We flew in Boston and rented a car and then went in search of something to eat. Because it was before 11, we stopped by the USS Constitution and toured the museum. The ship was closed for the day so we couldn't go on it, however. Then we drove down to Hartford for the night to prepare for our visit the next day at Yale. We arrived at Yale early and found a parking space and went to the admissions office. First we saw a very funny video called "Why I chose Yale" which consisted of a young man singing about his choice of Yale and the reasons why. After seeing stodgy, serious vidoes at places like Michigan with the voice of Darth Vader talking about what it was like to be a "Michigan Man", it was interesting to see Yale going with humor. We were led on a campus tour by another funny international student who kept us entertained as we were led around campus.
The next morning, we headed to Concord to visit the battlefield, which Janie and J. R. had visited many years previous and enjoyed. The kids seem to love historical sites so we had a good walk around the battlefield area and saw the movie on the battles at Lexington and Concord.
We spent the entire next day in downtown Boston, starting with lunch at Legal Sea Foods and then taking a walking tour of downtown.
On the day we were planning to visit Harvard, coincidentally opening day for the Boston Red Sox, Boston was hit with a significant snow and ice storm. This made the slog into Cambridge much more difficult than it should have been and also meant it was very sloppy walking around the Harvard campus. As a result, we didn't take any photos.
We ate lunch at Wagamama in Harvard Square and then headed back to our hotel. Janie was meeting up with a work colleague for dinner so J. R. and the kids went to the grocery store for some snacks. They also met the world's dumbest Dunkin Donuts employee who couldn't understand what a Boston Creme donut was, despite the signs.
We took a side excursion to Salem. When Janie and J. R. had visited in the summer a few years ago, the city was alive with shows and street performers. However, none of this was occurring at this time of year. We did visit one of the history museums we had not visited last time.
On our last day, we decided to take a drive up to Maine. Janie and J. R. had spent some time in Kennebunkport on an earlier trip and wanted to take the kids up. Unfortunately, most of the town was closed down for the winter, but we had a good meal at a local restaurant, bought some salt-water taffy and then drove up the coast for some views of the New England coastline.
On our way back to the hotel and dinner, we stopped by the Adams National Historical Park. It was late and most of the attractions were closed, but we stopped to take some pictures.
