Merriment in Massachusetts - Day 7

July 20, 2013
Our last day of vacation together, sadness.  We left Harrisburg about 9 and we arrived in Lexington at 7.  We faced traffic slow downs, pouring rain and a couple of detours.  But we made it!  We thank all our loyal Brown Girl Followers for coming along on the trip with us and look forward to sharing our trip with you again next year!

Happy Travels,
Becky, Amy, Katie and Jessica

Merriment in Massachusetts - Day 6

July 19, 2013

Sorry for the late post, Loyal Brown Girl Followers but we go in VERY late last night.  We started our morning out at Plymouth Village.  It was a great place for us to see how the native Americans and the pilgrims did and didn't get along.  The Native Americans that were in the village were all actual decendants of Native Americans, in actual dress and answered our questions as they would have back in the 1600's.  From there we walked to the Pilgrim village, about a 5 minute walk.  Both the Native American village and the Pilgrim village were in their original position.  It was amazing how close they really were to one another.  At the Pilgrim village, all the workers were in costume and spoke to us in the same language they would have used in th e1600's.  We felt so sorry for the actors as they were in wool tights! and the temperature was 91 in the shade.  It was HOT!  We were glad that we parked a little farther back in the parking lot because we had some shade for the car.  Although, it was registering 100 degrees after we pulled out of the lot.

After the very hot morning, we started the long journey home.  We decided to try to make it to Harrisburg, PA.  We thought we would make by about 7 - enough time for some dinner, a swim, and maybe an episode or two of Castle, our new favorite show and then to bed.  Unfortunately, we were treated to New England traffic and we did not arrive until about 9:30.  However, we sang, listened to stories on tape, made short videos for family and friends, we made the best of our time together.

Merriment in Massachusetts - Day 5

July 18, 2013

Whale watching is awesome!  Did we say, whale watching is awesome?  We spent about 5 hours on the ocean today and saw all three different types of whales that can normally be found off the Massachusetts' coast.  We were very excited to meet the humpback whale Satchula, who did a little showing off for us by showing us his tail - the markings on the tail are how you can identify an individual whale.  We took plenty of pictures and plenty of video so look out Loyal Brown Girls followers, I hope we don't bore you with all the pictures when we return.  Whale watching is awesome!

We left Gloucester and headed towards Plymouth.  Can you guess why it took us 3 hours to get to a place that should have only taken at the most an hour?  You got it - traffic.  We arrived in the early evening and had time to go and look at Plymouth Rock and do a little gift shop shopping before getting to our hotel and swimming a bit and drinking a little "tax free, Boston" tea before bedtime.

To all our loyal Brown Girl Followers, we wish you a "whale" of a good night.

Merriment in Massachusetts - Day 4

July 14, 2013
A later start today - we didn't leave until 8:30 :).  It was a special day because today was the day we broke out our trip shirts!  Everyone was very excited.  We are only about 10 minutes away from Salem from where our hotel is, so we thought we would stop at McDonald's to get a little breakfast and then go on our witch hunt.  On the way to McD's we stopped by and picked up a pair of scissors so that we could cut the scratchy tags out of the trip shirts.  Aunt Becky is thinking of starting a second career of surgery - she is pretty successful in cutting things out!  After surgery and breakfast it was off to Salem.  Walking to our first stop in Salem, we were greeted by the Mayor of Salem who noticed our Brown Girls' shirts and wanted to know where we were visiting from and wished us a great visit.  Our first stop was the Witch House where the men decided that witchcraft needed to be investigated.  We saw the actual furniture that was used.  We learned that the beds were very short - not because people used to be shorter back then but because people in that time slept sitting up, they felt that would aid in their digestion.  Then we visited the dungeon where all the witches were kept and saw a short play of an actual witch trial.  Did you know that the women and men who were convicted of witchcraft had to pay for their own food that they ate in jail and had to pay to be hanged?  This is where it might have paid to be poor!  We went to the witch museum and then off for some tacos for lunch - we have been looking for tacos for a couple of days!

After Salem we left for Lexington and Concord where we met some really nice people who directed us to a fantastic ice cream establishment.  We walked around a bit and then headed in the direction of ice cream.  On the way for ice cream we saw Louisa May Alcott's house, Henry Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emmerson's houses.  We also took a tour of Sleepy Hollow - yes, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.  There were lot's of names we recognized in the cemetery - it was a little creepy and we were scared but we made it through.  Finally, we made it to Bedford Farms ice cream shop and our friends from Lexington and Concord were correct - the ice cream was fantastic!  We were not disappointed by the taste nor that Jessica had the ice cream all over her face and Katie all over her clothes.

After ice cream we headed back to the hotel - 15 minutes according to Garmin and 60 minutes in time to get back.  Northeast traffic is very stressful....

It is packing and early to bed for us tonight.  We are to be ready to board for our whale watching adventure at 8:30 am (shhh, don't tell Katie we are getting up that early).

To all our loyal Brown Girl followers, we wish you a very magical goodnight!

Bunny!

Merriment in Massachusetts - Day 3

July 16, 2013
Up early - much to Katie's chagrin, and headed out to Boston and the Freedom Trail.  We thought we were being wise by getting started early in the morning but it backfired on us because we got caught in morning rush hour traffic.  Although it wasn't as bad as you might think as we did get to travel through the tunnel created by the "big dig."

Once we arrived, we went in search of a walking trail map.  A very nice park ranger helped us to the Visitor Center, a feat not as easy as it sounds as Boston Commons was packed with all the Outside the Box activities that were starting this week.  Once we purchased our walking map, we started up the hill and began to melt!  Since we decided we had much to do today and didn't have time to melt, we quickly regrouped and decided that a "off and on" trolley tour might be the way to go.  So, back to the visitor center to purchase our tickets for the trolley.  We were so thrilled with the decision, the open air trolley was the perfect way to see the city.  We drove around and hopped off to see the North Church and Paul Revere's house.  The funniest thing happened while we were touring Paul Revere's house, we ran right into the Massie family - friends from Lexington!  What a small world we live in.  After much laughter and a few pictures, we moved on to the North Church.  Katie and Aunt Becky sat in the pew that belonged to Paul Revere! 

We hopped back on the trolley and finished up the tour and then walked back to our car and drove around Harvard - Katie was trying to get a preview of where she is going for Graduate School.  The best advice Aunt Amy and Aunt Becky could give her was to start saving now!

After the driving tour we went back to the hotel for some swimming and to complete tonight's video.  We are off to Salem tomorrow!

To all our Loyal Brown Girls followers, a very historical good night!

Jessica says, "I hope your world is full of bunnies."

 

 

 

 

Funny Braces

Merriment in Massachusetts - Day2

We started our day with an early wake-up call, showers and breakfast then on the road.  We want to make it to Dr. Seuss' garden before it closes, we are hoping to make it by 2, but with the traffic in the northeast - who knows??  For most of the morning we had Garmin and Siri giving directions.  We did NOT want to go through NYC, not that we don't like the city, we just have places to go!

We arrived at Dr. Seuss's garden about 2:00, had a little lunch and then went to the garden.  This garden is part of a museum complex.  The garden, that sat between 4 buildings was fun!  We were greeted by the Lorax and then went on to see a large reproduction of the book Oh, The Places You'll Go.  We took turns sitting in the chair and having our pictures taken.  Then off to visit the huge Dr. Seuss sculpture.  It did not take us long to view the entire garden, we were not entirely sad about that as it was HOT.

Back in the car to our final destination - Boston!  A trip that should have taken about 90 minutes took over 2 hours.  Geez, the traffic is going to kill us!  We finally reached the hotel (conveniently located next to a Circle K!).  Our room was not quite ready so we were given a free appetizer while we waited.  Finally our room was ready and we get there only to find out that Katie had popped a bracket on her braces.  Funny, the hotel does not provide wax or wire clippers!  Aunt Amy had to take a one hour tour to go in search of the needed items to begin our newest adventure.  While Katie was suffering in silence and Aunt Amy was shopping, Jessica and Aunt Becky went to the pool, which is a walk down the street.  We swam for a little while and then returned to the room where we had to perform minor surgery on Katie - see today's video for the hilarious events that ensued.

Tomorrow is our walking tour of Boston and a visit to Harvard.

To our loyal Brown Girl Followers, we wish you a good night - don't forget to brush your teeth.

Paul congrats on your new job

Merriment in Massachusetts - Day 1

July 14, 2013
Today has been a magical day - you would have thought it was Christmas in July!  We started our packing adventure by finding a plate of yummy cookies and some money for us - WOW, there really is a Santa.  Then, a cup of tea mysteriously appeared, Fake Aunt Kayn handed us some money - all of this before we had left, it is a magical beginning.

We started off at about 8 am on our way to Gettysburg, this is our first stop before we reach our final destination of Massachusetts.  On the way we listened to the beginning of our first book on tape Savvy and then Jessica played DJ and played songs for us to entertain all our fellow travelers along the highway as we sang at the top of our voices.  To continue our magical, Christmas type of day, we received a phone call from Godfather Paul who let us know that he has accepted a new job - one he is very excited about.  In celebration of this event, Jessica has put together a video - let us know what you think, Godfather Paul.

Finally, we reached Gettysburg.  A lot has changed since the last time Aunt Amy visited, it has become more of a tourist destination - not a big problem for us, but the ghost hunters were everywhere :0  We stopped at the visitor center and purchased an audio tour of Gettysburg and started on our way.  We were not very far on the tour before Katie and Jessica lost interest, however they were good sports and took a couple of pictures, then took a nap!

From Gettysburg we headed to our hotel where we made a quick stop at Ruby Tuesdays for a salad and then off to the hotel.

It has been a magical start to our vacation!  To all our loyal Brown Girls followers, we wish you a very historical good night.

http://browngirlstrip.weebly.com/ Go Here To Watch A Funny Video.

Preparing for our trip July 13, 2013