STAYED at Hanscomb Air Reserve Base Fam Camp, Massachusetts
Today was not a travel day, but a day trip into Boston. We drove to a commuter train station and rode in to town, went to the visitor center at Boston Common and picked up a couple of maps. We decided not to join one of the walking tours of the Freedom Trail, but did it on our own. Or tried to. Ruby was only interested in following the brick trail to see where it ends. She had zero interest in exploring the sites along the way. I really tried to get her to understand that super important things happened here a couple/few hundred years ago, things that made this country into a country. She did start asking questions about what was like back then in the truck on the way home, so maybe some of it made an impression. We might come back here someday, and go to DC, when Ruby is 12 or something. She’ll get so much more out of it when she’s older.
We figured that the favorite parts of Ruby’s day would be taking public transportation, and we were right. She thought riding on the commuter train was awesome, and we also took a ferry boat at one point, which was another highlight for her. All the sites in Boston, and her favorite thing was the transportation. Sigh…
One thing I learned today was just how important taverns were to our early history. Lots of meeting and planning happened at taverns where beer and spirits were served. To me, that seems like an essential part of freedom - beer and booze! Wine isn't part of this equation for me, by the way. It might be for some, but wine generally wasn't served at these establishments the way beer and whiskey were. Coffee, beer, whiskey - right, Papa? (Inside joke.)
Unfortunately, we headed into Boston on a Monday. Apparently quite a few sites are closed on Mondays, including the USS Constitution. We spoke with the staff here and asked if we could check out late (check out time is 1100) and she didn’t seem thrilled about it but she said we could do it.
In addition to the historical sites, we headed over to the Sam Adams brewery for a tour. I found my happy place in Boston!! Kids are allowed on the tour, so it wasn’t a problem having Ruby along with us. We had some beer before the tour started, and got some beer on the tour, and got to keep the little glasses they served us. They don’t brew most of their beer there (I already knew that - there are two places where they brew the stuff that gets sent out to stores - LeHeigh, PA, and Cincinnati, OH) but they do brew some there, and they do their R&D there. One of the beers we had on the tour will be going in the autumn sample pack, so we got a preview of it (it was a pilsner, and it was nice). Ruby cracked up the room at the end of the tour, when the guide asked if there were any other questions, if we wanted to know anything else, and then he joked “anything about my personal life?” She quickly spoke out with a resounding “NO!” and everyone laughed.
