Boston--Happy 20th!

For our 20th Anniversary (which officially happened Dec. 21, 2012), Kris and I spent 10 days in Boston and other parts of New England. It was a great get away for us.  Kris was there on business, so some of the time during the week, I spent time alone checking out all there is to see in Boston.  It was fabulous.  And then we spent evenings together.  Then together for the weekend and Monday and Tuesday driving up north.

Highlights for the trip were:

Walking all over downtown Boston, following the Freedom Trail while listening to a tour ap and learning lots about our nation's birth.  Most of this I did alone during the day, but Kris retraced some of it with me in the evenings.

Taking a Duck Tour and driving into the Charles River for some spectacular views of the Boston skyline.

Eating in places like Chinatown and the Italian district and having some fabulous food.

Visiting Quincy to see John Adams homes and hear more of his story.

And the bonus of the week was the Outside the Box Arts Festival that was happening all through the week in Boston Common.  It was the first annual (so not crowded at all) and totally free event with live music, plays, opera, competitions, cooking presentations, family entertainment, etc.  I spent a lot of time there listening to known and lesser known groups perform up close and personal.  Among those performing were Lonestar, Boys Like Girls, Augustana, the Boston Pops, and Boston Opera. It was great fun.

Kris and I spent a night in Cambridge on Harvard campus.

And then we spent a day in Lexington and Concord taking in that part of our nation's history.

We got to attend the Boston Temple.

And then we headed north to Vermont to visit Joseph Smith's birthplace.  In all our travels around, we have now visited almost all the church history sites.  We just need to get Harmony PA and maybe a couple other small ones, but the major ones have all been hit now.

After Vermont, we spent a day up the coast of Maine.  It was OK.  The ocean was beautiful, but the crowds were a distraction.  Next time we will go further north to avoid all the people buying tourist stuff. (Note this darling blue house with the white trim and red door and rock wall.  I want to live here.  I fell in love with SO MANY houses throughout New England.  They are the houses of my dreams.)

One of my favorite parts of the trip was our night in a darling bed and breakfast in New Hampshire.  We only spent one night there, but if we were to do it again, I would stay a couple days.  With the lake and the gorgeous grounds with horses, it would have been the perfect relaxing getaway.  But we were on a mission.

The end of the trip wasn't our favorite with huge thunderstorms over the airport the whole day which forced us to change itineraries 4 times before finally spending the night in the airport before catching a flight the next morning at 7.  Can I just say that we are too old for that.  I could pull an all nighter in high school on my trip to Germany.  But at 40, it was no fun.  We were so glad to get home and get back to the kids.  But what a great way to celebrate 20 years.