of the Friend Ship in Salem Harbor- Original friendship was sunk in he beginning of the American Revolution- Captain did not know we were @ war w/ the British yet.
 Nathaniel Hawthorne worked in the Customs House across the street- watched for boats to come in, then sent people down to collect taxes! Gave him time to write his novels.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

Even though the beds in the hotel were wonderful, everyone is still trying to catch up on the sleep we missed yesterday.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

Dunkin Donuts

One funny thing about Boston... Megan (my daughter) is amazed at how many Dunkin Donuts stores there are here. We saw 18 yesterday (yes, we counted)! We even saw one in Boston's China Town.

Technical Difficulties

Sorry I didn't get to post last night- I had problems with the hotel's wifi. When I finally got it fixed, I realized that Blogger had changed its format. I'm sure that it will be easy once I figure out all the little differences, but I was too tired last night. So, just so you don't think I've forgotten you, I posted a little bit from yesterday, with a few pictures. I have a bunch more downloaded.

Tonight I will get the rest of yesterday's figured out, as well as today's.

Off to Salem today!

My phone is also fully charged today, so I should be able to post directly from there.

Day 1: Boston

Well, we survived our first day in Boston! I say survived not because of anything bad, but because if today is any indication of the amount of walking we will be doing (and I think it was), we will all be losing some weight this week.

Boston is an amazing city~ It is one of those places where you can feel the history that took place more than 200 years ago. And, to add to that feeling, there are people dressed in period costumes that act as guides near historic sites.

We got to see a lot of Boston today~ The Freedom Tour literally brings our country's history to life.

After lunch, we watch this street performer for about thirty minutes.  He was very entertaining, and pretty funny!

The Granbury Burial Ground has the remains of many of our forefathers- Samuel Adams, Paul Revere,

It was interesting how close together the rows of headstones were- many of the rows were 3-4 feet apart.