SWEMB BIRT Day 4 Boston, New Hampshire, and Maine!

 I was really hoping to wake up and be completely healed from my previous day calf injury but no such luck.  We woke up and headed to down town Boston for a Duck Tour!  Oh, wow!  This was a highlight of the trip.  The Duck Tour takes you to all the cool places on land and sea!  It was so cool.  I am so glad we got to see the city this way.  I learned a ton of neat facts about Boston that I didn't know.  AND I am so glad this wasn't a walking tour as I couldn't walk at all.  Melanie captured a photo of a grandma passing me because I walked so slowly through Boston.

Every passenger had the chance to drive the duck boat/bus.  It was a really neat opportunity.  After our Duck Tour, we headed to Paul Revere's house and the USS Constitution.  We ate a delicious lunch on Hanover Street and walked parts of the Freedom Trail.  I could have spent a few more days in Boston.  It was such a neat city.  I wish I didn't have to limp as I slowed the entire group down. 

All of the kids were ready to hit the road from some real driving so we jumped in our 15 passenger van and headed up to Maine.  We stopped in New Hampshire at the Dover Museum but missed it by 30 minutes.  The website says it closes at 5:00 PM but they leave at 3:30 if no one is there.  We arrived at 3:45.

We saw a cute light house stop along our drive and decided to get out and see it while on our drive up to Maine.  It was on an island that had a basket to send things back and forth on.  So cool!

SWEMB BIRT Day 3 Connecticut and Rhode Island

 We arrived pretty late in Connecticut.  It was about an hour and half drive from NYC to my cousin, Kayla's house in Connecticut.  She was so nice!  She stayed up late waiting for us to arrive and then all her kids gave up their beds so we would all have a place to sleep.  It was so amazing.  I woke up early and headed out for a run with Kayla's daughter.  We did an nice 1 mile warm up around the track and then I hit the road for my intended 8 mile run.  Well my calf had other plans.  I got to mile 5 and my calf was burning.  So much so that I had to limp back to Kayla's house.  UGH!  I was devastated.

Melanie's husband, Paul had heard that Connecticut was the steamed hamburger capital of the world.  So we had to try one.  It was gross.  I like a good old fashioned flame broiled burger.  HA!  But it was fun to try.  Not sure if I would ever do it again.  My calf held me back from being able to function and I was forced to limp every where!

We made our way to Rhode Island to spend the day at the beach.  We went to the tiny town of Misquamicut and parked at Jim's Trailer Park and Beach.  It was perfect.  We easily fit our 15 passenger van in a parking spot and had a prime location for enjoying the waves all day.  I didn't walk any where.  I just sat down and enjoyed the ocean views.  I killed my calf and hoped it could recover that day.  Spoiler.  It did not.

After hour day at the beach we hit the road for a couple hour drive to Boston.  We fed the kids cheap hotel food while Melanie and I found a great Indian food restaurant that I had to limp to get to to eat.

SWEMB BIRT Day 2 New York City

 We really wanted to do NYC the right way so we dedicated two days to seeing everything there is to see in the city.  We woke up nice and early, grabbed breakfast, walked to the subway, and then made our way to the ferry station to see the Statue of Liberty.  

The Statue of Liberty ended up not being that cool, but Ellis Island was a hit!  There was so much more to see and learn at Ellis Island.  I am so glad we stopped and took time to tour the entire island.  After our boat tour we were starving so we decided to eat at a food truck near the ferry station.  Bad decision.  The food truck was forced to pay the police $300 in cash.  The worker came out and counted out the money in $5 dollar bills.  Then he spent 15 minutes with once customer.  Not great.  By the time I got up there we had stood in line for more than 45 minutes.  The food truck which served falafel didn't even have any falafel!  It was terrible food.  The kids were worn out so we went to the park to eat lunch, which, by the way, we couldn't find the entrance to, then we walked over to a funny fish aquarium carousel and the kids rode it. 

After a morning at the park, we road the subway uptown to The Edge!  It was a really cool tall building that we ate some delicious dessert and looked out at the sites.  The Edge is lined with glass so it is a perfect way to view the city. 

After we went up to the top of The Edge, we had a delicious dinner, and then we split up.  The girls made their way to see another Broadway show and the boys went to the top of the Empire State Building.  We were up there for more than an hour and just watched the sunset.  It was gorgeous! 

 

 

We made our way back to our hotel and stopped in Time Square just to get a photo of the busiest intersection in the world.  The boys were troopers and walked about a mile back to our hotel.  We got to our hotel where our bags were stashed and had a little run in with the doorman, but eventually got our bags and made our way to Connecticut.