History and literature

A visit to Lexington and Concord, MA are all about the literature and the history.

First, the history.

We revisited all the significant sites where the Revolutionary War began.  This feels like a good post for Memorial Day.  Those patriots...they were quite magnificent.  American flags waving there mean a little bit more to me.

This is on the town green in Lexington.  The first shots were fired here.  The British got the upper hand and marched on towards Concord where the patriots got the upper hand and pretty much drove them back to Boston under fire.

Here's the bridge where it all happened in Concord. (And here are my history loving kiddos, soaking it in.)

The bridge crosses this lovely river and it is a beautiful and peaceful spot and hard to imagine what a terrible day that must have been.

Going to Lexington and Concord gave me a renewed appreciation for the patriots.  What they did was incredibly bold.  They are the original heroes who deserve the Land of the Free, Because of the Brave sentiment.

We had a picnic lunch in a little meadow outside the Minute Man National Park Visitors Center.  It was a lovely place.  Adam offered Mark all his M&Ms if he could run the remnants of our lunch back to the car in a minute or less.

It's official, Mark is up for anything.

 

Concord is also a place rich with literary history.  We visited the cemetery where several authors are buried.  It's called Authors Ridge and it's in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.

Adam thought the offerings of pinecones, rocks, coins and pens that people had left behind for the authors were kind of cheesy but I liked it.  So did Braeden, I guess.  He wanted to know if I had a pen so he could leave it behind.  I said, "Yes, I have one, but you can't have it because I need it."

I think the authors would understand.

We went to Walden Pond.  Mostly because the week we were gone, Braeden had a report due on...Walden Pond.  (And his grades could use all the bolstering they could get.)

I totally get Thoreau's love of the place.  It was beautiful!

Still no towels, but of course, this happened.

I love this picture because it captured the sparkles on the water.  Are there diamonds in Walden Pond?  It was a sparkly place.

Adam and I sat on the beach and enjoyed the scene.  It was quiet and peaceful and our kids were having a great time.  Then the universe decided to gift us with this awesomeness:

A man had been swimming and then got out and started doing these awkward grapevine type exercises up and down the beach.

Then he lay down on the sand, next to his towel.  Then he started doing sand angels (like snow angels, but in the sand).  Then he doused his body with sand.

Then I surreptitiously took a picture.  Can you blame me?  And you're welcome.

his swimsuit was originally black...he just covered himself with that much sand

It only got better.  He flipped himself over and washed more sand on himself.

Finally he got up and brushed a little sand off.  He put on a denim jacket and got on a bike and rode away.  Braeden had noticed from the water.  He said, "That guy is going in my presentation!"

We also took pictures of the replica house where Thoreau lived.

It was teeny.  Braeden stood in the doorway so he could show the scale to his classmates.

There was also this statue of Thoreau.  Was it to scale?  Because that makes the small house seem a little more accommodating...

It was an altogether lovely day.

If you ask me, Massachusetts is where it's at.