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We will call this part of the trip SICKNESD. We drove from New York City to Mansfield, Massachusetts. We stayed at a campground that I would never recommend to anyone! I won’t say it’s NAME here, because I don’t want to get sued. But if you want to ask me privately, I’m happy to share information. Let’s just say crowded, sewage, and cold showers are what we think of when we talk about camping there!

However, it was within 10 minutes of the subway station so we were able to catch a commuter train into Boston with a fair level of convenience. Boston has a pass for for the weekend that gives all commuter and redline users, transportation for a flat rate. We opted to cram Boston into a very short period because of the inexpensiveness of the metro.

This ended up being a fairly good choice, because by Monday Ephraim and I were both down and sick which would be the start of the whole family.

When we went into Boston, we went in at 5 o’clock in the morning because the commuter trail train was under construction, and it was running sporadically so the closest that we could get in before the heat really hit was early in the morning. So we walked the Freedom Trail starting at about 6:30 in the morning. We walked the trail throughout the day. It was very hot.

One thing that we did that was very enjoyable was the Dukw tour. A company has converted World War II amphibious crafts into a fleet of tour vehicles. Our tour guide was a Boston native, and he taught us so many things about Boston. It was a lot of fun. The highlight of that tour was Ephraim driving boat on the Charleston River.

We got home that night, and Ephraim and I came down with something. On Monday, we actually just took a down day, and I don’t remember anything that happened on Monday because I slept that entire day,

The next day we drove to Plymouth Rock. Plymouth Rock is kind of comical! You think it’s this really big rock or location, but when you go to the rock, it’s about 3 feet wide. It’s been broken over the years. It wasn’t really even a rock that they stood on. They used the rock to anchor themselves.

But the city itself, was absolutely beautiful. There are a lot of beautiful views of the ocean. From there, we drove to Nantasket Beach. This was a really fun beach! There were some great waves, and Ephraim was able to boogie board.

The next day Daniel got sick. So I drove with the kids to Salem. We did the trolley tour, and we were able to learn the story of the Salem witch trials and also see how the city of Salem had built up a landmass just like Boston had. On the way back, we stopped at the Lexington Concord national Park. And the kids were able to see where the first battle of the revolution occurred. That night, Lillian got sick.

Daniel’s favorite part of this was the freedom trail and the Dukh tour.

Janell’s favorite part of this was learning about the history of the revolution and the bravery of our fore fathers.

Lillian’s favorite part of this was the city of Salem. She liked how it had become a thriving city. She also really like the Dukh tour

Ephraim’s favorite part of this was the Dukh tour.

What do we wish we would have known:

The Lexington Concord monument is only open on certain days and certain times.

Don’t count on the metro being as dependable as DC and New York. It’s definitely NOT!

I wish we had more time at the USS Constitution. It’s at the end of the Freedom Trail, so the kids were pretty tired. I almost wish we had started there and gone backward.

We learned it while we were there, so we got the discount. DUKH Tour has an early bird and family discount!

The state park near Salem is absolutely beautiful, and we would have loved this campground-especially after comparing the two campgrounds!