Teen History Trip 2015 ~ BOSTON

The 5th History Trip! This year we found ourselves in Boston, Massachusetts (and various surrounding areas.) The Boston Trip is probably the most taxing of the three trips due to the fact that it is the farthest away and involves an awful lot of walking. For the first time, we scheduled a trip that lasted seven days - from Sunday afternoon until Saturday evening.  I'm going to break down the trip day by day (so, yes, many pictures forthcoming) but we saw and did so much it really is hard to capture everything and put it in a single blogpost. Below, here is a picture of our crazy group (and a mold of the skull of George Whitefield.) -- as is tradition, we have a video of the highlights, and a video of our fun, both of which are at the end of the post --

Sunday

We drove.  And drove and drove and drove.  It rained.  And rained and rained and rained.  And stormed.  Oh yeah, and traffic.  We spent literally hours playing cards in our 15 passenger van.

Monday

The trip really began on Monday.  We drove into the city to see the tea party ship and museum.  It was very cool and detailed, and I might have bought an obsessive amount of tea. ;) The prospect of having the whole trip ahead of you is really a remarkable feeling as you reach your first historical stop.  Later that evening we stopped by the airport to pick up Emily from the Boston airport, as she was able to join the trip last minute! 

Tuesday

We spent Tuesday in Plymouth.  Plymouth Plantation, Plymouth Rock, the Mayflower II, the Matrix of Liberty.  The Matrix of Liberty is the enormous monument at the end.  It was built by congress, in case we ever lose our way, to show us what this country was founded on and what morals to follow to get back there.

Wednesday

Wednesday could be considered Whitefield day. George Whitefield was an amazing man of God, People would come from all over to hear him preach.  We visited one of those sights as well as his grave.  This rock is only one of many places where he preached to hundreds. Disregarding the random snake that almost slithered right over my shoes, this place truly feels like holy ground.  Whitefield requested to be buried under the pulpit of the church. We toured the Old South Church in Newburyport and we also allowed to climb to bell tower. We finished the day by enjoying the beach for just a bit before heading back to the hotel for the night.  Plus, we also happened to drive by four penguins! In Massachusetts! Seriously, very cool.

Thursday

Ah, a whole day on the Freedom Trail.

Friday

After walking The Freedom Trail the night before, everyone was pretty tired when we woke up Friday morning. Even so, the Old North Bridge was amazing.  The site of the shot heard round the world. Also, it was very beautiful.  After exploring the bridge and surrounding areas, we also went to the site of the Midnight Riders.  These two events went hand in hand perfectly for our trip that day.

Saturday

Saturday was mostly spent driving home, but on these trips we often like to do a little something fun, to break up the monotony of the drive and give everyone a chance to breath - away from the car and without too much history.  This time, it was Hershey World, Pennsylvania. We each created our own candy bar, complete with personally designed cases and our own Hershey's hair-net and apron.  Not everyone was excited by these fashionable outfits.  Some of them might have been too excited. ;)