20170804 - River cruise

20170804 - Up in the am and we headed out of the big city for a day closer to nature. We headed to Concord to meet up with Bruce and Ellen kohler, our cousins. We made our way to their place and took a tour of their house and grounds. We then headed to the grocery to get some supplies for a picnic and on through the beautiful town of old houses to the river. We got our canoes and kayaks and headed down river to the Minuteman National Park. We made our way on shore and had a nice picnic in the orchard of The Old Manse. The history lesson was especially interesting with all the family history Ellen added. Quite amazing the connection she has there.


After we ate we headed into the park for a walk through the start of our Country.  Amazing the think that there, on that spot, the world changed. We took our time, Ellen recited the rest of the poem that is not on the monument from memory. When our photo was taken a rather loud woman asked if we could move so she could get a picture of the monument with no one in it. If she only knew who she asked to move and the information she could have learned if she would have been polite...


Back into our vessels and headed up stream this time. There was a gentle current, and the boys had a good time hunting for turtles and exploring the banks. After our excursion we stopped for some ice cream before heading back to the house where Bruce Grant and I split off to get ingredients for dinner at the store. Back to the house and we all relaxed for a bit. The boys playing in the woods and eventually found some old tennis rackets while exploring the house and took them to the front yard where they used a wheelbarrow as a net for some sort of game.







L and Bruce started preparing the meal, and G came to assist with the lobster part and it turned into a bit of fun when the snapping and pinching going on. Everything cooked up and ready and we had a feast of lobster, swordfish, steak, fresh salad and corn on the cob from the local farm. What a superb relaxing meal. We finished up and helped clean things up before saying goodbye and heading back to the hotel.  A more relaxing day the previous few.