Quite the day...

...of exploration!! Whew! We did SOOOOOO much today. We thought we'd take advantage of the lack of rain and the beautiful weather. Layton tried to get me up at 7:30, but that didn't quite work out :) We still got a pretty good start at about 10:30. We decided to hit up the Freedom Trail today. I've been told that this is the best way to see Boston. It has 16 VERY historical sites/places that are a must see in Boston. It was quite overwhelming to me.

Here is a quick overview of everything that we saw/did today:

#1-Boston common. This is a 44 acre park area that used to house soldiers and livestock. It was even used to hang criminals back in the day.

#2-Massachusetts State House-Built in 1798. It is one of the oldest buildings in Beacon Hill.

#3-Park Street Church-This used to be the first landmark that travelers saw when approaching Boston.

#4-The Granary Burying Ground-Established in 1660! Has MANY noted American's buried here including: Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and the 5 men that died during the Boston Massacre.

#5-King's Chapel-Built in 1749. George Washington and Paul Revere attended church here a few times.

#6-King's Chapel Burying Ground-The first woman to step off of the Mayflower is buried here.

#7-Boston Latin School-America's oldest public school. Ben Franklin, Samuel Adams, and John Hancock all attended here.

#8-Old Corner Bookstore-I was kind of sad that this wasn't still a bookstore. It had been turned into a Diamond Store. It was still very neat to think that Hawthorne, Longfellow, Emerson, Dickens, Alcott, etc. used to frequent this bookstore!

#9-Old South Meeting House-Built in 1729 as a Puritan meeting house. Samuel Adams addressed a crowd here regarding the tax on tea.

#10-Old State House-John Adams first read the Declaration of Independence from the balcony in 1776.

#11-Boston Massacre Site-It's in the middle of an intersection now, but it is were 5 men died.

#12-Faneuil Hall-This is where American's first protested the Stamp Act.

#13-Paul Revere's House-Built in 1680. He was living here when he participated in the Boston Tea Party.

We even saw a Redcoat parade that went down the streets of Boston. Complete with muskets, bayonets, drums, flutes, etc. It was very surreal.

Those are the 13 main things that we saw today. The Freedom Trail is a red brick pathway that winds throughout the city of Boston. It takes you through so many amazing neighborhoods and there are so many awe inspiring things to see along the way. We stopped for about 5 minutes and walked through the Holocaust Memorial that brought tears to my eyes.

On our way home from walking The Freedom Trail we stopped at Starbucks for some coffee. We were standing in line and the man in front of us let out the nastiest FART that you've ever heard. He then turned around, kind of like a dog does when it doesn't really know that it farted. I'm not sure if he was shocked or if he was looking to see if we heard him. Layton was nearly convulsing he was trying so hard to keep his laughs in!

We had a fabulous dinner at a little Italian restaurant called Artu. After dinner we walked around Beacon Hill for awhile and I took pictures of so many fabulous doors! We

even walked up to Acorn Street, which is the most photographed street in the U.S.

My brain is so full of stuff right now! This entire day has been so SURREAL!I kind of feel like I'm on overload from today. We did so much, saw so much and I learned so much about our country. It definitely makes me want to go home and learn about history :) Layton and I have crammed so many memories into the few short days that we've been here. I can't wait to cram more into the next week and a half!!

Today's total mileage walked: 8.5 miles

Today's blessing: Getting to be in this extremely historical city during our nation's birthday. I couldn't think of a better place to be right now!