Tags
family, hiking, Massachusetts, Mount Monadnock, mountain climbing, New Hampshire, ocean, Salem, slot cars, vacation, witches
Hi all! Hope everyone is having a fabulous day, and, if not, then may you find your happiness.
Last week ,you might remember, I went on vacation with my family. We traveled 12 hours in a car to see my mom’s family in Massachusetts.
Mom grew up in Holliston, Massachusetts, a small town outside Boston. Though she moved to the Midwest, her sister and four brothers are still in the area, as are most of my cousins.
Growing up in Illinois, we made the 18 hour trip to visit every other summer. I always loved it, and still do. I love watching the landscape change from flat cornfields to hills and mountains. I love the rock walls that line the highways. I love the feel of Massachusetts, the way the houses seem to have been there forever. There’s a great sense of history in New England.
If you’ve never been there, you should go. Boston is full of cool stuff, but we didn’t head there this trip. This time we headed to a couple new places and some favorites. Let me share.
We headed to my uncle’s beach house and played in the water. Because when you live in Indiana, you go to the ocean whenever you get the chance.
Me and the hubs on the beach
We visited another uncle’s house for a carry-in dinner and talked and laughed. I don’t see my relatives a lot, but when we get together, it’s a good time. Now some of my cousins have kids and the place is hopping.
Because of my love of horror, we visited Salem for the first time. What a neat place! We didn’t have enough time to get to every where I would have liked to go, but just being there made me happy.
Street of Salem
House of Seven Gables…Nathaniel Hawthorne’s house
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s birthplace
Cemetery in Salem…some OLD headstones!
I want to go hang out there at night…in the dark…anyone else coming?
And my favorite place… The Salem Witch Museum, where we heard what happened at the famous witch trials. It was creepy, but focused on the horror of the time being the paranoia and made sure to recognize the innocent people that died. Of course no pics were allowed inside…so you’ll have to go.
My aunt and uncle are big football fans…Patriots fans! My son isn’t a huge football watcher, but the Patriots are one of the teams he favors, and, when the Patriots played in the Superbowl not long ago, my son was thrilled that they won. My aunt and uncle sent him a hat. So, we went to see Gillette Stadium. Pretty cool place. Even if you’re not a football fan, the story of the team and its loyal followers is quite moving.
Gillette Stadium, Patriot Place…home of former Superbowl champions The New England Patriots
And we went in the museum to hear about the New England Patriot’s journey from not so good to awesome and saw some historic Patriot’s memorabilia.
That’s my aunt rocking the helmet.
One of our favorite fun places to go is my uncle’s shop…Modelville Hobby. Slot car racing! The kids (and sometimes the adults, I mean who doesn’t want to play with the race cars) set those vehicles flying around the numerous tracks while the adults man the corners and as quickly as they can set the correct car on the correct track after they spin off course. It’s stressful! But tons of fun!
Looks like fun, right?
Finally, we went to one of our favorite places. Mount Monadnock in New Hampshire. This is no easy trek up a hill, kids. There were points where we would stop, stare at the steep rocks and wonder how we would ever make it up. But we did. It’s so worth it, especially on clear days when you “can see the whole world” as one of my cousin’s boys exclaimed.
See that rocky top? That’s where we went.
And at the top!
Seven hours we hiked. Seven. My feeeeeeeeeettttttt!!!!! My kneeeeeeeessss!!!!!!
So, a few images from our trip. All these special trips were SO MUCH FUN, but the times sitting on my aunt’s back porch eating breakfast and chatting, the hours spent putting together my aunt’s new puzzle she bought in Salem, and the moments of being together as a family were just as fabulous.
Family rocks! Adventures are great! Massachusetts is one place I love to visit.
