Bahstun

We finally took a much needed vacation last week. It was really fun and relaxing, but no vacation would be complete without a few hiccups. Peter's brother dropped us off at the airport on Thursday night. As soon as we got there, I got a call from American Airlines saying that our plane was delayed an hour. It wasn't too big of a deal, we just watched the Rangers (they lost that night by the way) game. We called the car rental company to tell them we would be a hour late (around 12:30) and they said they close at 11:30 and we would either have to pay for a different company or get a cab to our hotel and come back the next morning for our car! We had already paid for the car so we were a little stressed but decided to figure it out once we got there. Then, we realized that our gate was changed to a completely different terminal so we had to go there and the plane was overbooked. So, they took forever and had to ask people to check their carry on bags and ask people to take the next flight (at 6 in the morning). So we didn't get on for another 30-45 minutes. Then, they didn't have the thing that is supposed to push the plane away from the gate so we were stuck on that for a while. Finally, we took off. When we landed, we were told that Alamo would rent us a car since we had been with Enterprise and they closed early. The shuttle is supposed to come every 5-10 minutes but ours, of course, didn't come until we had been waiting for 25 minutes! Ugh. So we get there and ended up going with National and we didn't have to pay anything extra at all but they only had minivans and SUVs left. Not small SUVs, we ended up taking an Excursion! We could have seriously fitted 9 people with seat belts in the car and it was just for the two of us.
We decided to stay in Woburn which was about 20 minutes from Boston and 20 minutes from Salem. We of course missed an exit and ended up driving behind some warehouses that were a little scary until we finally found a highway. The highway was getting fixed and all the lights were out, we assumed it was from Hurricane Irene because tons of trees were knocked over. By the time we got to the hotel, it was 3 in the morning! I was so exhausted. Oh yeah, did I mention it was raining the entire time?
The next morning, we decided to sleep in. We headed out around noon and it was still pouring rain. We ate lunch at Panera (I don't know why we don't go there more often, it's delish!) and went to the Boston temple. It was a really pretty and a great way to start our vacation. We decided that anywhere we take a vacation, we will try to see the temple if one is close. I couldn't get a picture there because it was raining so much, but I found a picture online.

After the temple, we went down to Faneuil Hall/Boston Commons for some dinner. The plan was to talk around, but it was so rainy, we just walked around Quincy Market then went to Kingfish for dinner. It was divine. We started out with the best salad I've ever had in my life. It had crab and was so yummy. Then, we both got a lobster dish and it was one of the best meals we have had in a while. I'm not a huge seafood person, but it was really good.


After doing some more shopping, we headed back to the hotel for some rest.
The next morning, we woke up early for a Lexington/Concord bus tour. We met in Boston and headed up to Lexington then over to Concord. We visited Harvard Yard and Cambridge Common where George Washington took control of the Continental Army. We drove along "Tory Row" past the home of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and followed the route of Paul Revere as he warned the countryside with his infamous cry of "the British are coming!" We also saw the Little Women house (lame), the house of the guy who invented the concord grape, and the house of Ralph Waldo Emerson. The prettiest place was the Old North Bridge which is where the first day of battle in the Revolutionary war took place. We also visited Harvard yard which was crazy crowded. Did you know that in 2.5 sq miles there are 80 Dunkin Donuts and 4 more being built?!?! Dunkin Donuts isn't even good but they love that crap there. There are also over 50 Starbucks in the same area. I guess they love their coffee.
Minute man and minute man statue:



This is where Paul Revere was caught:



Ralph Waldo Emerson's house:

Old North Bridge:


After the tour, we headed over to Salem. We just loved that place. Halloween is such a fun time of year and they totally know how to Halloween it up in Salem. There are tons of little shops and outdoor vendors just around cemeteries and witch museums. We ate at this restaurants right on the water. I ate some delicious clam chowder while Peter ate some fish and chips.
Next, we walked around and enjoyed some cider and a caramel apple before our Night Tour. We were taken to some haunted places including a couple of graveyards. That was probably one of the best parts of our vacation. The tour guide was great and we got to hear a lot of cool and some creepy stories.


The next day, we decided to go back to Faneuil hall since we were there at night and it was raining the first day. We just hung out, walked around, spent some time on the harbor watching the boats coming in and out.

I found a great deal on Groupon for a segway tour for downtown Boston so we were so excited to go on that! It was so fun and our favorite part of the trip! We went around Boston harbor, by the Aquarium, through the financial district and right down the North End. We had a blast. The two questions we always get is how fast they go and if they were hard to learn how to ride. They go up to 9.5 mph and they were super easy to ride. We booked our tour at 5 so the sun was going down and it was so beautiful.





The North End is basically Little Italy. They have tons of restaurants and little Italian places. Our tour guide told us his favorite place to eat down there so we decided to go down there for some authentic Italian food. It was delicious!

We also went to the famous Mike's Pastry for some cannoli's. It was a little too rich for me but still yummy.

Then, we went down for the Trolley/Walking Night Tour. It was awesome. They took us to 3 graveyards and Boston Commons. We got out at each place and they told us some crazy stories.
The next day, we went back to Salem to do all the museum touristy things.

We got a 3 museum pass for the Witch Dungeon museum, the Witch museum, and the Pirate museum. The museums were pretty lame but it was a nice relaxing day.
Here I am learning about voodoo:

And here I am dancing with the witches in the woods:

I told Peter he had to take a picture of something in one of the museums so this is what he chose:

That evening, we decided to try this Italian Place by our hotel and it was the best food we had while we were out there!

We were going home the next afternoon but we had a little time so we went to the Aquarium. They claim it is the biggest tourist attraction in Boston but I think that the Dallas Aquarium is much better.

And here we are on our way home:

The vacation was much needed and so relaxing. We didn't pack our days full so we could just relax and enjoy our time away from everything. It's so crazy to think this is our last vacation as a family of two!