Freedom's Just Another Word for Exhausting

Friday morning, Sarah's class left school at 6:00 on a charter bus bound for Boston and the Freedom Trail. I was one of about a dozen parents who went along as chaperones. We watched The Greatest Showman -- Sarah's favorite movie -- on the way.

The bus dropped us off in front of the State House, where we set out on the trail, two kids per adult. Sarah's friend Isabelle came with us, and we joined up with two other friends -- Molly and Kayla -- and Molly's mom about halfway along the way. 

Sarah and Isabelle in front of Paul Revere's grave in the
Granary Burial Ground

Sarah, Isabelle, Molly, Kayla, Kaitlyn, and
Ruby at the Benjamin Franklin statue in
front of Old City Hall (and the former site
of the Boston Latin School, which Franklin,
as well as John Hancock, Sam Adams,
and John Adams, attended).

Sarah and Isabelle on the Democratic Donkey

The Old State House, now dwarfed by
surrounding sky-scrapers

Isabelle, Molly, Kayla, and Sarah by the
Sam Adams statue in front of Faneuil Hall

By the time we reached Paul Revere's house in the North End, the troops were hot, tired, and unenthusiastic. We managed to coax them onward to the Revere statue and the ultimate goal, Old North Church.

Paul Revere with the steeple of the
Old North Church in the background

Isabelle and Sarah in front of Paul Revere

The Old North Church, where the
two lanterns hung to signal to Revere

The return trip to the Common was swift, as the kids had their sights on the playground. The transformation from weary freedom marchers to energized exercisers was instantaneous. 

After lunch we headed to the State House for a tour. It's the oldest continually running capitol building in the country, built in 1798. I have to say it's not as impressive as the Minnesota and Wisconsin capitols, but it was built more than 100 years earlier. I was disappointed in our tour guide, who, despite his youth, was robotic in both cadence and emotion. He didn't seem to relish speaking to a bunch of fifth-graders and appeared intent on getting it over with.

The class in front of the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial.
Shaw led the first all-volunteer, African-American
unit in the U.S. Army during the Civil War (think Glory).

 

The front of the State House 

The class with their kindergarten teacher's daughter,
who now works at the State House

The Hall of Flags -- one for each town. 

The House Chamber

The trip home was a long one due to an accident on the turnpike and a back roads detour. There was time for The Fantastic Mr. Fox and about half of an Afterschool Special-type movie (for those of you who remember such things). By the time we arrived at school a little after 4:30, I was spent. Sarah and Isabelle, however, insisted on running to the playground to show off some tricks. Relentless, they are. :)