Well today was our chosen day to move on. Fortunately the weather was again kind to us as we did not relish the idea of packing up a wet tent as it is likely we will not be breaking it out again before December. It is not difficult to imagine what a wet, sweaty tent might begin to smell like in the back of our van. I shan’t go there before I put off our loyal readers from reading anymore. We seem to have got into a bit of a routine now and it all seemed to go smoothly – we didn’t even end up throwing out a lot of unwanted food. The sad thing is essential items like marmite and branston pickle (will not mean much to some of those reading this!!!) are getting low. We may need to request a Red Cross parcel delivery soon.
Rather than spend the whole day travelling our plan was to set off relatively early. Our only real plan was to visit a Wal-Mart store for what seemed the 100th time in two weeks to replace a defunct inflatable mattress which had given up the ghost on us (we are already on our 3rd replacement). En route we spotted we were passing Concord and Lexington, which Jack informed us were where the opening shots of the War of Independence were fired. I apologise again as we are about to re-tell some more history here – we’ll soon be off to the mid-West and things are a lot more boring there. As we left Interstate 95 (exit 30B route 2A West) we noticed the signs for Minuteman State Park – which we thought would be a celebration of cold war nuclear weapons. Were we wrong – the Minuteman was a colonial militia man who got his name from a state of continual preparedness. The basic story of this tale is about 700 British soldiers who were sent out of Boston on April 19th 1775 on a secret mission to find and destroy an arsenal of the Massachusetts Militia, believed to be at Concord. Anyway a guy called Paul Revere (no stranger to most readers) set off from Boston to warn the Militia of the British mission. Consequently when the British arrived at Lexington Green at 5:30am some of the local militia were waiting – there was a skirmish and 8 militia died. The British rampaged towards Concord and there was another set-to at North Bridge where for the first time the Militia fired on the British soldiers (which would have been an act of treason), and a couple of British soldiers were killed. The British then retreated to Boston – these were the opening engagements of the war that would culminate in the emergence of the United States of America.
Never ones to be a sore loser we were quite happy to visit these historic sites – Jack had studied the War of Independence in 4th grade so he was very excited to see the actual sites he had read about. Also it was a glorious day as we tramped over North Bridge trying to picture what had occurred back in 1775. The kids, as one might expect, were more interested in the macabre aspects of battle and were excited when they stood on the spot where the 2 British soldiers were buried. We met a gentleman who was dressed as 18th century French admiral (he was actually just back from attending a presentation he had given – he had been playing the role of the Marquis de Lafayette – a key player in the War of Independence). This person turned out to be a Harvard graduate, and entrepreneur who liked to dress up in period costumes, re-enact battles and study colonial history. He also turned out to be a descendant of William Bradford (see story of Pilgrims in previous entries).
On the way through to Concord we had passed Orchard House (on the 2A West) – which is
where the Louisa May Alcott, the author of “Little Women” and her family lived. Emily loves the story of Little Women and the book is largely based on Alcott’s family – so a visit was a must. The Alcott’s, particularly the parents of Louisa May, were interesting characters. The father, Amos Bronson Alcott, was a transcendental philosopher and teacher; and the mother, Abigail May Alcott, an independent-minded 19th century woman who was one of the first paid social workers in Massachusetts.
One of the good things about travelling is that we don’t have to do things in a particular order so we rounded the day off by visiting Lexington Green. This was largely on the pretence of visiting the historical site of the first engagement of April 19th 1775, but the real mission was to find an ice cream store. Luckily both parts of the mission were completed and we found a great store - Rancatore's Ice Cream (1752 Massachusetts Ave, Lexington, MA) The ice cream was home made and the flavours on offer were varied and delicious. The store itself was clean with modern furnishings. If you happen to be in Lexington, MA well worth the visit.
Of course we still had to find Wal-Mart – which we finally did – and then settled down in our hotel in Andover, Mass.
Rather than spend the whole day travelling our plan was to set off relatively early. Our only real plan was to visit a Wal-Mart store for what seemed the 100th time in two weeks to replace a defunct inflatable mattress which had given up the ghost on us (we are already on our 3rd replacement). En route we spotted we were passing Concord and Lexington, which Jack informed us were where the opening shots of the War of Independence were fired. I apologise again as we are about to re-tell some more history here – we’ll soon be off to the mid-West and things are a lot more boring there. As we left Interstate 95 (exit 30B route 2A West) we noticed the signs for Minuteman State Park – which we thought would be a celebration of cold war nuclear weapons. Were we wrong – the Minuteman was a colonial militia man who got his name from a state of continual preparedness. The basic story of this tale is about 700 British soldiers who were sent out of Boston on April 19th 1775 on a secret mission to find and destroy an arsenal of the Massachusetts Militia, believed to be at Concord. Anyway a guy called Paul Revere (no stranger to most readers) set off from Boston to warn the Militia of the British mission. Consequently when the British arrived at Lexington Green at 5:30am some of the local militia were waiting – there was a skirmish and 8 militia died. The British rampaged towards Concord and there was another set-to at North Bridge where for the first time the Militia fired on the British soldiers (which would have been an act of treason), and a couple of British soldiers were killed. The British then retreated to Boston – these were the opening engagements of the war that would culminate in the emergence of the United States of America.
Never ones to be a sore loser we were quite happy to visit these historic sites – Jack had studied the War of Independence in 4th grade so he was very excited to see the actual sites he had read about. Also it was a glorious day as we tramped over North Bridge trying to picture what had occurred back in 1775. The kids, as one might expect, were more interested in the macabre aspects of battle and were excited when they stood on the spot where the 2 British soldiers were buried. We met a gentleman who was dressed as 18th century French admiral (he was actually just back from attending a presentation he had given – he had been playing the role of the Marquis de Lafayette – a key player in the War of Independence). This person turned out to be a Harvard graduate, and entrepreneur who liked to dress up in period costumes, re-enact battles and study colonial history. He also turned out to be a descendant of William Bradford (see story of Pilgrims in previous entries).On the way through to Concord we had passed Orchard House (on the 2A West) – which is
where the Louisa May Alcott, the author of “Little Women” and her family lived. Emily loves the story of Little Women and the book is largely based on Alcott’s family – so a visit was a must. The Alcott’s, particularly the parents of Louisa May, were interesting characters. The father, Amos Bronson Alcott, was a transcendental philosopher and teacher; and the mother, Abigail May Alcott, an independent-minded 19th century woman who was one of the first paid social workers in Massachusetts.
One of the good things about travelling is that we don’t have to do things in a particular order so we rounded the day off by visiting Lexington Green. This was largely on the pretence of visiting the historical site of the first engagement of April 19th 1775, but the real mission was to find an ice cream store. Luckily both parts of the mission were completed and we found a great store - Rancatore's Ice Cream (1752 Massachusetts Ave, Lexington, MA) The ice cream was home made and the flavours on offer were varied and delicious. The store itself was clean with modern furnishings. If you happen to be in Lexington, MA well worth the visit.Of course we still had to find Wal-Mart – which we finally did – and then settled down in our hotel in Andover, Mass.
2 comments:
Oi, achei seu blog pelo google está bem interessante gostei desse post. Gostaria de falar sobre o CresceNet. O CresceNet é um provedor de internet discada que remunera seus usuários pelo tempo conectado. Exatamente isso que você leu, estão pagando para você conectar. O provedor paga 20 centavos por hora de conexão discada com ligação local para mais de 2100 cidades do Brasil. O CresceNet tem um acelerador de conexão, que deixa sua conexão até 10 vezes mais rápida. Quem utiliza banda larga pode lucrar também, basta se cadastrar no CresceNet e quando for dormir conectar por discada, é possível pagar a ADSL só com o dinheiro da discada. Nos horários de minuto único o gasto com telefone é mínimo e a remuneração do CresceNet generosa. Se você quiser linkar o Cresce.Net(www.provedorcrescenet.com) no seu blog eu ficaria agradecido, até mais e sucesso. (If he will be possible add the CresceNet(www.provedorcrescenet.com) in your blogroll I thankful, bye friend).
Nice to see a picture of Karen finally! Should be warmer from now on "out of tent" - enjoy the fall weather in New England! Don't kid yourself - plenty to see and do in and around the Southwest! I'll give some Southwest ideas along your way, but for now, please don't plan to miss Canyon de Chelly (pronounced d'Shay) in Chinle, AZ. I have a Navajo friend there if you want to stop by and say hi to her. Love to all of you! -Sandi :)
Post a Comment