Day 7, 8 & 9: Fiery Hell

So, I know I haven't written for about a week or so... we've been busy seeing and doing everything possible! But I'm committed to writing when I can.

We got into Boston and navigated ourselves to Blair's house. She lives in the greater Boston area near Columbia (Harvard and MIT area) She is so super cute in the old house she lives in. It's a huge old house that has been divided into apartments and has creaky floors that make it sound like a tornado is coming through. What a great hostess! She fed us vegetarian pasta and wine, eggs and bacon in the morning and even dropped us off at the end of the subway line so we wouldn't have to pay for parking.

Boston was a great warm up for New York. We had to figure out the subway, navigate city maps etc. However, Boston did made it easy for us with an unbroken red brick path through the whole city navigating to all the sites. The "Freedom Trail" as its called, takes you through the beautiful old city starting from Boston Common, to multiple cemeteries which are the final resting places of many founding fathers, the state house where the Declaration of Independence was penned, Paul Revere's home, the church he climbed to light the candles to signal the British were coming and all the way to the harbor where the USS Constitution is moored. It was quite a walk and took us one and a half days to complete. We paid to do Paul Revere's house and the USS Constitution, and skipped the rest but I think we got a good spoonful of history regardless. The only non-sight seeing thing we did was H&M... how could I resist? I didn't get to spend much time though because Mr. History Buff wanted to stay on track. It rained on us off and on and we are now convinced that we are bringing the rain with us everywhere we go. This is quite unusual weather for this time of year apparently. Anyway, the trail was fun and the old city was amazing. We were a bit sidetracked on the trail by a National Parks ranger who was giving a tour of the Black History trail. We followed them for an hour and saw many homes and places that were in the middle of the fight for equality. Places where abolitionists lived and homes that were part of the underground railway. It was quite amazing. We also did some driving through Harvard's little downtown and parks.

It was a great time, especially because of Blair's hospitality. She took me to her Bikram yoga class too. Now I look back on it fondly but at the end of class I thought I would keel over from the heat. My face was so red, I was purple. The guy in front of me was sweating so much, it looked like he was being rained on. Seriously. He had dropped of water coming off his hand in a shower. It was ridiculous and now I know why Blair is so hot and I'm not. She sometimes goes 5 days a week! Anyway, props to you Blair and I was glad for the experience. I may consider doing it once I move. Maybe.

We stayed an extra night so that I could have breakfast with the very busy and important Haley. Blair had to kick us out of her house because she is hosting to everyone and their brother this summer... and probably taking them to the fiery hells of Bikram yoga. We ended up at a camp ground that was just beyond some huge homes. It was a maze of green campsites and was quite beautiful. Of course the rain followed us again and slammed on us all night. Even in the morning it was pouring on us. It wouldn't be a huge deal except for the fact that we have to move most of our bags from the cab to the back and stash them right on our bed.. So mud is not very welcome. Once again, I did whining. I really wanted to take a shower but the weather just wouldn't permit it. I also had multiple mosquito bites because of one stupid bug stuck in the back overnight. Sam got it all packed up while I pouted and we tried to dry out our sogginess while we sat in Boston traffic to meet Haley. Its great to drive across the country and be able to share a cup of coffee along the way with all the people that are important to you. After meeting for breakfast, Haley had to be on to work and we got back on the road headed for New York.