The day after Labor Day, Brandon and I headed to Boston for a little trip to celebrate my 30th birthday. Brandon’s been there for work several times, but I’d never been and I wanted to get in on the action! Paul Revere, This Old House, fresh seafood! Boston just seemed like the place I needed to see.
I’ve got a few things to post about our trip, so to start, here were some of the highlights. :)
We rented bikes one day and took this picture on a bench in Boston Common, the oldest park in the US. Since we live so close to Chicago, and my last city trip was to NYC, I loved that Boston was busy, but not-so-crowded, smaller, and bike friendly! It made for great touring.
We went to the Boston Public Library, the first publicly funded library in the US, where I was pretty excited to find a real, working card catalog. I was and am absolutely in love with Boston’s history! The Midwest is comparatively new, so as a history-buff, I adored everything that was “America’s first…” or “America’s oldest…”
We stayed near the Craigie Bridge on Monsignor O’Brien Highway, which opens and closes, and whose control panel Brandon helped build and start-up. He’s pointing at the part that opens :) and standing in front of the control tower where the panel is operated. He pretty much hated that I was taking this picture, but he played nice and smiled. :)
I was pretty excited to take a Duck Boat tour!! Brandon had talked about them when he was working on the Craigie Bridge (the Duck Boats are amphibious and go underneath it!), then I saw them featured on This Old House. I love an informative and historical tour, so I was sold.
To commemorate the trip, I made a photo book on Shutterfly with a coupon code I got from TravelZoo for a free book! (I am signed up for a LOT of email lists…and I never unsubscribe from them because of little gems like that one that come along occasionally! I am an email hoarder!) Even without that coupon code, though, Shutterfly is always running specials on photo books. They’re great quality and a great way to remember an occasion, a year, or special people in your life.
(I wasn’t paid for that endorsement! I just love these books for capturing memories. I put a lot of work into them, but for me, it still is easier than traditional scrapbooking.)
All in all, we had a pretty good time on our Boston trip. :)
Have you been on a fun trip lately?
This is why you and I are siamese twins... The reason I love Boston is because of all the history. I would always say to Michael, "You know Chicago is old, but nothing like the east coast! Boston literally has things like the first library and oldest wooden frame house, etc."
ReplyDeleteI went in college, but my memory of the trip is very blurry and I know we didn't do nearly enough touristy/historic things as I wanted. (Instead there was a lot of sneaking into bars, sleeping in and a random bus trip to NYC...)
I've already told Michael that I want our summer vacation trips with Lincoln to be all historic/classic American sites like the Grand Canyon, Washington DC, Yellowstone, and definitely Boston! So glad you had a fun trip!
PS, I love that the library has a working card catalog. I remember being SO excited in elementary school to learn how to use the Dewey decimal system and card catalog and now it's all electronic...so sad... Do I sound super old right now? Yearning for the days before everything was computerized? Apparently 29 years old = 79 years old :)
ReplyDeleteYes to everything! I love historical trips! I want to do all of that you listed above, too :) And apparently our love of history includes the card catalog :) I do like computerized catalogs for lots of reasons, but since most libraries have removed their card catalogs for floor space, it's nice to see a real one! I wonder if one will still be around for us to show Lincoln when he's older! Then he'll think we're crazy old ladies... :)
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