Thanksgiving Trip

This Thanksgiving we took a trip to visit friends and see the sites in Boston. We kicked off the festivities with a delicious Thanksgiving dinner in New Haven, CT with Amy and Dave and Ben and Jenn. Amy and Jenn were two of my roommates at BYU and they are still just as fun and crazy as they were back then!

Friday morning we headed north to Boston. It was raining the whole drive up so we were worried we wouldn't be able to see anything, but by time we got there the skies cleared and we were able to visit Lexington and Concord.

Minuteman Statue

Hartwell Tavern The Old North Bridge, where the "shot heard 'round the world" was fired

Concord is not only famous for it's role in the Revolutionary War, but also because of it's rich literary history. It was home to several important authors including Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, and the Alcotts, who are all buried on Authors' Ridge in Concord's Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.
Just before it got dark we made it to Walden Pond, where Henry David Thoreau lived from 1845-1847 and inspired his book Walden.

Friday night we had another delicious dinner at Ben and Jenn's house, celebrated their son's birthday, rang in the Christmas season with singing carols around the piano (except that Dave and I didn't sing), and playing games.

Saturday morning we walked Boston's Freedom Trail. We saw Boston Common, The State House, Park Street Church, Granary Cemetery, King's Chapel, America's first public school, the Old Corner Bookstore, The Old State House, Faneuil Hall, Paul Revere's House, and the Old North Church.
The State HouseGranary Burying Ground (John Hancock, Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, the Boston Massacre victims, and Benjamin Franklin’s parents are buried here)
Christmas CarolersLunch at Cheers. This was a must on my list, and the food was really good! We had "Bahston Clam Chowda" and a big juicy cheeseburger with fries.
Statue of Paul Revere with the Old North Church in the background

Inside the Old North Church, where on the evening of April 18, 1775, the Old North sexton climbed the steeple and held high two lanterns as a signal from Paul Revere that the British were marching to Lexington and Concord to arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock and to seize the Colonial store of ammunition. This fateful event ignited the American RevolutionChristmas tree at Faneuil Hall Marketplace

This picture of Ben Franklin and I cost us $2! The guy told us as we were taking the picture that there was a charge. He said he was collecting money "for the school kids". Sounds fishy to me!

After a fun day in Boston, we headed back down to Connecticut to see my old high school friend Ashlee and her husband Jason. We went out to dinner and caught up. It was so fun to hang out with her again! We went to church with them the next morning and then headed home.

Other than the insane traffic, we had a great trip! It's good to have friends from home on the East Coast!