Boston

We spent our next day at the Museum of Science. We watched a couple of lectures including one on the latest on our newest human ancestor, homo naledi. Found in the depths of a remarkably inaccessible cave, with tiny, narrow passages in South Africa. After ruling out that the remains had been drug there by animals or washed in by water, it was determined that the remains had been deposited there by other homo naledi. It was super fascinating to hear how this primitive species may have buried their dead. Next, we watched the always epic lighting and electricity show with its giant van de Graph generators. We spent the last couple of hours in the Pixar exhibit where we completely exhausted ourselves with technology overload. At the end of the day we stumbled out into the fresh air with serious museum-mush brain. Luckily a walk in the brisk fall air along the esplanade on the Charles River revived us before we squished ourselves into the rush-hour crowd on the T.

The next day we started the day without a specific plan. We walked through the streets of Boston poking our noses into whatever caught our curiosity. We checked out the historic Customs House before wandering past the old State Building. We followed the Freedom Trail past many historical sites to the Boston Commons. We cut through the park so we could explore the streets of Beacon Hill where we found another delicious bakery, Tatte. Eventually we ended up at the Charles T station where Isaac had the brilliant idea that we should head to Harvard Square to check out the bookstore and then on to the MIT Museum.

Our last morning in Boston was spent at the aquarium. We started our visit petting manta rays and sharks. Next we watched the adorable penguins honk and waddle about. We were eager to find our favorite, Myrtle the Turtle so we headed up the ramp that spirals around in the gigantic, cylindrical tank. We found her, in all of her ginormous glory, up at the top of the ramp. She was as big and beautiful as we had remembered her. Our final stop brought us to the ever-playful seals and sea lions. After enjoying lunch on the pier in the sunshine we headed back to the room to meet Jason so we could all drive north to his office and then have dinner at friends' house where we spent a lovely evening outside with great food and company.

The following morning we checked out of our funky hotel and dropped Jason off at his office. In Google Maps I selected windy back roads to bring us to Lexington and Concord to visit the Minute Man Historical Park. We toured through the house where John Hancock and Samuel Adams were hiding when Paul Revere rode through on his famous midnight ride to warn them that the Red Coats were coming. We wandered across the green where the "shot heard round the world" started the American Revolution. After a delicious lunch in a quaint New England inn we headed to Battle Road where we walked through gorgeous fall colors along the path of the dueling armies that fateful first day of the revolution.

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