Melissa worked all day today. Mary, Anna and Lily went to hang out with friends who had all gathered in Boston to meet IRL. Joe and I headed to Minute Man National Historic Park with the kids that were left.
At Minute Man Visitor Center was the best video experience I’ve seen at a national park yet. It had three screens and other elements like a fireplace and windows that would light up to help tell the story.
Those pictures are kind of lame but I really liked this experience. Here is a different video that explains the Battle of Lexington and Concord in case you don’t remember it from 8th grade social studies. This year is the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The Junior Ranger booklet at Minute Man was just one folded sheet of paper and the badges were given to the kids with their booklets. We got one for Lily as well since she’s into the badges.
I noticed a lot of yard signs similar to these around town in Lexington and Concord.
The staff told us that the other visitor center had a ranger-guided tour scheduled for 3pm so we decided to go to another historic site, Longfellow House: Washington’s Headquarters, while we waited.
We got to Longfellow at 1:05 and missed a 1pm tour by a few minutes. The next tour wasn’t until 2pm. Unfortunately, you can only go into the house with a guided tour. We had plans for a 3pm tour on the other side of town so we just worked on the booklets and then talked with the ranger.
She told us about the history of this place and that it originally belonged to loyalists to the crown and was forcibly evacuated by a mob of patriot rioters, then later used as a war room for Washington and his generals.
We saw two separate bunnies while perusing the gardens here.
Back at Minute Man, this time at the North Bridge Visitor Center, we arrived about 30 minutes before the 3pm tour time. Plenty of time to eat lunch out of our trunks.
They had some huge old trees near the parking lot that were great for climbing.
When we went inside, we found out that the 3pm tour is only Tuesday through Sunday and today is Monday. They had a different video at this location but it was not as impressive as the one at the other visitor center.
We walked to the North Bridge and I tried to recreate the feeling of a ranger-led tour without much luck. We ran into a couple walking the bridge who were history buffs and helped point out where the troops advanced from etc.
We checked out the gardens and the bridge overlook on the way back to the cars.
The kids were not really into today’s activities. They may be getting a little sick of this history stuff and maybe even sick of traveling. They spent yesterday on devices most of the day and instead of feeling recharged after that, they all just wanted to go back to the campground. Not to be deterred by a little whining, Joe and I decided one last stop was in order. Sleepy Hallow Cemetery. Weird kids love cemeteries so I thought they’d really be into it. They weren’t. The girls waited in the cars while Joe, Joey and I searched for the famous authors buried here.
Henry David Thoreau
Nathaniel Hawthorne writer of the Scarlet Letter.
Louisa May Alcott, writer of Little Women
Ralph Waldo Emerson who wrote about the “shot heard round the world”.
There was a monument with a high relief sculpture at the cemetery so we looked at that as well. Earlier, Joey has spotted a tombstone with the initials A.S.A. and pointed it out. I said there were for sure some real “Asas” at the cemetery because it’s an old name. Well the sculpture was a monument to three brothers fallen in war, the oldest named Asa.
Back at the camper, we warmed up leftovers for dinner. The Yatzecks headed to the library and I did a load of laundry. I wanted to have a campfire tonight but it decided to rain.
Martins Take Flight 