Boston

You ready for a long post?
Matt had a convention hosted by one of ESG's software vendors and they held it in Boston. I am always welcome to come along on his business trips but I'm never really interested but this one I didn't want to pass up. He had one last year here as well but Evan was too young to take or leave behind. I've been wanting to go to Boston for a while now because I wanted to see why my dad is so fascinated by the area and to see my family ties. Matt would have been gone four days but since I was coming along we extended it to six days.
We left early Tuesday morning and I was running on only three hours of sleep all because we went to bed pretty late and I woke up an hour before I really needed to because of a stupid nightmare I had. I couldn't get back to sleep for the life of me. I'm sure Matt didn't sleep much either.
We had separate flights both ways because Matt's flights were both non-stop and it would have cost a lot of money if I went with him. I just had one lay over in Phoenix so nothing bad but I was in the middle seat both flights so I wasn't able to really sleep. When we both finally arrived in Boston and after going with Matt's co-worker to get her and her husbands rental car, we went straight to the Hotel for the Reception that they were having to meet the people that were attending the convention. They served drinks and yummy appetizers. I worked as a server at the Hilton Hotel next to the SLC Airport and just being in there eating the food brought back a lot of memories because it was a Hilton that we were staying at.

They basically served a lot of the same things. I miss the free meals I got working there because they were delicious.
After Matt met the people he wanted to meet we walked to the Cheesecake Factory. I've heard so many great things about the place so I was excited to try it. I couldn't believe how big the menu was. It was 24 pages long!
We were up on the 24th floor of the Hotel so we had an amazing view of the city. When we woke up Wednesday morning we took photo's of the view.


When Matt went to his meetings I did some work but then ventured out to look for some food. I loved how the pedestrians didn't obey any traffic signals and just walked across the street no matter if cars had a green light. Eventually I was walking like them ;). I also thought it was funny that there was a Dunkin Donuts on every block.

In the mall next to the Hotel there's two. Do you think they're just a little obsessed? The sad thing is that they're not even good donuts.
When Matt got out for the day we did some site seeing around the hotel. There are a ton of beautiful old churches around. We weren't out that long because we were due to go to Fenway Park. The software vendors rented out the entire park to take a tour and to have dinner. I was lucky enough to be able to go without paying anything because Matt's co-worker didn't want to go. I got to take her ticket instead. Thanks Gaye!

These seats were so nice(padded) but you have to be a club member. If I remember correctly the seats cost about $1000 per game. Maybe even higher and it wouldn't be a surprise.


This is the newest addition to the park.

They took us up into the press box. There are four rows of desks and we learned that the most experienced are on the bottom and the newest on up but the very top row, with not a very good view is for the opponents, like the Yankees :).


There we also learned the color green that you see on the Green Monster and the rest of the park is called Fens Green. They put a paten on it so you can't buy it in stores. The Green Monster used to be covered in advertisements when it was first put up and the score board is the oldest working score board in history.

There is a 50 year waiting list to work it. Who wouldn't want to watch every home game for free and get paid doing it but the only this is, there's was no running water or lights? They watch the game through the little slits between "Ball" and "Strike". The only way in it is though a door next to "At Bat". Can you see them? The men that work the board love their job.
When they put up the Green Monster they had to put in a support beam and it covered the way into the area of the score board where the American League results are posted. The only way that the workers could get to it is between plays and go outside and use a ladder, like this.

Not many people can say that they've been on top the Green Monster because those seats and the new Budweiser Bar seats are put into a Lottery. I'm glad they took us up there so we can say we were on the Big Monster.

Since the stadium is full of fans during games, you can't really tell that there is only one seat painted red amongst the sea of green out in right field.

This marks the spot where the longest measurable home run ever hit inside Fenway Park. Ted Williams hit the home run and it was measured at 502 feet. A older gentleman was sitting in this seat and decided to lower his straw hat to take a small nap. He wasn't planning to sleep as long as he did. The ball crushed though the hat and he was knocked out and was woken up looking at an EMT and a News Reporter. He had no long term effects from it and lived a full long life. I can't remember when he passed away but somewhere around 2004. His family comes to the park on the anniversary of the hit with straw hats, sitting in that section.
Fire destroyed bleachers on the left field line due to a cigarette or cigar. There were no funds to repair the damage so the owner just roped the area off and cleaned the charred remains. It wasn't fixed till Tom Yawkey bought the Red Socks Stadium on his birthday. He upgraded the park by adding more seats in the lower levels and he was the one that built the Green Monster. The blue seats that he added are still there and they were added around 1933. Very old seats!

It ended up being a great tour even though we didn't get to see the locker rooms or walk on the field. We ended up having a delicious meal with great entertainment. Part of the fun was we got to get our pictures taken for baseball cards and just for fun.

Thursday was like Wednesday morning. Matt went to his meetings and after some work I went looking for a shoe store because I forgot to pack sneakers so my feet were hurting from walking everywhere. I just needed a nice but cheap pair of shoes so I wanted Payless. My phone GPS told me it would be 0.1 miles.I swear it was longer and more like 2 miles both ways! I ended up walking into a neighborhood that I probably shouldn't have been in. On my walk I turned around because I was scared and I didn't think I would ever find it but I ended up walking past a bunch of guys and they asked me what I was doing. Being the only white girl would raise some questions. I didn't want to answer but I did anyways just telling them I'm looking for Payless. They told me that it was just around the block. Since I walked that far and they gave me their word that it wasn't much further I went back It was there! I got a pair of shoes that would work nicely on sale for $20.00. I was lucky because I didn't want to spend more then that. I ran into those guys again and they asked if I was looking for a job. I told him no and that I was really in need of a pair of shoes because I forgot to pack walking shoes. They acted shocked and asked me where I was from and I told them Utah. They were shocked even more and they told me I was far from home with no mountains. I thought they were nice but was happy to be on my way. The walk back to the Hotel didn't seem as long after that. When Matt was done for the day around 2:00 we walked the Freedom Trail around downtown Boston.
We saw Paul Revere's home. It's the oldest home in downtown Boston.

We saw the Old North Church and got to go inside this time.
Robert Newman, sexton of the Old North Church, hung two lanterns in the tower of the church, signaling to Paul Revere that British troops arriving by sea.

The British Troops saw the signal and went to the church to investigate. Robert Newman escaped through the black window. The Parishioners didn't like the sun in their eyes during services so they put a brick wall up and covered the window with dry wall. Recently they were cleaning or doing something to the area and a hammer went through the wall so they uncovered it to find the original window still there. It's now a memorial for Robert Newman.

If you can see the pews you will see that they're tiny boxes. These protected the Parishioners from cold drafts in the winter and it helped them stay warm with a tiny furnace. I would love to have these pews in Sacrament meeting so Evan cant get out :).
We then went to the USS Constitution. On our way there we saw a burial site. We found Robert Newman's grave. on top of his grave there are coins and rocks. Any idea what this represents to the Mason's?

We happened to come to the ship while it's under construction but we were still able to take a tour. They are replacing the deck floor. It's the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world. It's huge! If it's taken out of the water it's only a foot shorter then the Bunker Hill monument and you will see pictures of that next. The ship is only half together in this picture.

These are pictures inside the ship.

A few more facts about the ship: Her nickname is "Ironsides" because cannonballs from the British ships would just bounce off. It was in 42 battles and never lost one. This ship was retired at the turn of the 19th Century and it's been renovated, refurbished, and repaired many times. There's still 15% of the original wood. A lot of people think it's not that much but others think it's a lot because wood only lasts about 100 years.
Our next stop was Bunker Hill. By this time it was closed so we didn't get to walk to the top. I was ok with it because we've been walking forever.

We then went to Faneuil Hall. We parted from the group that we were with and looked through the different shops. We ate in the inside replica of the TV show "Cheers" where everyone knows your name. We enjoyed the food and the autmosphere. I didn't take any pictures in the upstairs part because of everyone eating but I did get the down stairs.

We also wanted to visit the outside of the original Cheers so we went there next. On our way there Matt spoted this. We thought it was hilarious so we took pictures.

We found Samual Adams grave

and the Boston State Capitol.

The outside of the original Cheers really looks like what I remember on TV. I thought it was cool.

The part of the Freedom Trail that we walked was very long but it was so worth it. I enjoyed every minute of it.

Friday was the last day of Matt's Convention so they got out early. We said goodbye to Steve, Gaye and Pat and went our way. We rented our rental car and drove to Salem. This is where I was really interested in going because I have a lot of family history there. My dad has spent countless hours there and really wants to move there. Hopefully one day he will get his wish. We first visited my Great Great (maybe another great) Grandfather's home, Nathaniel Henry Felt. I've heard so much stories about this man from my dad so it was great to finally be at his house. It's being used by the Peabody Essex museum as offices so I couldn't just go in. My dad helped dedicate the house with the plaque back in 2003.

Just like the Freedom Trail we walked part of the Witch Trail. I first wanted to find the bench of Bridget Bishop. She was the first women accused of being a witch and hanged. She is my Great Great Great Great Grandmother.

We went through the burial grounds. I found a few Felt's but I never got the chance to find Nathaniel Henery Felt's parents like I wanted to. The map that we had didn't have a compus so we didn't know where to go.

As we were walking Salem we went to three different museums. Instead of them showing different artifacts they took you underground and told you the stories about the Salem Witch Trials and the Witch Hesteria through different scenes with maniquins. It was rather interesting. One of them however was a Pirate Museum. We thought that was really fun. There are no pictures. I didn't want to be rude and have a camera flash when they were performing and talking. We were pretty much the only people in there.
Salem felt like Halloween. It had shops full of stuff that looked like would come out on Halloween and they had a few decorations.

I wish I had more pictures but we were just having too much fun learning about the history of Salem. It was a fun little town.
On our way out we found Felt St. and Felt St. Way.

We went to go check into our other Hotel and got freshened up to go to through a session at the Boston Temple so we could check that one off on our list of Temples visited.

It's a gorgeous Temple and it's on my list of favorite Temples. The Celestial room is unique in having not just one huge chandaler but 12 medium sized. We never seen that before.
Saturday we got up early and headed down to Plymouth. Last time Matt came down there for the same Convention, him and Steve didn't get to see the rock because it was in a box. They were building a protective cage for it because through out the years people would come and chip pieces off the rock so they had to do something to keep people from doing it because it's a lot smaller then what it was. They finished the cage so we got to see it and bring pictures for Steve to see.



We went to look at the Mayflower 2. They built a replica of the Mayflower. I can't believe how small the ship was for all those Pilgrims that sailed/lived in it. Not the best accomidations for them.


We went to a museum to learn more about the Pilgrims. That was just artifacts but we got to see a movie. We then did some more shopping and then we ate lunch at a nice seafood place. Matt got seafood but I didn't :).
We then drove to a ferry that would take us to Martha's Vineyard. We had to take HW6 to get there. Pretty cool being on the other side of HW6 that could take us straight home through Spanish Fork Canyon.

The Ferry was a 45 minute round trip at sea. The view of the Island was beautiful. It was overcast on the way in with rain. We didn't have an unbrella with us so we went to go buy one after walking for a little bit. It decided to stop raining once we got an umbrella hehe. We spent the time walking the streets and falling in love with the houses.




We came across a beautiful Inn


It took us to a Light House. It was closed for the season so we couldn't go inside but it was nice to look at because there's so many on the island.

We saw a few "The Black Dog" shops so we went in one to see what the big deal was about it plus we wanted to bring something back for Evan and since he loves dogs we thought that it would be a great place to buy him something. The lady that worked there told us the story about a guy named Captian Robert Douglas that had a dream to leave the hussle and bustle of Chicago to sail to the Vineyard and to get a dog to keep his feet warm during the cold winters. Him and his black dog "Lab" became inseperable. He purchased an old seaside inn that sat on the beach in Vineyard Haven. From the downstairs library window he could see Sailors from all parts of the globe walk down the beach, with their sea bags tossed over their shoulders, headed for the Captain's house. The Black Dog would greet them at the door. The Captain and the sailors would sit around the fire and drink coffee, and sometimes rum. While summer brought many people to the Vineyard, few remained year-round. In fact, the island had not one year-round restaurant. One cold day Robert decided enough was enough. His dream would now include a place where Vineyarders and visitors could enjoy a good cup of chowder and great conversation year-round. That dream began as a sketch on a napkin. The lady also said that The Black Dog is just as popular as Hard Rock Cafe. Maybe it's well known on the east coast but I've never heard of it. We decided to go to the The Black Dog Tavern for dinner because of the story before we headed back to the Hotel. The ribs we had were really good but I don't know if I would ever go back there because it was so over priced with not much to choose from. The averaged priced meal was $25 to $35.

On our way back the sun was shinning down on us so we got better pictures of the Island.

We decided that we want to retire to the Vinyard or buy a vacation home. It was so fun and beautiful over there.
Sunday we flew back home and this time we didn't have early flights. Matt had a non-stop flight again but this time instead of one lay over I had three. At first I thought it was going to be horrible but it ended up being a good thing. I got to stretch my legs and I got a little sick! It was great landing in SLC but before we got to come home we had to get our car jumped. One of us turned the dome light on and didn't turn it off so our battery was dead. We had to laugh about it because our trip worked out so perfectly. Something had to go wrong. I'm glad it was just the battery and nothing else.
During this whole trip Evan got to spend time with his Grandparents. Matt's parents took him for two days and two nights and then my parents took him the rest of the time. I missed him the entire time but I knew he was in safe hands and that he was getting the care he needed. I could tell he had fun. Thank you guys for everything!

If you made it this far, congratulations! Thanks for reading.