Day 5 - 2025 East Coast Adventure - The Freedom Trail and more of Boston

7/22 - Devils Hopyard, CT to Winter Island, MA

This morning started out cold. The overnight temperature had dropped to 57 degrees - it felt like October!  Amy and I were up before the boys so we put the solar generator to work and made some coffee.  It warmed both of us up nicely. 

Breakfast was not so healthy and largely consisted of the donuts we had bought yesterday. I had a call for work come in so I left camp trying to not wake anyone up and did so I went hiking through the hopyard while on the call. I came back and camp was completely packed up and we were ready to go north!

While the most direct route today would have not included Rhode Island, the boys are collecting visits to different states so we diverted East. We targeted another donut shop, but when we got there, 1) it was inside a gas station and 2) their neighbor had just had a fire. So we diverted to the local coffee shop which had cinnamon rolls and bagels instead. 

Back on the road, we headed north and straight through the heart of Providence and then around Boston and over to Salem. When there was no more land left, we stopped to find out campsite about 25 feet from the waters edge. 

The boys went to the beach area (Waikiki, though it sure didn't feel like Hawaii) while Amy and I set up camp. We brought them back for some lunch/snack and then headed over to the T station for a train ride into the heart of the city. I almost led us into a train that was LEAVING the city. Thankfully the conductor corrected us and told us to grab one going the other way. 

We must have still looked like we had no idea what we were doing because a very nice local guy with a bicycle gave us some advice and pointed us in the right direction. Soon we were on the train heading south. 

30 minutes later we were downtown, specifically right at the Boston gardens!  We exited and stared at the area around us when who should come by, our bicycle riding tour guide. He asked if we needed some advice and we took it. He walked us up to the street level and then gave us walking directions to Boston Commons. It sure is great to meet wonderful strangers!

We walked our way over to Boston Commons to start the Freedom Trail. I learned that the Commons is the oldest park in the country (oldest in America is very much a Boston theme). It had a huge splash area and was generally just a cool place to hang out. But we had a trail to walk. 

                                                    

The Freedom Trail takes you through a lot of Boston and past a number of historical sites (Old North church, Paul Revere house, etc) all by following a brick path.  We didn't have enough time/energy to make it to Bunker Hill and so, for us, it ended down at the naval yard where Old Ironsides sits. 

We were pretty hungry and all the Italian places looked great so we reversed direction and walked back to the Italian area.  We found Dino's and enjoyed a wonderful meal together. Then, because time allowed before we had to catch our train home, we were going to get dessert. Unfortunately, the line for Mike's Pastries was 30-40 people deep. Fortunately, there was another place where we got a lot of cookies to share on our way back to the train. 

                                                        

We walked back to the garden/train station and Amy got our tickets. We got on the train and it started heading north. After a while, I thought I recognized the gentleman sitting next to me.  Sure enough, it was a professional athlete traveling with his family.  I chatted with him a bit, but largely left him to his evening with his family. Still a fun encounter!

Back at camp, we all took showers and headed for bed with the ocean lapping just below our heads. We couldn't hear it for a while because there was a party barge sailing by, but they quickly headed out into a different area and we all went to sleep. 

# miles - 985

# states - 10