Seeing American History:

We learned about the American Revolution & the forming of our nation for history all last school year, so we took the children back east to visit the sights where these great works actually occurred. We had an amazing time seeing more of our beautiful country! We took a redeye & flew all night to get there. It was quite the adventure!  

Leaving Santa Barbara

Our layover in San Francisco. We already look a bit peaked.

Day 1:
We flew into Boston, arriving at 6 o'clock in the morning.

From there we rented our car, found some breakfast, and then walked the Freedom Trail, which is a 2.5 mile cobblestone walk along Boston's most famous Revolutionary War scenes.

A beautiful, old cemetery. Paul Revere is buried here, along with Boston's first mayor & Benjamin Franklin's parents.

Where the Declaration of Independence was very first read to a crowd of people in the street below. Also the place of the Boston Massacre.

Paul Revere's home-- it was over 100 years old when he lived there!

Adjacent to Paul Revere's home was "Little Italy", which intrigued me. We saw a very old lady walking down the street in a wool skirt & black stockings, her white hair pulled back in a tight bun, carrying a loaf of fresh bread. I felt as if she had stories to tell. Men were on the streets in coveralls shouting to each other, calling each other Vinny & Jessepie, A man leaned out a wood-framed window of a high up building, greeting those below. This was an unexpected cultural experience for me.  It was as if we'd suddenly stepped back in time 100 hundred years.

And then there's North Church which is absolutely beautiful: 

"One if by land,two if by sea."

We walked the bridge across Boston Harbor as the misty rain & cool breeze chilled us, over to see "Old Iron Sides", the oldest, strongest wooden ship in the US Navy. We were amazed at the number of canons on the ship!

 Day 2:

Lexington & Concord, Mass

Where it all began...at the Tavern & on the green.

At the Minuteman State Park. The film shown here with the voice of Paul Revere was inspiring. It brought tears, just thinking of the bravery & fortitude these patriots had.

 One of my favorites, Louisa May Alcott's beloved home: Orchard House. Little Women is a novel that I read over & over as a young girl, and watched the movie over & over too. It was very special to see her home that she grew up in.

 I was able to find where she is buried in beautiful, yet creepy Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.

 The children wading in the water at Old North Bridge:

 The monuments here, both to the soldiers from England who came 3,000 miles across the ocean to keep things going the way they had been going for centuries, and for the patriots who bravely sought to change that for the sake of freedom & liberty, were simply awe-inspiring.  

Day 3:

We drove up to Fort Ticonderoga on Lake George for their reenactment day. It was breathtaking & wonderful to the learn the history of this out-of-the-way fort. 

Ethan Allen & The Green Mountain Boys spent the night in a cow pasture to come reenact the night that the patriots took the fort from the British. They were wonderful & oh so real!

On our way out of town, James & Anna put on their bathing suits & jumped in this springtime freezing cold creek. It's just so beautiful there. I took about a million pictures of the wooden covered bridge crossing this creek & of the children running across the huge expanse of green grass.

Day 4:

We went to see the church history in upstate New York. The Hill Cumorah, Joseph Smith's cabin & the Sacred Grove, the Grandin Building where the Book of Mormon was first published in Palmyra, & the Peter Whitmer farm where the church was established. 

We had the ice cream cones at the missionary-famed Chill n' Grill in Palmyra. These were the "kids cone" & only $1!

Day 5:

We drove south to Hershey, Pennsylvania where we visited the Hershey Chocolate Factory & had Pennsylvania Dutch lunch at the Amish smorgasbord restaurant. It was out of control delicious. 

 Then we checked into our hotel & we were so close to Valley Forge, so we went to walk around the park in the evening. Valley Forge at twilight is something else. We may or may not have seen a candle flickering in an upstairs room of George Washinton's home, well past the park being closed. I really wanted to knock at the front door :). There was a deep, spiritual feeling there. 

Day 6:

It was homeschool day at Valley Forge. We were put into groups, told to make 3-corner hats, and marched up a hill led by a soldier named Brigg playing Yankee Doodle on the fife. What an experience.

This man might actually have been a doctor in the Revolutionary War. He described an array of medical procedures for amputations & lancing & cauterizing wounds in great detail. Jamie got light headed & had to lie down.

After Valley Forge, we drove to Philadelphia. James' favorite patriot is Benjamin Franklin, so he really wanted to see his museum of inventions, his home, and the first post office where he was post master. We took the tour at Independence Hall & saw the Liberty Bell & had a Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich at the mall. 

 Making this our longest day by far, we decided to catch a glimpse of New York City. Anna & I really wanted to go into the city, but NYC would take a whole week in itself, so we just waved to it from the fog-laiden Jersey shore. There was a 9/11 monument right on the shore dedicated to all those who lost their lives. The thousands of names were inscribed along these stone walls, which looked like the twin tours against the city's skyline.

There she is, The Statue of Liberty.

Day 7:

Plymouth Plantation & the Mayflower

James working the fields.

Anna loved this lady. She just sat across that table from her, watching her every expression with wonder. She told us stories about her daily life at Plymouth. Anna was enthralled!

This lady was my favorite. She talked with me as if we were having an afternoon together from 200 years ago. About our men away hunting, about preparing food & tending the children. She told Jamie & Anna that they belonged right there because the two ships that came after the Mayflower were the James & Anne, and the two rivers were named for them. She told them that they must be named for the King & Queen of England & so when you have a royal name, you must live up to it & do your best to be good every day. She asked them if they believed in God & told them what it was to be honorable Christian children. It was really very neat.

Plymouth Rock

Playing in the creek that ran through Plymouth.

The Mayflower, not the original, but built in the same design & using the same materials. It sailed from England in the 1950's.

Aboard the Mayflower

Day 8:

Cape Cod, Mass

We spent the entire day on Cape Cod, relaxing & playing at the beach, having crab chowder & fish dinner, and exploring all around. It was remarkably clear & crisp & beautiful.

And we did a lot of this: swimming & relaxing at our awesome hotel. The best hotels of our trip were the first one in Boston & the last on Cape Cod :).

Day 9:

Going Home

This is my great-great grandfather's home, The Hersey House in Massachusetts. Apparently, Abraham Lincoln's grandfather built it for him in the late 1700's. It is being restored as a bed & breakfast, and was just about the most beautiful house I've ever seen. We stopped there on our way to the airport to fly home.

In the airport during our layover having a late night orange chicken snack. We spent 2 hours at the wrong gate, waiting for them to call our flight. When the whole terminal had emptyed out, we stopped solely relying on the monitors & asked questions. Yes we were in the wrong terminal & yes our plane was boarding right then. We ran as fast as we could to our gate & found them closing up as the plane was set to taxi. We begged them to let us on, and somehow they did! We rushed on the airplane, it took off & we made it home all in one piece!

 So tired. We landed in Santa Barbara past midnight.

What an amazing trip it was full of history & wonderful memories!