Friends in High Places

My dad and Laurel were out last week, giving us a reason to knock a few more things off our Boston to-do list. We went to the top of the Prudential Center (on the left) which afforded nice views of the surrounding area. You can see Cape Cod on a clear day, according to the wise-cracking guy with the thick Boston accent on the audio tour. I'm not sure if the dark smudge I saw on the horizon was the cape or my imagination, but since nobody can prove different I'm going with cape.
Since it was Patriots Day, the totally necessary vacation day Bostoners get to commemorate the battles of Lexington and Concorde, we headed out to Concorde and saw the bridge where our ancestors finally stood up to the king's minions and said "No More." The insurgents were stockpiling cannons and guns at some guy's farm out there so the Redcoats went out there to confiscate them. Our boys got wind of it and were waiting for them, trading a few volleys of musket balls and then chasing them all the way back to the city. Then everyone was all like "Oh, it is so on." So they went under cover of darkness and set up some defenses on this hill next to Bunker Hill and the British were all like "Tsk Tsk, poor form, can't have that now, up the hill then chaps, stiff upper lip and all, we'll be home in time for tea. Cheerio." And the Americans we're all like, "Oh no they didn't, are those eye whites? Pew! Pew! Pew! Ack-Ack-Ack!" Although our guys were ultimately routed after they ran out of ammo, they did some major damage, killing 50% of all the British officers who died during the whole war in that single battle. The British officers were all like "Ooh dear me, I fear these bright red coats and fancy hats are attracting sniper fire," and the colonials were all like, "Ha ha, we didn't even want that hill," and retreated via zip line to Cheers, where Sam Adams was passed around, Samuel Adams having been notorious for his willingness to do almost anything in the name of troop morale.

Later, we walked up 294 steps to the top of the obelisk and were treated to this view:













Someone also hauled the sister cannon to the one the Britts were after in Concorde to the top. It was apparently designed to shoot around corners. Liz could barely contain her excitement over having walked up 294 stairs.







Our Twins didn't fare much better in their two-part battle against today's Boston residents, although good times were had by all in attendance despite some early rain and the fact that licking the green monster would probably have tasted better than Fenway's hot dogs and nachos.