We took a 12-day family trip through part of the East Coast with my husband and our two teenage sons. We wanted to hit the highlights of Boston, New York City and part of Pennsylvania. Although my husband and I had seen a few of these places in prior trips, our children had not. Perhaps part of my motivation to take this trip is that I am a high school history teacher? In any event, we flew direct from Los Angeles into Boston. We stayed at the Hotel Commonwealth which is located across the street from Fenway Park on one side and Boston University on the other. It was a great location because there was a subway stop right next to the hotel.#freedomtrail #fenwaypark
Day 1 - Most of day was spent traveling by plane from LAX. Arrived at Logan Airport relatively late and checked into our hotel.
Day 2 - Went to a baseball game at Fenway Park. The Red Sox were playing the Yankees so it was an iconic match-up! My husband's top choice of activities in Boston was to see a game at this ballpark and it just so happened that the Red Sox were scheduled to play the Yankees so I made sure to buy tickets close to the field. The game was off to a lackluster start with the Yankees ahead 3-0 through the 7th inning. In the 8th inning, the Red Sox decided to play and in two of the most exciting innings I think I've ever seen in baseball, the Red Sox forged ahead to win 5-4. Prior to the game, we walked in the alleyway by the stadium where lots of different food stands offered everything from sausages to sandwiches and more.
Day 3 - Walked the Freedom Trail. This is a 2.5 mile walk featuring historical locations important primarily during the pre-Revolutionary and Revolutionary Era in Boston. There are 16 specific sites. Feeling ambitious, we decided to walk the entire length of the trail. Although just 2.5 miles, our Apple watches recorded that we walked 8 miles that day! That morning we had walked from our hotel to a cafe and back which was a fair distance but the moral of the story is that this trail requires a lot of walking! Nonetheless, it was a wonderful experience and we stopped at most locations. A few were closed due to Covid-restrictions or just the fact that it was not open on the day we were there. Out of all of the sites, I think I enjoyed the Paul Revere House the most. However, it was fun to see everything and to stop at Faneuil Hall and grab a lobster roll lunch at Boston Chowda. At the end of the day, we went to Little Italy and had dinner and then went to Mike's Cannolis where we picked up some cannolis to take back to the hotel. We had to wait about 30 minutes in line because it is so popular. My feet were in complete protest by the end of the day but the rest of my family was absolutely fine!
Day 4 - Although the plan had been to go to Plimouth Plantation on this day, we were all so exhausted from the prior day's activities that we opted instead to visit the nearby Boston Fens and then go to the campus of MIT which was just across the Cam from our hotel. The Boston Fens is a lovely garden and was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the same landscape architect and designer of Central Park and the grounds of Stanford University among other places. We were quite interested to see the extensive community garden area which had first started there during WWII as Victory Gardens. The campus of MIT was somewhat disappointing because there was no access to the buildings due to Covid restrictions. My husband had hoped to visit some labs and such.
Wow!!