Pick Your Battles

To date, we haven't traveled very much in this part of the United States. Aside from visiting Manassas National Battlefield Park with the family in 2010 and Monocacy National Battlefield while on solo business trips in 2017 and 2022, our NPS checklist is missing a lot of units interpreting sites from the eastern theater of the Civil War. (Gettysburg really needs a re-visit because I was in grade school, and the cyclorama is the only thing I vaguely recall.) Needless to say, I was looking forward to today's first stop: Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial National Military Park! 

Thought this was R's 200th unit, but I miscounted! Doh.

Sunday Drive

This morning we checked out of our hotel in downtown DC and took I-395 S to I-695 E across the Anacostia River to I-295 S. Once we entered Maryland, we continued south on MD-210 to our first destination of the day, Fort Washington Park. This checks off my 200th park visited, and it just so happens to be celebrating its 200th anniversary this year. How cool is that?!

200th for #200!

We're Going on a Stamp Hunt

Because the K St NW & 4 St NW stop was right across the street from our hotel, we started our day riding the P6 Metrobus this morning. We had already loaded SmarTrip cards onto our phones, so it was super easy to "tap to pay" when we boarded. Four stops later, we hopped off at 11th St NW & F St NW and walked the rest of the way, passing by the statue of Revolutionary War hero Brigadier General Casimir Pulaski on the eastern side of Freedom Plaza.

The stone pavers represent a map of Washington, DC

From the Seashore to Saint Paul's

Yesterday's festivities didn't end with the reception. The father of the bride convinced R and two other buddies to join him for late night Korean fried chicken at Pelicana Chicken in Bayside (open 'til 2AM!). Guess R and RH thought they could still eat like they did when they were college roommates, which was more than *30* years ago?! 🤣

As much as I would have liked to join them, I stayed behind to finish packing and get some sleep because I knew that we had a lot of driving ahead of us. Even though it's nowhere near the mileage we usually cover on a typical road trip, today would be our longest day in the car on this vacation. 

160 miles

Where America Survived

After we finished our visit at the Wallace House & Old Dutch Parsonage State Historic Sites yesterday, we stopped by the Jockey Hollow area of Morristown National Historical Park on the way to our hotel in Parsippany, NJ. 

We arrived about 5:45PM, long after the visitor center closing time of 4:00PM. But since the grounds were open from 8:00AM – 8:00PM, we still had plenty of time to check out the outdoor portions of the park. And we were back again first thing this morning to finish up what we missed, all before the visitor center opened at 10:00AM. How's that for maximum travel efficiency?! 😉 

Ten Crucial Days

When R and I received an invite to the wedding of our close friends' daughter, we decided to tack on some extra days and make a vacation out of it! Working son (M) and college son (J) didn't come with, so just us two empty-nesters flew into Newark yesterday. 

The air quality is so much better than it was a week ago!

Travel tip: Seats 48A/B on a Boeing 777-200 are great because there is no third seat in the row = extra room for economy price!

Time Travelers

First thing this morning, we said goodbye to my folks and headed for parts unknown... to us, at least! Any place south and east of Champaign-Urbana is unexplored territory!

What a difference a year makes!

Vacation Rewind

With this trip we have visited 102 of the current 401 National Park Service units, including all of the ones in Massachusetts and Rhode Island (with the exception of the Appalachian NST). Well, technically, R is only at 101 since I'm counting a childhood visit to Gettysburg, and the boys are only up to 98 since they were only a twinkle when R and I went to Haleakala, USS Arizona, and Mt. Rainier. But their Jr. Ranger badges and patches now number 84!

And now for one of my favorite parts of keeping this blog -- getting the family's opinions on our most recent adventure...

What were the best places that we visited or things that we did (top 5, in order)?

J: Basketball Hall of Fame, Fenway Park / watching the Red Sox, Museum of Science, Georges Island, John F. Kennedy NHS

M: Basketball Hall of Fame, Springfield Armory, Fenway Park, USS Constitution, Six Flags New England

Me: Adams NHP, Georges Island, Minute Man NHP, USS Constitution, Fenway Park

R: Basketball Hall of Fame, Springfield Armory, Minute Man NHP, Fenway Park, USS Constitution

Old Ironsides and the Green Monster

After a quick stop at Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast (you can find one on just about every block!), we caught the T to Long Wharf again this morning. But today we were on the other side of the wharf to take the transit ferry (included on our transit pass) over to Charlestown.

One If by Land, Two If by Sea

Back on the mainland, we went over to the visitor center for Boston National Historical Park at Faneuil Hall to get our national park passport cancellations. We also bought combo admission tickets here to tour the Revere House, Old State House, and Old South Meeting House.

Upstairs was a short ranger talk in the Great Hall, which we really enjoyed, not so much for the talk itself, but for the A/C which was on full blast inside! Can I complain once more about the unbearably muggy weather?!

On the Freedom Trail

We still had a lot of daylight left, so we set out to walk part of the Freedom Trail, even though many of the historic sites were already closed for the day. The Marriott is only a couple of blocks away from the Copley Square T stop, as well as Boylston Street and...

Boston Public Library

Historic Homes

Today was our last day with a rental car before spending the next three days exploring Boston by foot, so I had planned for us to visit 3 NPS units located just outside of the city. We started out with Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site, a reconstruction of the first successful iron works in the New World. It produced wrought and cast iron during the mid-1600's. Today one can see working water wheels and forges (though not during the time we were at the site).

The Shot Heard Round the World

First thing this morning we headed to Minute Man National Historic Park. Even though the British troops marched from Lexington to Concord on April 19, 1775, we traveled the Battle Road in reverse, beginning at the North Bridge in Concord.

North Bridge over the Concord River