Boston, Mass
We are about to leave New Hampshire and enter Massachusetts. We just got our brakes fixed. It seems that it was nothing major, just a vacuum hose was broken off and the people in Canada did not catch it. So, we are all fixed p and on our way to Boston. First we will stop in Salem, Massachusetts; a place I have always wanted to see. We stopped on the way and saw the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. It smelled bad, but otherwise I was impressed. Of course I had Lars take my picture against its backdrop.
We got to Salem at 4:30 PM. We parked and went to the tourist info station first. I have decided that on your first visit of a town, the tourist information is necessary, especially if you are only going to be there for an hour or so. There are so many things on this trip that I have only gotten a taste of. I only get to see a few seconds of what I would like to spend hours studying. It is very fun, and a taste is worth it.
In Salem, we saw the witch hunt museum from outside and all the museums from outside. We did stop in the graveyard and looked at tombs of Pilgrims from the Mayflower and Nathaniel Hawthorne (buried under a pen-name with his wife, I have a picture.)Some dated back to 1669. (AD)(CE)(Christ Enthroned).
We walked downtown and to the wharf. Derby Wharf it was called. At the end was a lighthouse, and the sky was just beautiful with the sailboats and clouds all billowing up together with the same light summer breeze. We left Salem at 7 PM.
The traffic in Boston and on the way there was terrible. I am so glad Lars was driving. We got into Boston and found a parking lot on the North End on Commercial Avenue. Lars did not want to park there, because it was $8. But I thought that we would have to drive around for an hour to find a legal parking space, and would probably never get one. So I paid for the fee. I don't think that paying a bit more for a spot is bad in a larger city, because we had no time to waste ( we still had to get a campsite outside of Boston) and we would find it there again easily. I think it is worth it not too worry too. That is what money is for. Boston was great. The buildings are magnificent, both old and new. The skyline is the nicest I've ever seen of a big city. (I'll compare it with New York when I see it. )
We walked from our parking spot to Boston commons and then followed the Freedom Trail past historic sites like Old North Church. Paul Revere's house ( I never noticed it. We walked by and I missed it.) We saw the graveyard where the men who died in the Boston Massacre were buried. It was a good trail, and also went through and area with one band playing a song by UB40 and another band called Mystic Clambake or something was setting up. We bought some Postcards, and got out of Boston at 9:30 PM. The National park people let us in and we found our site. I set up the tent and stuff while Lars cooked hamburgers and cheese with onions for dinner. It was a wonderful meal. But it was completely dark except for the lantern, which we could not live without. We finished all that and went to the bathroom to clean ourselves and brush our teeth.
1992