14th Anniversary

Today is our 14th wedding anniversary. We've had ups and downs but the past few years have definitely been ups. I feel very lucky to have Paul. I love him so much and he truly is my best friend.

Now, are you ready to gag a little? Sorry but I wanted to put this quick layout together.

I used a template by Janet Phillips for this layout. It's called 2 many photos 11 and the kit is Spring Has Sprung by Makita Studio.

Our Last Day-Freedom Trail/Public Gardens/Cheers

On Monday, before we caught our flight, we decided to walk the other part of the Freedom Trail. I saw this and fell in love. Stained glass in the heart of a city. Gorgeous!

I was momentarily sidetracked but then it was back to the Freedom Trail. This is what you follow through town.

I think this is the Old South Meeting House.
Here is Old City HallThis was the only time a got emotional. I held it all in but I felt something here by this statue of Benjamin Franklin.

I couldn't get the colors right so I went with B&W. Not sure how I feel about it.
The is the State House which is at the end of Boston Common.
We walked through Boston Common to get to the public gardens. What a treat. It was so incredibly glorious there. I am so glad I got to see it in the spring. Blossoms were raining down, tulips were everywhere and the weather was just gorgeous.
These swan boats are over 130 years old (okay, not these exact ones, but there have been swan boats there for that long.) and the only ones of their kind. It's too bad they weren't in use or you could bet money my butt would have been on one. I'm pretty sad that they weren't in use actually.
Can you stand it?
I felt like a kid in a candy shop. Everywhere I turned there was something amazing to feast my eyes on. This George Washington statue was huge and so superbly done. It was seriously grand.
The flowers were dazzling.


After taking pictures for a looong time we went over to Cheers! It was so surreal to be seeing something I have seen on TV for so many years right in-front of me.
This is the set bar.
I still can't get over the fact that I was there.
After Cheers we road the subway back to where we started.

Then it was time to get our car and go to the airport, but not before buying some last minute souvenirs and taking a few goofy pictures.

The fun was over, it was time to go back to reality. It was a perfect anniversary trip.
The flight home was much better than on the way out. There wasn't turbulence (We had a really bumpy go on the way out because of a storm. One drop left us both bug eyed. Eeek!) We also didn't have as full of a flight so Paul and I got a row all to ourselves. What a difference that makes on a five and a half hour flight!
Do you see the white in the middle? It looks like rapids. That is Niagara Falls. I still can't believe we saw it from the air.
We flew over a few of the great lakes, or several parts of one. It's hard to tell.

That line is where the clouds just stopped. It was like a blanket that suddenly came to an end. I wish I knew where this was. The terrain looked unlike anything I could image in the US.
We made it home safe and sound to tears of happiness from the kids. It was so good to see them again. I miss New England and hope to go back again, maybe next time we can go in the fall.

Day 4-Salem & Surrounding States

Sunday was a bit of a bust. We started by going to Salem, Ma. It really wasn't as witchy as I had hoped. I was set to take the tour at the witch museum (my legs hurt too bad to even consider the walking tour LOL!) but Paul wasn't interested. I asked about it and was told that basically the first part was about the history and the second part was about our perception of witches today. (More or less) It was almost an hour long presentation so we passed. At least I can say I've been there.

We spent a little time in the Salem area getting lunch and shopping at Target for a new shirt since I spilled Taco Bell on my blue shirt.

Then we made our way to Providence Rhode Island.

This cool building is right by a bus station. It was the only time during our whole trip where I felt at risk. Questionable guys were loitering near our car and there was riff-raff everywhere. It was just gross and disappointing. I am not a fan of Providence. At least not the parts we saw.
We then drove to Brown University looking for a gift-shop or something but we struck out. This is the John Brown house.A close-up of the coolness.

And real ivy-league ivy ;)

This is the Rhode Island State House. It was in a much nicer area, right by an upscale mall, but people still looked at me like I was looney when I was taking pictures. Can you tell I wasn't impressed with it there? I'm sure there are great areas, and with a little more research our trip could have been better, but as it is I don't ever care to return.

We then drove through a tiny corner of Connecticut. I used a potty there so it counts as a visited state right? We didn't take any pictures (who'd want to see that? Nevermind. Don't answer.) but we do have video of us driving past the state line.

We headed back to Boston were we checked into a different hotel for one night. It was so cool staying right in the heart of it all. Here is the view from our room.

We put a gold pillow in our window so we could find our room. Do you see it?
I couldn't get over all the tulips they had everywhere. It made me so happy.
We argued a bit about where to eat. I wanted seafood again but the prices in the touristy areas were way high. We wandered about, checking menus and finally settled on an Irish Pub that had live music in a very Irish area of town. I got scallops in a lemon sauce. They were delicious. Paul got a ham sandwich.

Notice the Irish flags. So cool!
Then we headed back to the North End of Boston where we saw this and had to laugh.

There was a dude cruisin' in his Ferrari. He made sure everyone noticed him when he tried to make a u-turn in the tiny street.

Then we went back to Mike's for one last round of yummy goodness.

Then we slowly walked along the water back to our hotel.

It was so peaceful and gorgeous.