Our Country's Beginnings and the Start of our 2017 Summer Trip

We left South Carolina on Thursday and visited with the grandchildren in Charlotte and New Jersey over the Memorial Day Weekend.  We delivered new grandchildren-designed doll clothes and then spent the weekend enjoying the Jersey boys baseball games where all three of their teams won the championships for the Memorial Day Tournament (see Facebook posts).

We left NJ on Tuesday and traveled north on interstates through New Jersey, New York and over the Tappanzee Bridge, into Connecticut.  We really hate to travel interstates, but in heavy metro areas, it is the only way to get through and out as quickly as possible.  We got off the interstates in central Connecticut and enjoyed the flowering rhododendrons that seemed to be in every garden.

Gorgeous Rhododendrons are at their Peak

We stopped at Purgatory Chasm in southern Massachusetts to stretch our legs and do a short hike through the chasm.  I could not finish the short 1/2 mile walk through the canyon because it wasn't a walk -- it was a boulder climbing exercise.  After about 15 minutes of struggling trying to pick my way over giant boulders that were wet and slippery, the man in the group ahead of me slipped and fell. He went down hard and although it was not a long fall, it looked like he hurt his arm pretty badly.  I decided that it wasn't worth a sprained ankle or broken bone, so I gave up and returned to the RV.  Jack used his new walking sticks and walked a nice 1/2 mile trail above the chasm.  The walking sticks helped immensely.

This IS the Trail - climbing over boulders!

Again, this IS the Trail - and the end of the line for me.

There are no campgrounds in the area, so headed to a Cabela's to do some shopping and stay for the night in their RV designated parking lot - even has a dump station.  I spent $50 in Cabela's, so the overnight parking was quite a bit more than we usually pay!

We spent a quiet, comfortable night and headed northeast to Lexington, Massachusetts to visit the Minuteman National Park that tells the story of the beginning of the Revolution with the shots fired in Lexington, Paul Revere's Ride, the Shot Heard Round The World at North Bridge in Concord.  We toured the visitor center and watched an outstanding multi-media presentation of the battles of Lexington and Concord - the beginning of our Nation.

We stopped in Lexington to tour the Buckman Tavern where the Lexington militia gathered on April 19, 1775 to decide what to do with the British coming (warned by Paul Revere and two other riders) to confiscate the Patriots guns and ammunition.  Militia were on the green in Lexington and a shot was fired, and the Militia retreated.

The Tavern's Kitchen

The Tap Room 

The Buckman Tavern had a great exhibit upstairs comparing old time communication methods with new ones.  In revolutionary times, they used town criers, tavern gossip, and printed news circulars.  The exhibit had displays that showed how much of this information would be shared today via social media.  They had examples of  Revolutionary times fake news, widespread use of political cartoons, and hyper headlines that teased the viewer into reading (clicking) the whole story.

Paul Revere tweeting instead of riding his horse through the night and hollering that the British were coming

The British continued their march to Concord unmolested, but the Patriots made a stand at North Bridge in Concord and the British retreated back through Lexington and to the safety of Boston.

North Bridge in Concord

The bridge was surprisingly small

Minute Man Statue

We stopped at the Monroe Tavern in Lexington where the British set up a hospital for their wounded on their retreat and learned the British side of the story which mostly centered on their insistence that they didn't start the war and did not fire the first shot.

Found this cute Redcoat

Now, THIS is a KEY!

After our fun stuff, we needed to get our tires balanced - we had them rotated at home, but they apparently did balance them because at 64 mph, the steering wheel shook like it was possessed.  Went to one recommended place just north of Boston, but they did not have the necessary equipment, so they recommended another place down the road.  They did a great job, but now we were in rush hour traffic and it was a miserable couple of hours getting out of the area up to to Salisbury Beach State Reservation in northern MA right on the New Hampshire border for our campsite for the night.