Boston

A few weeks ago my mom had a medical conference in Boston and invited my sister and I along. We had a day to spend together before the conference started and covered A LOT of ground! The Freedom Trail is literally a red brick/spray painted trail around the city that goes by historical sites and city highlights. It was pretty east to follow and covered a ton of history. Here's some highlights...

The State House

Lots of old cemeteries with creepy headstones


Beautiful architecture

At one church we stopped at we were able to do a private tour called "Bells and Bones" which took us under the church to the crypt where about 50 bodies still lie
and then up to the bell tower.
That specific bell is the last one that Paul Revere crafted (yeah I didn't know he made bells either). You can see the rope that's used to ring the bell. The guide told us it would probably take all of us to pull it hard enough!
It was a very unique "behind the scenes tour"
The inside of the church looked a lot like the Kirtland Temple for those of you who have seen it.

Boston if filled with old churches


And of course Boston's boy himself, Paul Revere

Toured the USS Constitution

The next day my mom had conference and since my sister is such a racing freak of course we had to race! She signed us up for a duathalon (2 mile run, 9 mile bike, 1 mile run) about 90 minutes away.
The first run was good, first lap on the bike okay, second lap not so easy, but that last mile run literally almost killed me! If my sister hadn't coached me through the worst side stitch of my life I wouldn't have finished. I seriously have never felt so exhausted! But we finished and won our age category so not too bad!
After our race we change, hopped on the subway which I love and was fun since it was my sister's first time, and headed into the city for some more exploring.
I especially wanted to see the Beacon Hill area. Several of the books I've read have been in/around that area of town and I wanted to get the picture myself. Very pretty area that I'm sure comes at a pretty penny!

My mom had several things she wanted to do while on this trip and one of them was a lobster dinner. We ended up going to Legal Sea Food which I guess has a pretty good reputation (and a long wait and hefty price tag). Mom got lobster which she enjoyed but I wasn't so impressed. But when in Rome...or Boston :)
The next day my sister and I ventured out of the city to find the Boston Temple and church. We had directions but they were hard to follow and took us what seemed a very back way but finally found the Temple.
It was huge! Very pretty though and had a lot of the design ideas of the old churches in the area with the unique steeple.
Also the back of the Temple (which I'm assuming is the Celestial Room) was kind of a half circle which I thought was cool.
Had a beautiful view behind the Temple
After the Temple we had to kind of race to find the church in time. Again, crazy directions with lots of side streets and not enough freeway. We ended up getting a bit lost and stuck in horrible Harvard traffic (which ended up being our only time in the area) but finally made it to church. Better late than never. Church was fine, still true whereever you go :)
After the meeting we took a walk along the river that sepearates Boston with the Harvard area.



The next day before we had to be to the airport we took a drive up to Salem. It was alright, very commercialized but full of history about the Salem Witch Trials. We went to one of the museums and enjoyed a yummy lunch. Then it came time to catch our flights and head home :(

It was nice to spend girl time with my mom again and great to have my sister along this time! We did San Fran last year, Boston this year, wonder where next year will take us...