destination: lexington & concord

"the regulars are coming out!"

This was one of my favorite days of the whole trip. Not only were we outside most of the day, but it was in rural settings mostly. No big cities and craziness. It was a pretty cold morning, very clear and crisp. You really felt it standing in the shadows!




We picked up our tour guide, Masha, dressed in her Revolutionary War era costume and headed to the Lexington town green (big grass triangle). It was the site of the Lexington skirmish that began the war.

This is the monument erected after the battle, in 1799. She explained the first battle of the war, giving all of the important players and how Paul Revere and others helped warn the minute men to be ready. Lexington apparently didn't have any minutemen, but they have a statue of Jonas Parker (one of the locals) that is called their minuteman statue. I wasn't really clear on all of this.

The next stop was a historic home that is part of the Minute Man State Park for a rifle firing demonstration. I liked that they were in authentic clothing, but thought it was funny how the safety guy had a walkie-talkie. See the fire coming out of the barrel? The second firing made a smoke ring!

We loaded back into the bus and drove down streets lined with beautiful trees toward Concord, following the rough path the British took when searching for weapons in Concord. We passed Louisa May Alcott and Ralph Waldo Emerson's (Nathaniel Hawthorne lived there later too) houses.

We stopped and walked to the banks of the Concord River where the monument commemorating the Concord battle stands. This angle is standing on the bridge looking back at the side we came from. The trees were gorgeous, even if after "peak."

Across the Old North Bridge, the Concord minuteman statue stands at the edge of the field where the minutemen defeated the British regulars and began pushing them back to Boston.

I, of course took the first bridge picture, so Janelle took one of me.

to live deliberately
Now I take you to the second half of our day . . . Walden Pond. (And I've given away the secret of all of your souvenirs . . . You wanted pond water, right? [j/k]) This is a leaf I found and Thoreau's statue near the replica cabin.




Steve, Janelle, and I quickly ditched the kids and went for a quick hike around the pond. It's really more of a lake than a pond. It took a while to walk around, but we got to stop at the original site of Thoreau's house

After our walk, we had a park ranger come to the replica cabin and talk about Thoreau and the 2 years, 2 months, and 2 days he lived at Walden Pond. The ranger said that people were very curious about why Thoreau would choose to live out there and he had something like 25 visitors in his little cabin at one time. You can see that his little bed takes up almost the entire length. So much for peace and tranquility. The ranger also showed us the two trap doors - one in the ceiling, the other in the floor. He said Thoreau kept his flute in the "attic." And I thought it was for Christmas decorations . . .

We ate our late lunch like many meals on the trip - beside the bus. This time it was haystacks, which always taste good when you're really hungry after hiking and being in the cold. We also had butterscotch pudding, my favorite.

I knew one thing coming to Walden Pond. I wasn't going to swim in it. I played the sponsor card and stayed on the beach. A few of our kids were brave (stupid) souls that plunged into the 50-degree water. Five guys and five girls were our polar bear swimmers this year. The pictures of juniors diving into the cold water year after year are always memorable.


Our evening activity was a trip to the mall where kids bought souvenirs at American Eagle. There was so much Red Sox merchandise for sale (not marked down, even though they lost WS hopes the night before) I could hardly contain my credit card! And we ate at the Cheesecake Factory. Yum!