Bawstun, Mass.

So remember that one time that I pretty much checked out of school for the semester? Haha. Yeah. 

Last weekend, I took Megan with me and we headed off to the city known as the Hub of the Universe, America's Walking City, The Cradle of Liberty, Athens of America, the City of a Hill... Bean Town!! Whatever you want to call it, Boston was a blast!!

It was a pretty great surprise, if I do say so myself. I managed to keep it a secret from Megan all the way up until the lady at the airport asked, "Your final destination is Boston?" and I was obligated to confirm or look suspicious. 

We had a layover in Minneapolis, so of course we had to take a detour to the Mall of America. It's even bigger than I remember it being the last time I was there on a layover about 5 years ago. The best part? The American Girl Doll store. 

Don't think I wasn't tempted:

 The Lego store! (missing our little brother Gavin part 1)

 Megan totally fit in with her cute hat, right?

We finally made it to Boston and found our way downtown to have a nice dinner. Falafels and hummus with salad. 

It was fun to be able to stay with my friend Shelby. I was excited to see her house and her cute little family. On Friday we went out and explored Salem. It was just as spooky as I could have hoped for! This is the oldest cemetery in the city, and I now understand where we got all of our stereotypical Halloween decorations from. 

 Daxton sure loves apples. That's how I knew we were going to be friends :)

 Old, fakey looking headstones.

The images on the headstones are kind of creepy, but we read somewhere that it was a symbol of the soul ascending into heaven (hence the wings). Still creepy. 

 No, we didn't have any chowdah, but we did like this sign!

 So happy about our stickers! 

 We got to take a tour of this cool old ship. The Friendship!

 Me and Daxton inside the ship.

 Shelby and Tayte. Such a cutie!

 This is the Custom House, where Nathaniel Hawthorne worked before he wrote The Scarlet Letter. Isn't history cool?

 I was inordinately infatuated by these stamps.

 Meggie!

 It's kind of a relief to know that there's a home for me somewhere.

 We are cute!

 Lunch at the Witch's Brew Café...

On Saturday, we went and walked around Harvard. It is just an incredibly beautiful campus! We loved it even more because of Gilmore Girls. If you watch it, you'll maybe understand this picture:

 (a Harvard squirrel!!)

I just never realized that there were actually so many ivy-covered buildings. It's beautiful!

"Impressive letter H." "Oh yeah, it's so hhhhh..."

 This is what Megan thinks of as snacks--beef jerky, giant cookies, Hershies... So healthy. 

 Yeah, the picture is blurry. We're still cute. 

 Megan was so excited to see the house where Edgar Allen Poe was born...

 And disappointed to find out that it's now a burrito place...

 South End Church:

 Boston Library:

 Trinity Church:

 Beacon Hill! Oh how it would be to be rich enough to live on one of these streets...

 And, of course, no trip to Boston is complete without doing the Freedom Trail. Which we spent a loooong time on. I just figured it out on a little pedometer map, and I think we walked about 6 miles all together that day. Yeah. We were tired by the end!

 Massachusetts State House

 Megan reading a poem from a guide book in front of Samuel Adams' grave. 

 Going against the donkey...

 In front of Mike's Pastry, where Megan was going to buy a canoli. We waited in line and got inside, only to see the signs plastered all over that read "cash only." We figured we saved a whole lot of money on this trip by not ever having cash on us. Woot! Maybe there will be canolis next time...

 In front of the Paul Revere Statue, in front of the Old North Church. 

DID YOU KNOW that the same guy who did this statue ALSO did the original Angel Moroni that resides atop the Salt Lake Temple? As well as that random indian statue on BYU campus. Just FYI.

 The longest part of the trail: crossing the bridge to get to the Bunker Hill Monument. 

 It was freeeezing!

We finally stumbled up to the monument, barely able to walk any farther. 

 We somehow made it back downtown, where we had a really nice meal. I never realized how much I love brussel sprouts!

 Sorry, Megan, for my photogenicness... photogenicity? photogenicosity? Somebody had to get all the good genes. 

Sunday we were thrilled by the extra hour of sleep (thank you, daylight savings time... and by extension Benjamin Franklin, who suggested the idea. See what National Treasure can teach you, Meg? I hope that's true...), and thrilled to head back into Cambridge to attend church in this picturesque building. What's the deal with New England being so dang cute?

 After church we went with Shelby to visit THIS wonderful building also--the Boston temple! It's so beautiful!

All in all, it was a pretty great weekend getaway. Thanks to Shelby and Brandon for letting us stay with them! 

Megan and I both loved loved loved Boston. It is just such a great city with so much history! We may need to brush up on our US history trivia, however, before we go back. Which we will. Preferably in the summertime. When we can spend a ridiculous amount of money going to a Red Sox game. Woot!