Is that Jack Bauer? Nope, Its Just Me!

Note...I posted 4 new blog posts today so be sure to read far beyond this one....

Bucket list item #86 - Shoot a hand gun - Jack Bauer style = COMPLETE

Check this action out...

 

Don't I look hard core?!

I had never shot any sort of gun in my life.  It made me a little nervous, but then my competitiveness took over and I just wanted to hit the target as often as possible.

I'm a natural! :)

 I even got to shoot Osama.  I aimed first for his crotch...nailed it.  The rest were straight for the face.

Then we moved the target up to about 5 ft away so I could try and hit the bullseye.  Finally got it after several attempts.

So here's the cute part of the story.  The first time I went out with John, I mentioned that shooting hand guns like Jack Bauer was on my bucket list.  The next time we went on a date, he took me shooting so I could cross that off my list.  That's pretty dang cute by him!

Blazing Trails in Bean Town

I finally made it to Boston!!  My dear friend Amber moved there almost 2 years ago, and I've been talking about going to visit forever.  I finally made it happen.  Heather joined me on the adventure.  Our flight left Salt Lake on Wed, Apr. 4 at midnight.  We were hoping to sleep the whole flight, but some girl nearby decided to talk to her poor neighbor for the full duration of the flight at a volume that the whole plane could hear.  I wanted to end her life.  When we got to Charlotte for our layover, we both curled up on the ground by our gate and passed out for an hour or so.  Then it was off to Boston.
Amber picked us up from the airport, but she had classes that day, so we dropped her off at school and then headed to Lexington and Concord (pronounced "conquered" come to find out).  We walked around the cute little down of Concord for a while and then headed to Walden Pond.  We hiked the path around Walden Pond, and it was lovely (minus the cloud of mosquitoes that we had to traverse).  Most of us would call this a lake, but in the northeast, its a pond.

You wouldn't even know we were rockin' about 3 hours of sleep.  Such babes!

Henry David Thoreau had a house on the banks of Walden Pond, and the home's foundation is still there.  This quote was nearby which I love...

 After Walden Pond, we headed to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery where several famous authors are buried including Louisa May Alcott, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Nathaniel Hawthorne.  It was pretty cool!  I like cemeteries. Is that creepy of me?

Speaking of Louisa May, our next stop was the Orchard House which was the Alcott's home when Louisa May wrote Little Women.  The novel is based in that house.  We saw the desk where she wrote it.  We saw all her sister's rooms.  It was one of the highlights of the trip for me.  It was so fascinating!  I've never read Little Women, but I think it might be next on my list.  No pictures were allowed inside, so this is all we got...

Our next stop was Minuteman National Park where the Revolutionary War started.  The #1 lesson I learned on this trip was that I remember zero from U.S. History.  I felt like a moron most of the time.  Here is the bridge where the first shot rang out that started the Revolutionary War.

Minuteman National Park in the spring...so beautiful!

It is amazing to think about what happened here over 200 years ago.  So many people sacrificed so much to win our freedom.  God bless America!

Statue of a Minuteman soldier

We drove over to Lexington and walked around Lexington Green and went to a museum that was closing in 10 minutes.  We made quick work of the museum and then headed back to Brandeis University to pick up Amber.  We grabbed some dinner at a Mexican restaurant (very rare in Boston), and then headed back to Amber's and crashed.  We were so exhausted!
The next morning, Amber took us to the best place for breakfast.  They serve you cream of wheat to get things started.  I love cream of wheat normally, but there is something magical about this cream of wheat.  I could have eaten a whole vat of the stuff!  Yummmmm!  My coconut waffles were to die for as well!

After breakfast, we headed to park the car at Amber's friend's house and then walked to the T (the subway system in Boston).  We were off the city!  Our first stop was the public library.  Old libraries are so beautiful!

We tried to go to Trinity Church, but they were holding services for Good Friday.  Bummer!  So we were off to Boston Common and the Public Gardens next.

I love these two pictures that I took at Boston Common.  You can't go wrong when statues of George Washington are involved!

These are the homes that line the street along Boston Common.  So beautiful!

Then we started our walk of the Freedom Trail.  The Freedom Trail is basically a walking tour of all the historic spots in downtown Boston.  We started at this little cemetery.  Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and Mother Goose (who knew she was a real person?) are buried here.

We walked by several other historic spots, and then a miracle happened.  Before going to Boston, Heather and I, of course, consulted the Boston visits of Guy Fieri for Drive-Ins, Diners, and Dives and found Sam LaGrassas sandwiches.  We really wanted to go there, but we didn't research very well ahead of time and didn't really know where it was in relation to where we were downtown.  We were walking down the street and Amber saw a statue of Josiah Quincy.  Who is Josiah Quincy you ask?  I had no idea, but Amber did.  He's the man that said this, "It is by no means improbable that some future textbook, for the use of generations yet unborn, will contain a question something like this: What historical American of the nineteenth century has exerted the most powerful influence upon the destinies of his countrymen? And it is by no means impossible that the answer to that interrogatory may be thus written: Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet. And the reply, absurd as it doubtless seems to most men now living, may be an obvious commonplace to their descendants."  So basically Josiah Quincy was a legend and a former mayor of Boston.  While we were talking about Josiah, I looked to my right, and there was Sam LaGrassas!  Miracle!  Thank you, Josiah!  And Sam LaGrassas did not disappoint!

Cakeology was right across the street too which has been featured on Cupcake Wars.  We had to make a stop there too of course!

After the sandwich detour, we continued on the Freedom Trail.  I can't remember what this building is called, but My Country Tis of Thee was sung for the time from this balcony and the Boston Massacre occurred right where we were standing.

"One of by land, two if by sea"...this picture below is the Old North Church where one or two lanterns were to be hung showing how the British were coming.  It was a really neat stop on our Freedom Trail adventures.  Historians tell the story of that night.

Our last stop on the Freedom Trail was the USS Constitution which is the oldest floating warship in the world.  She is also called Old Ironsides for all you history buffs.  We got the full tour.  It was awesome.  She is best known for her victory in the War of 1812, but she fought in 33 different encounters and was undefeated.  Of course, she was!  Her name is the USS Constitution for heaven's sake!

We took the ferry from the USS Constitution across Boston Harbor to the T stop to head home.  And no, I didn't dump any tea in the harbor, Deeds. :)

Don't mind my Quasimoto look here...direct sun to the eye!

Downtown Boston...so lovely!

We were pretty pooped again, so we headed back to Amber's and crashed.
The next morning we were off to Fenway Park.  This may or may not have been what I was looking forward to the most.  What a historic sporting venue!  We took a tour of the whole place, and it was awesome.  I almost became a Red Sox fan while I was there, but have no fear...I still bleed Dodger blue!

See that Green Monster in the background?  Awesome!

Up in the press box

After Fenway, we headed to Harvard.  The chapel that Amber goes to is right down the road from campus.  So we stopped there to use the bathroom and then walked around campus.

The Divinity School

Don't know what this building is, but its sure beautiful!

This is a common sight on the St. Charles River...crew.  I would call it rowing, but it is called crew.  You just don't see things like this in the West.  Its the small things like that I love about visiting new places!

Next to Harvard is this burger joint.  We had no idea it was another Guy Fieri special, but once we got in (after a lengthy wait), there was Guy's picture, and we knew we had chosen wisely!

I was really due for a huge delicious hamburger!  It was about the best thing ever!  Look at all the guacamole dripping off that thing!

Heather's friend drove up from NYC to join us for the afternoon.  It was sure nice of her to come join us!

After Harvard, we headed to Amber's, changed into church clothes, and headed to the temple.  You all know I can't go to a new place and not go to the temple!  I love going to new temples, and this one was beautiful of course!  A friend of Amber's was receiving her own endowment that night, so it was especially neat to be there for such a special occasion!  She got baptized just over a year ago.  So cool!

On Sunday, we went to church, and then Amber invited some people from her ward over for Easter lunch.  It was a great way to wind up our trip.  Then we were off to the airport.  I wanted to include a couple of pics of Amber's abode.  It was perfect, and she was such a gracious host!  Heather and I slept on the pull out couch right next to Amber's bed.  We watched a movie every night while we fell asleep.

On our flight from Boston to Charlotte, I was deep into reading The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman when I thought I better look out the window and see where we are at.  There was NYC!!  Oh how I love it there!  I could see Central Park, lower Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty, and the Brooklyn Bridge.  I wanted to parachute out of the plan and visit that city next.

Boston is amazing!  So much history!  The homes are so beautiful!  I loved driving around and just staring at all the huge, gorgeous homes.  I'm so glad that Heather could come with me and that we could play with Amber!  I have such great friends!