Last week, in Boston

At 6 am, as Danny stared blankly, mouth open at the McDonald's O'Hare airport breakfast menu, I stared blankly, mouth open at Stedman Graham.

Generally when I've seen famous people they appear smaller and older. Not Stedman. Towering, distinguished, real-deal Stedman. (You go Oprah!) Absorbed in a conversation with the big O via Blackberry, it took a couple calls from the McPloyees for Mr. Graham to realize his (large) order was ready. Hoping for a glimpse of the Queen herself, I visualized lurking casually at a distance until from behind a pole, I would witness the two reunited in a warm embrace followed by some McMunching on Stedman's purchase as they waited to board their flight.

But instead, just as he began to disappear down the long hallway, our flight announced its final boarding call. Danny, who had obviously missed the entire thing, was finally wiping the drool off his face and ordering an Egg McMuffin. It was only McMoments later that Danny was handed his order and it was necessary to rush off to board our 49-dollar flight to Boston, MA.

Why Boston?

It's never too early to get your child thinking about their future.



First stop- Harvard



You can tell she's really into it.



Lobster Rolls. New England fare.



Next- Salem



I love Hawthorne's The Crucible and I love all things Halloween. So it was naturally decided Salem would be a part of our trip.



Walking tour at night was fab.

By night, the whole place smells like incense. We saw a couple real witches waiving some sticks of it around and doing a bit of hocus pocus behind some bushes.



By day it smells like obesity.



Belle showcasing her new trick: being a ham. Lately, if she's in a good mood, when we pull a camera out she will start screaming and laughing. It makes for great pictures, and freaked out pedestrians.



Formerly know as the London Tea House where locals would gather to discuss politics, "Red's," is now a joint where the locals gather to eat pancakes the size of their face.



Belle loved it. But not as much as the locals loved her.



Belle's souvenir from the trip- pink "Boston" sweatshirt. (We didn't anticipate the temperature on the walking tour.)



She loved it obviously.




We came during "the calm before the storm," all the witches kept telling us. Halloween is I guess obviously insanity. They have to import psychics and tarot card readers just for that weekend.



Used to be a prison that was so bad the prisoners sued, won, and received reparations. Now it is high-demand condos.



I was really taken with the Salem Witch Trial Memorial Park. It represents what I believe a good memorial should be. Instead of short lived admiration while viewing the superficial beauty of a less thought out monument, this one envelopes the viewer and forces them to be involved in a lasting way. In this case, it's physicality incites one to introspectively determine what part they personally play in the treatment of our world's disenfranchised. But hey, this is not an art blog, so if you want to hear more about it, I'd love to expand elsewhere.



Salem = success. In fact, Danny says it was his favorite part of the trip next to our 1st stop in Boston- the Duck Tour.



If you are unfamiliar with the whole "Duck Tour" system, it is basically a tank that drives around the city and then into a body of water. The driver tells you about the city and slips in some jokes here and there. Being a person who laughs out loud on the Jungle Cruise, Danny naturally loved it.



Our driver was called "Con-duck-tor Cowgirl." A massive butchy woman carrying a toy gun. So obviously she was pretty good.



Belle loved it too. So much so that Con-duck-tor Cowgirl broke character and laughed a couple times because Belle was screaming in delight so loudly.

My MVP (most valuable picture) of the trip:



And here's Danny's MVP of the trip:



It was a big moment: Danny's first time in a family bathroom, and the biggest trash can we've ever seen.

We stayed in the Omni Parker House Hotel- longest operating hotel in the United States. Part of the Freedom Trail. I'd recommend it.



Parker's Restaurant- Home of the original Parker House Rolls and Boston Cream Pie





Before she crashed on me in the previous picture. With her current favorite toy- rubber ducky.



One time and older lady told me I reminded her of Jackie O. So sometimes I try to be interested in the Kennedys.



Next to us, the table JFK proposed to Jackie O.



We have a lot of fun together

As mentioned earlier, we spent a good amount of time walking along a little thing called 'The Freedom Trail." It's a brick line built in the sidewalks, 2.5 miles long that connects all of Boston's historical sites.



Boston Massacre





Faneuil Hall



Quincy Marketplace





My favorite part of the trip: witnessing the inspirations for Nathaniel Hawthorne's stories. The House of Seven Gables, to the site of the witch trials of 1692, to my favorite- in Boston, the grave that inspired the character of Hester Prynne.



Amidst all the traditional headstones covered in vanitas imagery, this one has an ornate "A" carved into it not unlike Hester's hand-sewn scarlet letter.



With my little Pearl.



We saw a lot of graves.



Sam Adams



Victims of Boston Massacre



In Boston Common. Memorial to Shaw and the 54th. (You know- the movie Glory.) Although this is a quite famous monument, it kind of exemplifies my earlier point. Beautiful, but does it really do justice to the fact that this regiment was made up of hundreds of free African American men, even some from Canada, who gambled their life to fight for the freedom of others by joining the first ever black regiment in the Civil War? And yeah Shaw risked his life and career by being that captain of this regiment, but does he really deserve to stand out so much as the hero? I don't think so.



State building.



Union Oyster House- the oldest restaurant in the United States. (Boston basically has the oldest everything.)



Belle loves oysters.



Yes that was a joke











Part of the trail had us pass through the North Side- or what you could basically call a "Little Italy." Definitely the best little Italy I've ever been to. I mean, look at this place:



All of those pictures behind me are of different kinds of cannolis you can order. Fan-tastico.



By the time we reached Paul Revere's house, Belle was done. So we took our cannolis and headed home.



Belle's favorite part of the trip: spending time in the hotel room. Nothing makes her happier than just the 3 of us playing together. And nothing makes us happier either.