I think I'm going to Boston...

Oh yeah and I think I'll go to Boston,
I think that I'm just tired
I think I need a new town, to leave this all behind...
I think I need a sunrise, I'm tired of the sunset,
I hear it's nice in the Summer, some snow would be nice

-Boston; Augustana

Boston from Bunker Hill

I'm in love with Boston (the city, not the song). I realized tonight that it was exactly two years ago my mom and I were up there for a week. I have a BA in History, and my idea of a perfect vacation is to go to a historically significant city and do all the touristy things.My favorite period of history is pre-revolutionary American so Boston was the perfect city for me. We decided to drive from Charlotte, so we could stop along the way. We stopped in Philadelphia, so I could see the Liberty Bell and Ben Franklin's gravesite. We had planned to stop in NYC, but traffic was awful, so we went on to Boston. I have also always been fascinated by the Salem Witch Trials, so we made plans to visit Salem while we were there as well as Lexington (the Louisa May Alcott house was at the top of my list) and Martha's Vineyard.

Louisa Alcott House

Lexington Battlesite

Liberty Bell

Martha's Vineyard

 

Salem Harbor

Salem is one of my favorite places that I've ever been. I loved driving through the area and seeing so many 17th century homes. Not even the homes that had been turned into museums and were for tourists to gawk at, but just regular homes that people live in. Historical preservation is so important in New England and that is evident everywhere you look. Not to mention the historical stuff dealing with the witch trials is just cool.

Salem Witchcraft Hysteria Memorial

Halloween in Salem is just plain cool!

Rebecca Nurse Homestead

Me at the House of the Seven Gables

The Witch House

While Salem was definitely my favorite part of our trip, Boston was amazing too. A little too hectic for me. The parking situation was atrocious. $35 to park in a parking deck? No thank you. But the history of the city is so amazing. Even though I'm a little annoyed with the military and the state of the country right now, I've always been incredibly patriotic, and the early history of this country is just awe-inspiring.

To kneel in the very spot where the Boston Massacre happened...

To give a bunch of pubescent boys an impromptu history lesson...

And to look up and see the place where the Declaration of Independence was read for the first time...

Everything about Boston blew my mind. Except for the cold. I wasn't crazy about the cold.

One night at the gym I was watching House Hunters and the people on the show were a young couple in Boston. And I just felt this overwhelming tug. I had only felt a tug like that once before, and that was the night Graham walked back into my life. As I watched these people look for a house, I felt like that's where I belong. Everything about that part of the country speaks to me. I don't want to live IN Boston, more like one of the suburbs. Salem, Danvers, Lexington, Marblehead, Peabody, etc. I'd be happy with any. Graham and I are actually considering spending a good bit of time there when he gets out of the Air Force. We'll ultimately end up in Charlotte, of course. We both want to be with our families and friends too much to move away for good. But his enlistment is up in March, school doesn't start till August, so we've been toying with the idea of spending the summer in that part of the country. I'm drawn to it... and as a completely southern girl and ridiculously cautious person, I know it seems a little insane, but it would be an adventure. One that appeals to me more and more every day.