Bye Bye Boston

The Minuteman Campground was our favorite New England campground so far. We had a lovely corner lot with lots of big boulders and tall trees, we could have enjoyed it much more without the daily incessant rain. On the one really nice day (6/25) we went to Boston. Drove to the Riverside parking complex and took the green line into Boston where we signed on for the Super Trolley Tour. We toured through much of the city and saw lots of sights, like Fenway Park [yes, there was a Red Sox game that night]. We didn't have tickets to the game but definitely rode the train back with every single Red Sox fan. We were packed on the train like sardines until after the Fenway stop.

We saw the Bull and Finch Bar which was used as the opening shot for the long-running television series, Cheers. The bar is actually downstairs but doesn't look like the TV version which was created in Hollywood. We hopped off the trolley and toured through Boston Common and the Public Garden to visit 'Cheers.'

Everyone in Boston was elated that the Celtics won the NBA title. They had a downtown parade a couple of days before we arrived and banners and signs were hanging all around town.

Apple must have a headquarters in Boston. Every train and billboard around town had bright colored Apple and iPod ads.

Included in our trolley tour was a boat tour of the Charles River. This ended up being the highlight of the day. The weather was beautiful, there was a nice breeze and the boat wasn't crowded. It happened to be 'Community Boating' day on the Charles. Anyone under age 18 could

rent a sailboat for $1.00 (that's right, one dollar) and sail on the Charles River. We saw lots of children of various ages sailing. All along the Charles colleges and universities (Harvard, Cambridge, MIT) have their own boathouses on the river. Some of the boathouses cost upwards in the millions to build. Boston has 68 institutions of higher learning.

We road over (during the trolley tour) and under (during the boat tour) the Henry W. Longfellow bridge which is also known as the 'Salt & Pepper Bridge' because the supports resemble large salt and pepper shakers. There is a story that the bridge was named after Longfellow because he traveled the bridge so frequently between his wife on one side and his mistress on the other side.

Our boat tour traveled under a lovely foot bridge and past the Harvard campus. This is a picture of the married student's dorms. The Boston trip was great and there's a lot to see and do. Boston deserves another trip to the area to do it justice...