30 MEMORIES OF NEW ENGLAND...
3. Eating at "Waterbury Wings" in Waterbury, VT and having one of the best Turkey sandwiches ever! I think the waitress probably thought we were really wierd for not ordering any beer. I looked around the restaurant and we were the only people not drinking besides the one under aged kid there with his parents.
7. No kids!
12. Finding out that Lori is having another little girl!13. Finding out what a Quart size of french fries really looks like. I'm pretty sure we could have been satisfied with the "pint" size! I also enjoyed the sign in front of this place we ate outside of Sharon, Vermont and the way they spelled, "zucceni".
14. Seeing the longest wooden bridge in the United States and the longest two-span covered bridge in the world, the Cornish Windsor Bridge in New Hampshire.
15. Touring the Joseph Smith birthplace monument in Sharon, Vermont. The senior missionary gave us a tour and drove us around in a golf cart to see some points of interest, then Steve took me on a hike that took about an hour to get to the top of the hills and you could see the monument from above peeking through all the beautiful, tall, green trees.
16. Seeing the Joseph & Hyrum tree. It is two trees that have actually grown together!
17. Lexington, Massachusetts
18. Making our way driving and riding the subway through Boston and never really getting lost!19. Dinner at a "Bistro". When we got to our hotel we needed to find somewhere to eat dinner. We walked down to the lobby and Steve asked a man working at the hotel where we could find somewhere to eat. In his Philippino accent (I really couldn't understand a word he was saying) he told Steve and I that he would take us somewhere. It all happened so fast and before we knew it we were riding in a van and the nice Philippino man from the hotel was dropping us off somewhere close to Fenway Park and telling us to ride the subway back because it would absolutely be way too far to walk. I just hoped Steve had a clue of what he was saying, because I didn't know where we were, and I didn't know how to get back to the hotel. We first went and walked next to Fenway Park and then we started to walk down the street looking for a place to eat. Ok, so I didn't realize that a "Bistro" meant a restaurant that is known for serving wine. When our options got down to McDonalds or this little Bistro, I suggested we try not to eat EVERY day at McDonalds, and try the Bistro. It had a lunch menu in the window (it was an early dinner) that was reasonably priced. Steve agreed and as soon as we walked in and the hostess greeted us in French and we were surrounded by wine bottles we knew we were in trouble. Our waiter didn't even bring us a lunch menu, I had to ask for it. I'm sure he was thinking we were the biggest cheap skates ever when all we ordered to drink was water from a wine restaurant, and then I ordered the cheapest item off the lunch menu. My $5.95 ham & cheese melt (they had some really fancy name for it) with fries and salad was really good and filled me up, but I wish I would've had my camera when the waiter brought out Steve's order of Salmon legs (just a piece of Salmon that's cut in half) that was $23 and it was a piece of salmon with ONE very small slice of a potato and some garnish. It was actually really good salmon, but I'd say a bit overpriced--okay, A LOT overpriced. Steve had to stop at McDonalds to get a coke on the way back. We got on the subway/train and rode all of about 4 city blocks, when we got off and walked the rest of the way back to the hotel. I'm not sure why the man from the hotel insisted that it would be way too far to walk, because it really wasn't that far--probably only a 20-30 minute walk.
20. Walking next to Fenway Park the night of a Red Sox game. We had looked on the internet to get tickets before we left on our trip, but the only seats left were over $100. We opted not to go, but I think it would've been a lot of fun. Fenway Park is right in the middle of the city. It's the oldest baseball stadium in the country. It was so cool and different because the edge of the stadium is just right on the street. All the concessions are on the street, so you can walk through before the game down the street and hear everyone trying to sell/buy tickets.
22. The Freedom Trail--We took a walking tour of the Freedom Trail in Boston and learned a lot of history about Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, the Boston Tea Party, Bunker Hill and more!
23. Eating a CANNOLI for the first time. We went to Mike's Pastries in Little Italy and tried a cannoli, which is a fried pastry filled with this really rich, sweet, whipped filling. I didn't really love it, actually--it was just way too sweet. We also ate dinner in Little Italy. I didn't know it was possible to make one serving of lasagna that big. It was seriously like the size of 1/2 a Stouffer's! Really good food!!!
25. We spent several hours at Plymouth Plantation learning about the Pilgrims, Native American Wampanoag people, and the Mayflower.
26. The Boston Temple was really beautiful. It's right off the side of a freeway, but in a very nice neighborhood surrounded by trees.
28. We saw the "GARDEN" basketball arena where the Boston Celtics play. My dad would be proud that we saw the professional basketball team's arena in the area we were visiting. It seems like growing up we always went to sporting arenas on vacations.
29. We took lots of pictures, but I have to admit if my kids would've been there we probably would've ended up with 10 times as many!
30. I can't believe how beautiful New England is. We had so much fun. We are so lucky to have parents that are so willing to watch our kids for such a long time. Four days at each set of grandparents---our kids loved it! I think Michael was mad at me for leaving him, though, because when we picked them up from Steve's parents house he wouldn't even come to me!
