Where I started getting really fat

We returned from Plymouth and camped in our same site.  Up and at 'em in the morning meant a crazy drive into Boston.  

I'm just going to say it.  Boston drivers are CRAZY.  Cray-Zee.  Nutso.  Wackadoodle.  I thought things in Rome were out of sorts.  Boston was like Rome, but instead of 6 SmartCars lined up at a three lane signal, there are 6 Lexus SUV's!  In my head, I honked.  I also may have though one or two words I couldn't say out loud.  We survived the drive from the camp site to the parking garage and paid for valet.  I was not about to have another Philadelphia parking situation.  We took the lift to the ground floor and began our walk to the Boston Commons.  Now, if you've never been to Boston, you have to understand it is a VERY friendly town.  We hiked from the hill of the parking garage down and around towards the Boston Commons.  

   

We stopped and admired the beautiful architecture of the New State House.

We took pictures with the memorial to the 54th Mass. Reg.  The kids had watched "Glory" and understood the gravity and somnolence of the relief (well, Gannon and Siri did. Annika missed it, as you can tell by the poses).  We approached the visitors center, entered, and bought tickets for our Freedom Trail Tour.

We visited the tomb of Paul Revere, Sam Adams, and John Hancock,

We stood in the shadow of the Boston Massacre Site, walked through Faneuil Hall to Little Italy with my dear friend from birth, Christina, and ate some of the most delishous sandwiches I've ever eaten.  Huge, long, fresh sandwiches.  Christina and I got to catch up over lunch, and parted ways just past the Old North Church.  

We winnowed cocoa beans to make chocolate

and admired Paul Reveres horse.

We took the long way back to the car to admire another Holocaust memorial.  the engravings you see on the glass are the numbers tattooed on the Jews as they entered the Death camps.  I had more tears.  Some day, my kids will see Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen.

Walking though Boston, the contrast of the old and the new is stark.  It really is a beautiful city!  We collapsed in the parking garage (it was HOT) and awaited the return of our van from valet.  More "in my head" honking and words I shouldn't say, and we were back on I-95N.  Kittery, ME was our next stop.  Most people have never heard of the barely-in-Maine town of Kittery, but I'd heard story after story after story during Navy A-school down time.  My sweet friend Desiree was born and raised in the bay town, and loved it.  We picked her hometown as our lobster dinner destination.

Visiting my old friends home town, Missing our friends, the Warrens and eating at Warrens Lobster House, and thinking fondly of the Savoie family evoked quite the menagerie of sentimentalism.  Dinner didn't disappoint.  

Kayleigh LOVED her Lobster Alfredo,

and my dinner was all but a bead of seafood heaven on ritz crackers.  I could barely start the baked potato, but still managed to cram award winning bread pudding down my throat.  I left the restaurant with my pants unbuttoned.

It was going to be a long night, but Vermont and New Hampshire weren't going to visit themselves.  Next Stop....NEW YORK.  AGAIN!