America Trip 2 - Day 7

Today as the cold day started, we hopped on the high speed ferry headed for Nantucket, an island my mothers family used to own a quarter of, as well as another island in another area. We got to Nantucket at around 10, and headed to the oldest house on Nantucket, which is also the Jethro Coffin house, who is a distant family member. We walked around, trying to find more places which belonged to the Coffin family, but we could not find any.

New Zealand Coffin's outside the Oldest House

After looking at the house and getting a private tour of the inside by one of the museum workers, we headed to the Whaling Museum to get a private tour of the museum and talk to the workers.

Mary Gardner Coffin (1670-1767) - earliest painting in the museum, painted about 1720

Charlotte Coffin Gardner received this table with whalebone inlay from her husband

Hezekiah Coffin had this chair on board the Beaver during the Boston Tea Party

Artist and Model in Studio, painted by Elizabeth Rebecca Coffin (1850-1930)

We had an hour spare, so we went along Coffin Street, looked in a shop before going back on a ferry to Hyannis.

When we got back to Hyannis, we looked around for a bit in the stores, picked up the car and drove to a JFK memorial, looked around greater Hyannis and found some Cape Cod lighthouses for Mama to take some photos of.

Chatham Lighthouse

Then, back to the hotel for dinner across the road then blogs and a swim.

America Trip 2 - Day 6

Today we packed up from the place we were staying in, and went to the car rental place on the subway, picked up the car and headed off to Sourh Yarmouth.

We then drove to Harvard, and did not get out of the car as it was raining, but we did look around some of the outside of Harvard, a school which I would be happy going to. We then headed south towards Cape Cod, and got off the motorway at Braintree, so we could look at the houses along the coast. In Scituate, we saw some historical places including the Lawson Tower, which looked old.

We stopped at a Dunkin Donuts in Plymouth, where the earliest settlers landed and walked onto the Plymouth rock. We drove past the Plymouth Rock, and then headed off to our accommodation in South Yarmouth.

For dinner we went out to a resturant called Captain Parkers, which had awesome Clam Chowder, which I could not finish. We went back to the accommodation, and went in the pool before going to bed.

America Trip 2 - Day 5

Today we did the freedom trail, which though only spans 2.5 miles, takes a lot more time.
We trained in to the start, at Boston Common, coming out at the Park Street Station which was the first subway and is now the oldest in the USA, and had a man dressed in a costume because he was a tour guide..  Boston Common is the oldest public park in the USA, and is where we saw some squirrels. We looked inside the visitors information center, but did not buy anything.

We headed off to the Massachsetts State House after we looked at a memorial and followed the red bricks, and were able to tag on to a tour. The tour only showed us some of the house, but the oldest part of it was completed in 1798, and was designed by Charles Bulfinch (a prominent Boston architect).  Lots of tiled, mosaic floors, large murals and paintings, marble, flags (there is a collection of over 400 flags carried to battle by Massachusetts men from the Civil War to the Vietnam War). A couple of the flags are not there, as there are empty hangings for them.  After the iron on the main staircase was cast, the moulds were broken to ensure that the railings would be unique.  We got to see the House of Representatives in between the sessions which were being held, as the people were getting lunch.








After that we looked in a graveyard, and then in a church which families bought private boxes in. Some of the boxes were plush, and a box was used by the King at some point.



We also saw where the Boston Tea Party started, where the Boston massacre started (which fuelled hate for the British), and the Paul Revere house. We also saw the Old North Church, in which Paul Revere had someone shine two lights to warn riders which way the British soldiers where going. Once more, the pews were privately owned.



We then went to Bunker Hill, which was closed because of a federal shutdown, before going to the USS Constituition, but we only got to look in the muesum. We then went to a train back to the apartment, and went to bed.

America Trip 2 - Day 4

Today we went arrived in Boston, after flying through the night to Detroit, before getting on another plane to get to Boston. I was tired when we got to Boston, but it did not help that I 
my parents had to wake me up every time we got up off the bus and train, as I fell asleep on my Grandmother's head.

Tram inside Detroit Airport

When we got to our accommodation, we found out after around an hour that the building had leaked, and that we were staying somewhere else. When we got to where we were staying, with Nana being driven as well as our big bags to the place by a maintenance man who showed up, we saw that the place was better looking than the last place we were at.

Mama and Papa went for a train ride to pick up some stuff that we needed, and when they got back we had dinner and went to bed.

America Trip 2 - Day 2

Today we went to La Brea Tar pits, with Nana going into the museum by herself, as we had gone there on our earlier visit to LA. While Nana was looking around inside the muesum, we went and looked at other places near the tar pits. When we came back, we met up with Nana and looked around the grounds of the tar pits, with me climbing onto a statue and having Papa taking a photo of me while on it.

After that, we went to Mission San Fernando, to have a look around, and this time, we actually got to look around the inside, not just the walls and the outside. During our trip to the mission, we went to have a look and get a photo of the house (mansion) used in the Iron Man movies. The mission looked good, and the graveyard had the earthly remains of Bob Hope, and a church with 7 foot thick walls.





We then went to have a look at a Cold War Missile Nuke site, but unfortunately their was nothing to see.

America Trip 2 - Day 1

First we went to see the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and saw several famous stars including Daniel Radcliffe (who plays Harry Potter), Tinkerbell, Snow White, Winnie the Pooh, Bugs Bunny, Orlando Bloom, Disneyland, Donald Duck, Tom Cruise, Gene Autry, Samuel L Jackson and Johnny Depp.

We got dragged into doing a limousine tour, though the price was high, the trip was good. We went and saw some millionaire's houses through Beverly Hills, including the house where Micheal Jackson died, George Clooney's house and others.

After the limo trip, we went to the Griffith's observatory, seeing the holly wood sign, before going to have a look at the outside of the San Gabriel, one of the missions.

We decided to go out to Santa Monica for dinner, looked at the Santa Monica pier, had tacos for dinner and went back to the apartment.