Our Road Trips

7/13/2015

7/7/2015 We arrived at Normandy Farms RV Park in Foxboro, MA and got settled in for the next 4 nights of visiting the Boston area. We took it easy after set-up...lots coming up.

On Wed, we drove to the JFK museum after waiting out the worst of morning traffic. Although JFK was only President for a little over 1000 days, it was one very full time. The day he was assassinated was a day that most Americans remember where they were and what they were doing. I know I do.

The museum is full of memories, both good & bad. You come out of there wondering where our country would be if he had survived the first term and been re-elected in 1964. It is likely there wouldn't be as many names on the Viet Nam memorial in DC for one thing. We are both very glad we went. The section on the Cuban Missile Crisis revealed a lot of info that had not been released.

From there, we drove to Fenway Park and found our reserved parking place right across the street from the Green Monstah. The crowd was already gathering. We walked around the corner and stopped at The Beer Works for a burger & a couple of cold ones before the game...directly across the street from home plate. Then we did a little shopping and took in the zoo that it was becoming around the park. We found our seats & watched all of the ceremonies and then the game. It was a decent game with the Red Sox beating the Miami Marlins 6-3. Big Papi hit a 2 run home run too.

After the game, we walked across the street & bought a t-shirt and headed back to the car. The traffic was pretty slow as expected, so it took about an hour to get back to the camper...long day.

The next morning we drove back downtown after some breakfast and drove to Cambridge, which included a ride through the 'Big Dig' tunnel...never seen exits & entrance rams in a tunnel before. We found a parking place and walked across the street and bought tickets for the Hop on-Hop off buses for 2 days and it included 2 boat rides too. So we went on a boat tour on the Charles River, which separates Cambridge from Boston. It was a pretty day and the boat wasn't but about 1/2 full, so it was a nice time. When we got back, we jumped on a bus and made a 4 hour loop through Boston. This also involved a stop at Harvard University and a walk through that part of town. It was late when we got back, so we headed back to the camper. Along the way, our route took us by Gillette Stadium (home of the NE Patriots) and did some looking around and went in and had a couple beers & some appetizers at the CBS facility there. The beer was OK, the food wasn't...back to the camper.

The next morning, we drove back to town but went to the other side of town and parked across from the USS Constitution, which is housed at the Charlestown Navy Yard. We caught a bus to another boat tour, this time on a 'Duck Boat' tour of Boston harbor. Then it was back on a bus and a stop at the Bull & Finch bar, the basis of the 'Cheers' TV show bar. We had a couple of beers and got back on the bus. When we got back to the Boston Harbor, we got on a different bus for a loop through the harbor area. It was getting late and traffic was getting silly. We spent most of the time sitting in traffic. But we saw some more sights including the Boston Tea Party site and a lot of full bars. The city is going to be full tonight, U2 concert at TD Garden, Red Sox/Yankees game at Fenway and as we found out on the way home, professional soccer at Gillette Stadium. When we got dropped off at our starting point, we walked down and saw the USS Constitution in dry dock and heard music...a live concert was going on in the Navy Yard's Commandant front yard...go figure. We went and listened for a little while and decided to head back. All went well until we got close to Gillette, traffic backed up for miles. We finally got through and got to the camper just before dark...another long day.

Steve & Barb Larson