Home | About Mark | Work |> Trips <| Travel | Entertainment | Photos | Seattle | Site Map

Photo Links

I have created some entries on Worldisround where you will find pictures from my trip:

Highlights

Beginning Boston

Wednesday April 28 -

My flight took me from Seattle to Philadelphia and then north to Boston.  This route gave me some decent aerial views of the Detroit River, Pelee Point in Ontario, and downtown Philadelphia.  It was late in the day as I headed north from Philly to Boston, so I caught a cool view of the shadows of midtown Manhattan's skyscrapers stretched across the East River.

I stayed at the Radisson, my usual Boston hotel and just a couple blocks from the conference hotel - which was a lot more expensive than my choice.  Especially important as I was paying for some nights myself.

I settled into my room, then prepped for tomorrow's meeting.  A bit of nightlife, Latin night at Chaps, just around the corner from my hotel.

Back to top

Thursday April 29 -

I began the day with a business-related site visit to a company to check out some of their technology.  I got there early.  Their offices were in a high-rise near the Old Statehouse, and from the conference room I had terrific views of the Holocaust Memorial, the Big Dig area and the North End, so I took advantage of the view for some photos.

Given the length of other site visits I'd made recently, I had expected the visit to last a lot longer than it did.  Two hours later, the meeting was already over, and I unexpectedly had the afternoon free.  So I headed back to the hotel, got lunch, and then headed over to Boston Common to start picking up my digital photos.

Boston Common is the country's oldest public park, dating back to the start of the city in the 1630s.  It features a number of historical markers, sculptures and a cemetery, but mostly it is regarded as 44 acres of open space in the heart of the city.

Boston Common also serves as the starting point of the Freedom Trail, a walking trail that connects several of the sites that comprise Boston National Historical Park.  Starting in Boston Common, it passes the state house, the Granary Burial Ground (where Crispus Attucks - first to die in the revolution, three signers of the Declaration of Independence, Paul Revere, much of Ben Franklin's family, "Mother" Goose, and others were buried), King's Chapel (where Mary Chilton, a Mayflower passenger, was buried), The Old State House, Faneuil Hall, the Boston Massacre Site, Paul Revere's House, and the Old North Church, ending at Bunker (Breeds) Hill.  I followed the route, making all the stops to update my photo collection.

In addition to the historical sites, I also stopped at Boston's Holocaust Memorial and a collection of tiles decorated by school children in a memorial to the September 11 attacks.

I more or less rushed through the sites, though, as I had seen all of this a couple times before.  It allowed me to complete one of my personal goals for the trip on my first day.

I limited my nightlife to an early evening at the Boston Eagle, as I had early plans for tomorrow.

Back to top

Exploring Southern New England

Friday April 30 -

When I set up the trip, I was supposed to have two site visits, one yesterday and one today.  But I found out Tuesday afternoon that today's meeting was cancelled, leaving me with an unexpected free day today.  So I turned my Saturday plans into an overnight trip out of town starting this morning.

One of my travel goals is to visit every county in the country.  Except for some counties in Mississippi, the only counties east of the Mississippi River that I had left to visit were both in Massachusetts - the island counties of Nantucket (Nantucket County) and Martha's Vineyard (Dukes County).  Visiting them would require ferry rides over and back to each island.

I had lined up a rental car, so I hit the road at about 7AM, figuring I'd avoid the worst of rush hour traffic with the early start.  I headed southeast to Hyannisport - yes, home of the Kennedy's - out on Cape Cod.  That's where I caught a passenger ferry to Nantucket.  I didn't simply turn around and take the ferry back; I did give myself a little bit of time to check out Nantucket village, which had that rustic seacoast feel to the place.  And a fair amount of tourist shops.  The business core had a rather quaint look and feel to the place, but its quaintness and charm were hidden behind rows of massive SUVs, unfortunately giving the area the ambience of a car dealership.  It did make me wonder what folks need SUVs for on the small island.

Back on the mainland, I checked out a JFK memorial in Hyannisport and then made my way over to Woods Hole, where I would catch the ferry to what I think was Vineyard Haven on Martha's Vineyard.  I had a similar short stop here.  Although I got a chuckle out of a sign directing arrivals to Gay Head 18 miles away, the village I toured seemed less quaint and more touristy than what I had seen on Nantucket.

I was back in Woods Hole by mid-afternoon.  I had finished Massachusetts' counties.  With my original plans this is the point at which I would have returned to the city.  Instead, I had decided to spend the night in Providence, but I had a stop to make along the way in New Bedford.  New Bedford is home to New Bedford Whaling National Historic Park, a new National Park Service site created since I had originally completed the sites in Massachusetts.  New Bedford was the world's leading whaling port in the mid-1800s, giving an interesting and wealthy history to what today is a fading port town.  It is home to the world's largest whaling museum and the Seamen's Bethel, a.k.a. the Whalemen's Chapel in Moby Dick.  Herman Melville once lived here, and Moby Dick was inspired by his own whaling experiences.  New Bedford was also a stop along the Underground Railroad, and Frederick Douglass was once a resident.  It was late afternoon by the time I reached town, so the indoor sites were just closing.  I walked through the historical district and read the various historical markers as I explored town.  The Inupiat Heritage Center in Barrow, Alaska, is affiliated with this NPS site - I visited an Inupiat heritage center when I was in Barrow back in 1992, but don't know if it was the same facility.

On to Providence.  Why?  Well, digital photos, of course.  And to add Rhode Island to the list of states where I've been to a gay bar.  I found a hotel and then headed downtown to find a restaurant for dinner.  I found a cheap diner - I'll take the classic American diner over any fancy restaurant.  Except for a police office, just about every patron that came into the place set off my gaydar, which struck me as a bit odd.  But then, most of them showed up at University Pub and Mirabar later, the gay bars I checked out for nightlife.

Saturday May 1 -

I began the morning with a walk around the Rhode Island state capitol followed by a return visit to Roger Williams National Memorial, which commemorates Williams' founding of Rhode Island and the principles of religious freedom that guided Williams.  There is nothing left from the original settlement, but markers note the location of significant sites at the memorial.

Time to return to Boston.  Of course I took an indirect route.  There are some National Heritage Corridors affiliated with the National Park Service, so I had plotted a route through two of these, the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor in Rhode Island and the Quinebaug & Shetauket Rivers Valley National Heritage Corridor in northeast Connecticut.  I made a handful of stops in both corridors.

At Pawtucket, Rhode Island, I stopped at Slater Mill, where industrial America began in 1793 with the construction of the cotton factory there.  Mills, the dam that harnessed power from the Blackstone River, and other buildings survive from that era.  Jobs, many of them dangerous, were filled by both grownups and kids.  One sign noted that child deaths in the mill dropped 80% when parents worked with their own kids in dangerous jobs as opposed to with other kids.

The Blackstone River was short, but its steep drop made it an important power source.  Thus it was dammed at a number of sites, earning it the nickname "The hardest working river in America."  In addition to Slater Mill, I checked out the dams at Valley Falls Heritage Park in Cumberland, Rhode Island.  A short walk from there leads to the grave of William Blackstone, the founder of Boston and the first white settler in what is now Rhode Island.

I headed west across northern Rhode Island to make stops in Putnam and Woodstock, Connecticut to check out sites along the Quinebaug & Shetauket Rivers Valley.  My last stop was in Southbridge, Massachusetts.  Nothing terribly noteworthy on this stretch of my drive, just your classic New England small town scenery.  When I left Southbridge, I hit the interstate and made my way back to Boston.

For nightlife I checked out The Alley and Fritz@Chandler Inn before heading to Buzz.  But with a conference tutorial in the morning, I didn't stay out late.

Back to top

Conference Days

Sunday May 2 -

The conference began today with its usual assortment of tutorials.  I had a morning tutorial and then I spent the afternoon exploring Little Italy in the North End - where I stopped at one of my regular restaurants (Artú) for a sausage, potatoes and peppers lunch (a favorite, dating back to my 1995 visit).  I also explored the area around Faneuil Hall, Quincy Market and the Long Wharf.

I made an early evening of it at the Boston Eagle.

Back to top

Monday May 3 -

Just a full conference day.  A visit to the Boston Eagle with some conference buddies that evening.

Back to top

Tuesday May 4 -

Ugh!  I woke up with a stomach bug that kept me in my hotel room and away from the conference for most of the day.  I did gut it out and headed out at lunch time to pick up some medicine and some food that I thought I might hold down.  I wasn't too successful then, but the medicine did its job and my body finished purging what it needed to get rid of by mid-afternoon.  I skipped the conference banquet, though, heading out at dinner time to make another stab at food I might hold down.  That worked, and I was beginning to feel like myself by mid-evening.  I decided to go out for an evening walk just to get some fresh air and saw some of my conference buddies at Club Cafe, so I joined them for a bit, but I was pretty much zonked from the sick day, so I headed back to the hotel after a short visit.

Back to top

Wednesday May 5 -

I felt pretty good when I woke up.  Hungry but good.  It was the last full day of the main conference.  During a morning break I headed over to the Prudential Building to check out the sites from the perspective of its upper floor view deck.  The Prudential Building is a lot closer to Massachusetts Ave. than the waterfront, so its views featured Boston Commons, Beacon Hill, the Back Bay, MIT and Fenway Park.  During lunch hour and again after the conference ended I took a photo walk through the Boston Garden.  It is adjacent to Boston Common, but it was established only in 1837.  It features gardens, ponds, park benches and sculptures.

I spent the evening reading papers from tomorrow's workshop proceedings, and then headed back to Chaps for Latin night.

Back to top

Thursday May 6 -

I attended a conference-related workshop today.  

For a bit of sightseeing I took a walk through Beacon Hill at lunch, updating my photos of the neighborhood, the African Meeting House Museum (part of Boston African American National Historic Site), and the gold-domed statehouse.  I also worked in a waterfront walk, getting some sunny day pictures of the Old State House and nearby sites, the waterfront, and the site of the Boston Tea Party ship. 

The Boston African American National Historic Site was a bit of a surprise the first time I explored Boston, as I hadn't heard of it before.  During part of its history, Beacon Hill was home to a dynamic African American community.  The Black Heritage Trail winds through the neighborhood past the sites of homes, meeting houses and schools that were significant to that community, ending at the African Meeting House, Completed in 1806, it is the oldest black church building still standing in the U.S.  A century later, the black community was shifting towards the South End and Roxbury areas, and the church was sold to a Jewish congregation, which used it as a synagogue.  The Museum of African American History bought it in the 1970s, restored it and turned it into a museum.  I toured the museum last year, so I only stopped for photos this year.

I got back to my room after dinner in time to catch the series finale of Friends, a favorite TV show over the last several years.  For the evening's nightlife, I checked out The Alley and Campus@Manray, but I didn't stay out too late.

Back to top

Presidential Sites

Friday May 7 -

The workshop wrapped up today.  

Sightseeing included a trip out to Brookline to check out the home where President John F. Kennedy was born.  It was closed for the season, but once again I was just updating my photo collection with digital pictures.  I also made a stop at Fenway Park, home to the Boston Red Sox, for the same reason.  A late afternoon walk through the Backbay neighborhood and along the Charles River capped off my sightseeing for today.

Paradise for nightlife.

Back to top

Saturday May 8 -

I hit the subway for today's sightseeing.  My first stop was the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, which features an extensive collection of papers, photos and memorabilia from Kennedy's presidency, the First Lady, and the Kennedy family.  To coincide with the presidential election year, the museum also featured a temporary display focused on the 1960 presidential election that put Kennedy in office.

I spend a couple hours exploring the sites at the museum and then walked over to the nearby Commonwealth Museum to check out its displays on the Archeology of the Big Dig, the massive construction project to expand and bury the interstate highway that cut through the heart of downtown Boston.  That turned out to be less interesting than I had hoped for.

My final stop was further down the line in Quincy, home to Adams National Historical Park, featuring the homes that served as the birthplaces of President John Adams and President John Quincy Adams.  These are the oldest surviving presidential birthplaces in the country.  John Adams maintained his law practice here, and Samuel Adams and James Bowdoin wrote the Massachusetts constitution here.

Also part of the park is the United First Parish Church.  Built in 1828, both President Adams and their wives are buried in its crypt.  Other members of the Adams family are buried in an adjacent cemetery.  Nearby is a marker noting the site where John Hancock was born.

That wrapped up my sightseeing.  I caught a subway back to downtown Boston.  Dinner, packing for tomorrow's return to Seattle, Boston Eagle and Buzz for nightlife.

Back to top

Heading Home

Sunday May 9 -

Time to head home.  It was a long but uneventful flight, changing planes in Denver.

Back to top

Souvenirs

Back to top

The contents of MarkWasson.com The Mark Wasson Site are copyrighted by Mark Wasson.  All rights reserved.