Vacation Day 4 - Boston (final day)

The day began again with a run. I had the chance to see a little bit more of the Emerald Necklace. I ran mostly on the side of the park opposite our neighborhood. It was a little bit more level and open then the side I ran yesterday.

As you can see from these photos, it's a pretty ideal trail for biking with the kids. Unless there's some miracle waking them and me up early tomorrow, though, we will miss a chance to explore it on two wheels.

Our travels today took us to two historical sites. The first was the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, which was about as outstanding as I had hoped it would be. After lunch we saw one that was more kid-themed, the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum. Those sites, really all the historical ones we've visited, leave me with so much to say I'll have to set aside time to post separately on them.

Sam and Caroline in a mock-up of a 1960 television debate studio. 

Tossing tea into the harbor. 

I belatedly reached out to my cousin, Ted, to see if we could meet up with him today and, as luck would have it, he was free. I haven't seen Ted in many, many years. In fact, I can't remember when I saw him last. He hasn't had the chance to meet my Sherry and the kids yet. He treated us to a 90-minute tour that included some points of interest we haven't seen yet (I was embarrassed to know that I had been to this city four times and was here on my fourth day and didn't know what Copley Square was).

The police car some MIT students reassembled atop an academic hall a few decades ago in one of their famous pranks. 

An intriguing building on campus (horrible angle relative to the Sun)

We ended our day with a trip to the Skywalk Observation Deck downtown. It wasn't nearly as high as decks I've been to in other cities, but it afforded a more meaningful view of the city than I might have gotten from a higher elevation. I liked what I was able to pick out down below. With the aid of Google Maps on my phone I could identify many of the sites we had visited in our days here. I was impressed at what they do with the space there at Sky Deck. There was a very good set of documents about immigration and Boston as well as a few brief but interesting film clips that oriented us to the city. Sherry and I realized from what we saw up there that Ted's impromptu tour of the city actually closed a few holes in what we had seen.

Looking East from Sky Walk

Looking west. Note Fenway Park.

A good map atop Sky Walk showing the changing shoreline of the city. 

The naturalization exam game show at Sky Walk. 

Tomorrow we depart Boston. We plan a quick stop at two or three sites before making our way to Bar Harbor.