Revolutionary

Seth's birthday was just eight days after mine, so I had some planning to do. Luckily, he decided to take advantage of our location at Westford and wanted to explore the neighboring colonial towns, so after our classes we drove to Lexington (not too far outside Waltham) and went out to Minute Man National Park. We walked along a part of the five mile long Battle Road Trail, which connects Lexington and Concord. The theme of the trail, lined with ripe Concord Grapes, is the battle of April 19,1775, which launched the American Revolution. It was great to get out there and enjoy the beautiful late summer scenery.

Battle Road Trail, Minute Man National Park

Snacking on Concord Grapes along the way

The next destination was Concord, where we briefly stopped at Old Manse, a historic home built by the Emerson family, rented out by Hawthrone, and visited by Thoreau. As the sun was setting we made the most of the remaining daylight and rushed to nearby Sleepy Hollow Cemetery--not to be confused with Washington Irving's Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in NY. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time to get a close look, and we pulled a 'busy tourist' move by going strait to Author's Ridge, which contains the burial plots of the Alcotts, Hawthornes, Thoreau, and Emerson.

Historical home at Concord

Extremely tall corn stalks at Old Manse

Concord's very own Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

As it was getting late, we drove to Bedford for dinner at Cafe Luigi, a casual and bustling Italian place. Even being a Thursday night, it was packed with a 30min wait! The food and cute atmosphere, however, definitely made up for it :o)

Kimball Farm ice cream was closed so we missed out on dessert, but when we got back to Westford Gina had surprised Seth with fresh baked gingerbread cupcakes--it was a good thing she did, or he would have been totally out of a birthday cake!

Our guest room in Mark and Gina's basement