Walkin' About Freedom

Last Friday, I accompanied M's fifth grade class on a trip along the Freedom Trail in Boston. When I looked at the map of the trail after we returned, I realized that we had pretty much hiked the whole entire thing, stopping just short of Boston Common, which is pretty crazy, considering C and I walked it many years ago and over two days we still didn't see it all. It was like the ADD tour of history--a peek at this here, a walk-by of that there, never stopping in any one place for very long (with twenty eleven-year-olds, you've got to keep on moving). It was a long day--we left Whitefield at six in the morning and returned home at eleven at night--and here's just some of what we saw:

Bunker Hill Monument

The view from the top:

Partway down the 294 steps:

The Charles River (we all wore red to minimize lost kids):

The Freedom Trail (it really is a red line on the sidewalk):

Scary bridge:

 Old North Church ("One if by land, two if by sea..."):

Paul Revere:

Haymarket:

Street performer:

Ye Olde State House (site of Boston Massacre):

Granary Burying Ground:

The Capitol:

Faneuil Hall:

Water Taxi:

USS Constitution

I was pretty impressed with how good the kids were. Of course they had a lot of–ahem–energy (Mr. C deserves a medal for being so patient still at the end of the school year), but they seemed to get along really well. I remember fifth grade as being all cliques and mean girls, but it seems like their class everyone is just friends with everyone else--sure some of them hung out with certain other kids more than others, but they never seemed exclusive. They even tolerated the quirks of a handful of kids from the behavior program (of course they might just have been on their best behavior for the day).

I got a call from my brother on Saturday, and it turns out he was in Boston on Friday, too, also walking part of the Freedom Trail (he lives in Colorado). I had no idea he was going to Boston, and he had no idea we were either. In fact, I communicate with my family so infrequently that when I saw his name on my phone, I automatically assumed someone must have died. Hmm, I think we should do something about that...