Topic: Vacation 2006
We had a couple of choices to make on taking a train to Boston, We could've gotten up fairly early & taken a train at 8:45 am. Or a train which left Haverhill at 10:23. We're not morning people as a general rule & while on vacation we've been getting very bad about staying up late & getting up even later. So the 10:23 was the obvious choice especialy since the earlier train is considered a commuter train & I try not to inflict The kids on comuters! J's apartment is close enough to the train station that we were able to walk over & the train had already arrived from Boston & was finishing up with the discharging of passengers when we got up to the platform. Much to Mr7's dismay the train was getting ready to pull out of the station- Not to leave but to turn around. He thought it was leaving without us & got very upset. I explained about the train needing to switch tracks & he was ok with that. We waited a few minutes & it came back we got on & rode to Boston. The ride in was ok-Not so much graffitti as when I was a teen & went back & forth north shore to south often- I used to entertain myself by reading graffiti back then.
I rode on the train with Mr 7 the Thomas fan, he looked at railroad tracks & ocasional other trains on the trip. I blogged via the phone to my semi private blog & tried to point out areas of interest but a lot of buildings have been taken down to make room for ne w ones. So many of my 'points of interest' {random to say the least} were not there. 7 still is young enough to get excited by things like large bodies of water though, so all was not lost! While thinking about this I remembered taking a trip to Maine with my Father & Brother when I was 16 & Ben was twelve & my Father verbally mourning our young childhoods- reminiscing about how when we were younger he'd point out cows, interesting signs etc. along the way. but that now {back in 1986} we were not impressed & often didn't even hear him due to our walkmans. As my kids age I'm begining to understand how he felt. I'm also struck by the differenc es & similarities in what we point out. Growing up in rural Virginia my kids would think I had lost it if I pointed out a cow to them! In the reverse aspect I do n't recall anyone ever pointing out the city of Boston to me as we drive through like I do to 10 & 7! & they're always impressed too! The other things which were or are pointed out are in Virginia stunning views, in Mass stunning houses- That was more my grandmother & uncle who pointed those out to me,
Immediately after getting off the train I was informed of the need for a bathroom by everyone. After repeating Phils oft heard mantra 'there are no bathrooms in North Station' a few times I found no one was buying it so I asked & found there IS a bathroom there now {I knew there was one there during the renovations back in the 9 0's.- this one's not in the same place though} after waiting in lin e for an interminable amount of time & being line jumped by some grandmother from Wisconsin *ugh* we were releived & found ourselves at the sports shop. 16 & I got Bruins shirts which was part of the plan. 10 & 7 got pencils & a stuffed bear.Then we were off! Arguing about where to go first & if we were walking or taking a subway,
Posted by Becky
at 9:07 PM EDT
Updated: Saturday, September 2, 2006 10:28 PM EDT