The Cradle of Civilizations

I emptied the cat’s litter box and packed some more before we went to the airport. We got on the airplane and took off to Boston, Massachusetts. We took a bus to our hotel where there was a jar of chocolate and macadamia nut cookies for visitors. Mom, Dave, and I each took one then took the elevator up to our room. It had a living room with a foldout couch, a television that hung on the wall, a dark wood desk with steel legs with wheels, and a lamp in the corner. There was a microwave and a sink in the corner facing a dark wooden framed mirror and a trash can. The floor had rectangular ceramic tiles a carpet with orange and gray waves on one side and dark gray and light gray waves on another. The only other rooms were the bathroom and the bedroom.

Mom and Dave looked up restaurants and decided on the Garden of the Cellar. We took a taxi and reached Harvard College. Mom and Dave liked its gothic architecture, but I thought it was kind of ugly.

We made it to the Garden of the Cellar where we sat at a small table. Mom sat next to Dave and I sat across from them. I drank a glass of water then had a keg beer. The appetizer included bread with olive oil and for dinner I ordered a cellar burger, medium, with mustard on the side. The burger was huge and came with rosemary fries. The mustard was rather spicy but that was good and I shared a small round donut with Mom, which came with several dipping sauces. After we paid and left, we walked through the neighborhood where I saw several bookstores until we hailed a taxi and rode back to our hotel. We each had a chocolate and macadamia nut cookie before we took the elevator up to our room.

The next day I got up, took a shower, and then went down to breakfast. I had two cinnamon rolls which tasted very fresh, a cup of orange juice, and a sausage patty. On the television was a man talking to a fortune-teller in Morocco then to a man in Mali.

After breakfast we brought our stuff down to the lobby and walked up the street from our hotel. We passed an antique shop with a brightly painted sign and after a taxi ride we passed several old-fashioned colonial neighborhoods and saw the obelisk, which was nearly thirty stories tall. I climbed the steep spiral staircase up the building occasionally holding onto the wall to let families go down and use the railing. I made it to the top where I could see Boston below through rectangular windows.  The walk down was considerably easier than the walk up.

After that we saw Freedom Park and made it to where we could see the U. S. S. Constitution and a World War II destroyer in addition to a magnificent suspension bridge. In the distance I could see a tall clock tower. We followed a brick line known as the Freedom Trail until we reached an old cemetery, which was a great way for me to contemplate our own mortality. After passing several shops and old colonial buildings, we reached the Old North Church, where one lamp was lit to warn of a British attack on ground, and two lamps were lit to warn of a naval assault. I looked in the gift shop then went back to it so I could get some water from the vending machine for which I bought a homemade cherry lollipop, a blue and white candy cane stick, and while I was at it, a pocket owl as a souvenir. Then I bought bottled water from the vending machine before we went on a guided tour of the church.

We went into the foyer through a side door up a steep wooden staircase into a room then up another steep wooden staircase into the bell room. Our tour-guide, a short, dark-haired young woman, led our group back down the stairs and through an underground charnel room, explaining that parishioners wanted to be buried where they worshipped, before the city of Boston cracked down on it, proving to me that religious freedom is not absolute and does not cover practices that are harmful to the welfare of others.

We went through a door into low-ceilinged charnel halls one containing the tomb of a British general when the British seized the church. It twisted and turned every so often until we made it outside and the tour was over.

After the tour was over we saw the churches Garden of Assisi. Then we left through the back way and saw a giant statue of Paul Revere. We walked farther along and saw the house of Paul Revere before we went to a seafood restaurant, where I got a shrimp roll and some lemon tea. We ate lunch by a fountain where Mom shared with me some lobster from her sandwich and then we took a taxi back to the hotel, got our stuff, and drove to New Hampshire.

            We passed peaceful country road, coming across a bearded man sitting on his front lawn wearing only shorts and then we reached our house, a quaint little cottage next to the lake. We went a few houses down where I saw my grandmother, Uncle Andy, Aunt Marge, Uncle Kurt, Aunt Barb, and my little cousins, Kyley and Hunter. After dinner Uncle Andy and Aunt Marge drove me back to our cabin and my mom and Dave came back a while later.

The next day we went to see a waterfall and Castle in the Clouds, the mansion of Thomas Gustave Plant, who made his fortune in the steel industry. After dinner tonight we went out for ice cream. I got raspberry sorbet with gummie bears. We looked at the docks, which had several boats and one great yacht. We looked in a shop selling shirts before we went back to our cabin.

The next day I woke up and later I went down to the beach where I kayaked while taking pictures with my newly charged camera. I picked out several reeds, which I took to our cabin and laid them out to dry and then give them to people as gifts. For dinner we went to a seafood restaurant where I drank a Samuel Adams Summer and ordered some pan seared swordfish. After dinner, my mom, Dave, Uncle Andy, Aunt Marge, and I drove down to an ice cream shop where I ordered a two scoop Denali Chocolate Moose Tracks, which turned out to be much bigger than I expected.

The next day Mom and I went to the Libby Museum and then had lunch with my grandmom, Uncle Kurt, Aunt Barb, Kyley and Hunter. I ate a delicious grilled cheese sandwich with bacon and then Mom and I explored the town. After we looked in a jewelry store, I went to the bookstore where I had been hoping to go. I saw one book that really interested me called In the Shadows of the Buddha about an American Buddhist pilgrim in Tibet who saw the atrocities the Chinese are committing and went to great personal risk to smuggle out evidence.

            That night I had dinner over at Uncle Kurt’s, Aunt Barb’s, Kyley’s, Hunter’s, and Nannies cabin. After dinner Kyley and I drew on this portable sketch board she owned which you can erase when you’re done and start over. That night I felt I really bonded with her.

The next day Mom, Dave, and I climbed Mt. Washington. When we got to the top we took the train down and then went back to our cabin. That night we ate out at the town. I had a hamburger, which was rather big with some fries.

On the last day Mom, Dave, Uncle Kurt, Aunt Barb, Kyley, Hunter, and I ate steak Florentine, mangoes, potatoes, and tomatoes. The next day we dropped Cam and Graham off at an airport at Manchester, New Hampshire, then Mom, Dave, and I flew to Memphis, then to Kansas City. When I got home I called Hen House and found out I work on Monday from 7 to 10.