This was something of a last minute stop, decided the day before we left the Boston area. While enroute back to camp one evening we saw the offramp for Lowell and Michael had to stop to see the place. Lowell was one of America's first industrial cities, designed and built solely for the purpose of housing workers and supporting what came to be over a dozen different textile mills along canals tapping into water power from nearby rivers to drive the machinery. Whe...

By this point in the trip, Michael was pretty used to maneuvering the trailer into city centers for capital visitation, but something said Boston was NOT going to be forgiving, and boy was that the case. After fighting for some time to find parking near Beacon Hill and Boston Common, we finally made it to the Bullfinch-designed capitol building. Although our guts have usually led us to opting for a self-guided option whenever possible, we saw there was a plethora...

Looking for things to do while in Boston, we came across an opportunity to make up for the anticlimactic fireworks displays we missed on the Fourth, but it would require a LONG day to do it. Confusing as it was to the kids, we started the day by parking a fairly long distance from our first target, requiring everyone to walk several long blocks along Boston's harbor just to begin the excursion. Finally reaching our first stop of the day, we began at the Boston ...

Today was a big day, beginning with our third presidential library. After a disappointing trip (all six agreed!) to the Clinton library, we were ready to have our faith renewed in the library concept, and we were not let down. JFK's library, located on a beautfil spot overlooking his beloved Boston Harbor, was a treat. The library and museum itself was a treat as well, with Michael and Carrie both coming away remarking how much the exhibits gave life to the Kenn...

While driving back to the camp late in the afternoon after making a wrong turn near Concord, we happened upon a small stretch of road near a bridge over a slow moving stream and some rolling hill fields nearby. This quiet idyllic picture was the site of gunfire on April 19, 1775 as several hundred minutemen, roused during the night by Paul Revere's famous ride, met to challenge a force of British regulars sent out of Boston on forcemarch the night before to captu...