Celebrating Independence Day — Exploring Tomorrows

Ben Franklin Statue in front of Old City Hall

What is best way to celebrate the 4th of July? Walk the Freedom Trail in Boston of course. Anyway, that was my thought since we were staying near Boston. The only issue was that Boston was having its first big Independence Day celebration since the pandemic so large crowds were expected. I didn’t want to deal with that many people, especially trying to park our large truck in the city that weekend. I am sure that most of you know by now that Tim isn’t to excited about visiting cities and he really likes to avoid crowds, so he didn’t have any desire to visit Boston. I didn’t want to miss all of the historical sites, so I wanted to find a good time to go into the city.

We just stayed at the campground over the 4th of July weekend. It was busy at the campground and they had lots of activities for kids as well as a DJ on Saturday night. One thing worried us though. We saw them stacking pallets in the field behind our camper. They had a community fire scheduled and I didn’t realize it would be a bonfire and be so close to our site. The pallets were thrown together in a large circular heap at least 15 yards in diameter, and at least 6 feet high in the center. This fire was only 45 yards from our trailer, which was naturally the closest. Tim expressed concerns to the office and they said they do this throughout the summer and have no issues. We had a hose out just in case we needed it. We were worried about sparks hitting our roof, but luckily there was no wind Sunday evening when they lit it. While we find bonfires fun, we thought this was excessive. Check out how wide and high it was.

This is the view from our site. We felt the heat from where we were sitting and the others in the field kept moving back. It was hot!

Our site. The fire was just across the road at the back of our camper.

Since Jessica lives near the city, I made plans with her to tour Boston on July 5. We thought the crowds would be less on that day. I was still worried about parking the truck and she didn’t have a guest pass for street parking in her neighborhood. Jess suggested that we meet half way and she pick me up. That was the perfect plan. Tim dropped me off and Jess picked me up at a Holiday Inn Express. I stayed at her place overnight and met Tim back there the following day.

We went back to her place and took the T from there into downtown to the Visitors Center at the start of the Freedom Trail. The Freedom Trail is a 2.5 mile path through the city that leads to 16 historical landmarks. These sites all played a pivotal role in revolution and start of our country. Definitely not to be missed when in this area. We decided to walk the trail ourselves and not do one of the narrated walking tours. We picked up a map of the trail with a brief description of each site at the visitors center and then started our day.

We thought this view of the State House from the Boston Common was hysterical. It would be such a great viewpoint if that tree wasn’t there.

Even though the map said the trail was 2.5 miles, we ended up walking a great deal more than that as we meandered through Boston. For the most part we stayed on the trail but there were spots that we went off of the trail to check out other sites. I think Jess’s phone app said we walked around 19,000 steps that day. It was a hot, humid, cloudy and slightly rainy day so not the best weather for such a walk. We enjoyed it despite heat. We saw all 16 landmarks on the trail, although we only saw the Bunker Hill monument from the distance. It was our last stop and we were exhausted by then. Since we could see it, we didn’t go the whole way there; instead we stopped for a cool drink and rest before hiking back to the T station.

The Granary Burying Ground. John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, Ben Franklin’s parents and all five Boston Massacre victims are buried here.

Stand in Opposition; loved this. Perfect description of our 2 party system.

We started the trail at the Boston Common, saw the Massachusetts State House, Faneuil Hall, Paul Revere House, the Old North Church , the USS Constitution, many historic graveyards, the Boston Harbor and much more. It was a full day filled with lots of history, fun and eventually some relaxation. Back at Jess’s apartment, she and her roommate, Mary, made us a great dinner and we all crashed early as exhaustion took over. I really appreciate their hospitality and having Jess spend so much time with me. I hope we make it back to the Boston area again in the future. We didn’t get to Concord, Lexington or Salem that were on my list of sites to visit. Have to save those for the next trip. Enjoy the pictures.

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Celebrating Independence - New England part 3

Exploring Tomorrows

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