9/25/2026, continued. Lexington and Concord

 We drove around in circles, missed turns, I couldn't figure out HOW that Viator app worked. Biggest waste of money ever. So we looked up specific things. Well, one.

We found the beginning and the North Bridge no problem. Eventually we found the Alcott Orchard House. A $15 tour for 45 minutes. . .pass. again, I've seen the old homes and I kind of like the way I've imagined them in my own head with the March Sisters. And some of the films. And we didn't have tons of time. 

More driving in circles and mis-directions, but not always mine. Charles miss-navigated us a time or two as well. I made Mike miss turns. They are difficult roads to drive on, truly. Few intersections are two streets intersecting straight. It's frequently five streets, all at odd angles. 

We enjoyed a mansion at the visitors center, the Lexington Green, the North Bridge, the exterior, orchard and grounds of the Alcott home, an old cemetery where I almost was swallowed up into a grave ( seriously-- my foot went thru the dirt up to my ankle into hollow ground!). We had a fairly affordable lunch at yet another Italian restaurant in Lexington. Plus ice cream after. And LOTS of beautiful new England countryside cottages and lovely homes everywhere we went!.

We dropped off the Jacques at a Metro Station where they could get back to their car in Revere and drive on home to Maine before too long . It's about 2.5 hours, I think. And our drive back to the Quincy hotel was fairly quick, compared to most. We had far less traffic so that was nice. 

We are hoping the storm blowing in will not disrupt our trolly ride in Newport and the mansion tour at "The Breakers", a Vanderbilt estate in Rhode Island.

Everyone seems to be hunkering down for a biggie, and we are just here in our room resting, blogging, and catching up on BYU sports! Haha. 

I think I'll have a nap.😙

This isike and our friends looking through (the wrong) cemetery. We ended up in Carlyle and we're supposed to be in Concord.

The following photos are at the Alcott House.

The back garden and orchard behind the house.

This next photo was kind of fun. We were stopped for a train. There were lights and the big red and white poles across both lanes of vehicle traffic. But we had never seen a baby pole down over the PEDESTRIAN lane of traffic! And the walking lady was being very good and obedient, waiting for the speeding commuter train to pass. 

The following photos were at the Lexington Green. The flag was blowing and so was my hair.

Boston MA Temple, Belmont, Massachusetts

 September 25, Friday in Boston area.

The Jacques got a room in our hotel last night and we began our journeys today from here, after Mike and Charles gave Nancy and Charles priesthood blessings. 

But we headed to Belmont, MA first. 

Still trying to improve on my selfie taking talents. I missed Moroni on this one,!

It's a pretty tall temple. Maybe the only way to get ev6in is holding the camera diagonally.😉

One of the workmen offered to take our picture. The temple is closed for two weeks of cleaning and main. New pavers and granite out front, among other things.

 

There was a gate on the grounds that was unlocked ( by the maintenance guy) for us. It went along the back granite tall wall of the outside of the  temple grounds down down down into a woody grove, and to the stake center parking lot!  And then another path takes you back up the hill through paths to the temple and Beehive Clothing distribution center at the back basement of the temple. 

Very VERY pretty area. 

There's a flag pole on the grounds. The wind had not begun quite yet...

A BIG "Nor'easter" storm is blowing in,! I hope it doesn't affect our travel plans!

Loving more of Boston

 What a beautiful city! It's so historical. The traffic might be very slow at times, but they have a great transit system, which we used today. We also walked a lot.

We met the Jacques from Maine at our nearby "T" terminal and rode the Red Line to downtown

 We only got lost once walking to the Long Wharf area to catch our ferry over to the Naval Yard. 

Me, Mike, Charles and Nancy Jacques

Boston skyline. It was a gorgeous day. A bit breezy, but nice. 

We saw some whimsical sculptures on our way to tour the Constitution ship. We saw an historic Dry Dock, too! 

And everywhere there is lawn furniture, of course it is ADIRONDACK chairs! 

There were supposed to be three of these sculptures in the wharf area, but I only saw two. Tandy has a picture of Ella and Lexi at the NYC Oculus with that same "Arms if Friendship" sculpture in 2024. Who would have thought something that large could be Transported???!!!

Here's Tandy's photo:

Crazy! And impressive that Tandy could find and share that photo, too😀.

I took lots of photos on and inside Ol' Ironsides. We tagged along with a guided tour group, led by a sailor. It was all very interesting. We went into the Naval Shipyard Visitors Center after the ship, because it was smaller than the USS Constitution Museum, which was THREE BUILDINGS HUGE. No thank you. I'm sure it would have been interesting, but we didn't have that much time to spend in one museum.

Boat pictures 

 Well, PRE- boat. Haha

A double wheel, because the rudder weighs a LOT.

Wooden tie-off things. Lots of wood 

Big tall masts, wide spars. LOTS of rope.

Lots more rope, wood pulley things, big iron hooks. These are around some cannons. 

Below deck cannons. 15 men to operate one. 

After a while of walking ( and ducking ) around the FIRST lower deck of guns, I noticed that each cannon had a name.

The Constitution was copper clad under water and outside to keep barnacles from attaching.

This was the kitchen cook stove area. I think. About 350 men were aboard who needed to be fed.

These were some of the tools and weapons of war for firing the cannons. 

This tiny little porthole and probably less than 2 dozen others were the ONLY portholes for air or light on the sleeping deck. They were very tiny and very sparse.

And then we walked on. And did NOT have to back track and did NOT get lost, because we followed the Freedom Trail. Up and over the bridge to North Boston to the North Church. 

Walking over the bridge which had cables strung in the guard railing was interesting. The wind was blowing hard enough to make the rows of horizontal cables whistle. 

A funny face I found on our walk.

We almost walked right past Paul Revere's Home. Didn't stop to tour it. It seemed fairly crowded, and I know how tiny colonial homes are!

We found Paul Revere's statue in a lovely square with trees and informative bronze plaques all around. We also stepped to a significant old cemetery where many of those patriots are buried.

Here is the steeple of the Old North Church. About here was when Mike decided he'd had enough walking. His back hurt. We sat down in a nice family run, fairly new ( established in 2021)  Italian restaurant and spent WAY too much money on our lunch there. It was good.

And then we walked some MORE and headed to Fanuel Hall and Quincy Market and the Old State House. Thankfully, the Old State House was also the subway station, so we took it back to Quincy and our hotel. We were so tuckered out and it wasn't even 4 pm.

Here is the exterior of Paul Revere's house.

Inside the town hall room in Fanuel Hall. That's the name of the architect. It's a lovely space and they've restored or preserved it well. Ranger-led lectures are given

Quincy Market. It's just commercial stores/food along both sides, and a nice Rotunda in the center. I guess another of the gathering spots for Patriots. We grabbed dessert there. And Mike rested on a bench.

Fancy spiral staircase inside the Old State House. It had not only the Metro station UNDER IT, but a gift shop on one end and a museum on the other. I did not pay to go in the museum. I was museum-ed out for today.

But the Old State House does have a pretty golden lion on the roof.

This is a flat-iron shaped building , but I didn't take the photo from the right angle to see that. The old buildings and the varied architecture is so gorgeous!

This is outside the old state house. Site of Boston Massacre.

Too bad the sun wasn't shining on those golden statues on top of this old state house.

Just some pretty and old buildings.

One thing Mike and I noticed yesterday in the Bunker hill area of Charleston was the historic homes had markers on them. They were small plaques, but said whose home it had been and what year.

Downtown Boston was an adventure today!

We walked over the Bill Russell Bridge faster today than we drove over it yester-- both times! 

No telling what traffic will be like tomorrow as we head out to Lexington and Concord (and Belmont).