All the news that's fit to print from Quincy, Mass.1. Inside the JFK Library. Notice the plane landing at Logan Airport
2. The Presidential seal
3. John Adams birthplace (upper right hand window) in Quincy Mass
4. Gotta Go Girls outside the Adams 1870 library.
5. The Old House
6. Statue of Abigail and her son John Quincy
7. Congregational Church in Quincy.
This was really a presidential day! We headed out to southern Boston and the University of Massachusetts campus where the JFK Library and Museum are located. It is a beautiful building designed by I.M. Pei and is located right on the water. All the artifacts are very interesting and Jackie and the special talents she brought to the presidency in the form of the arts is prominantly featured. There were also very somber moments of the Cuban Missle Crisis and the assasination. It was our first Presidential Library and the next will be Hyde Park.
From there we got back on the expressway and went to the next exit and got off! Distances really surprise us. We finally found the visitor Center for Adams National Historical Park after driving by it several times! We found that the last tour of the day was about to start and we hopped on it. We were taken by trolly to the site where John and his son John Quincy were born and lived at various times. We learned a great deal from the ranger who led us through the two houses.
Then it was back on the trolly and a ride up the hill (all of this is surrounded by streets and houses of Quincy) to visit the Old House. It seems that John Adams and his descendants lived in this house up to the 1920's when it was given to the U.S. Government for everyone to enjoy and learn from. At the house we had a wonderful young ranger who was very knowledgable and since the Gotta Go Girls were the only ones on the tour we had a chance to chat, share stories and ask a million questions. It was very moving seeing the room furnished with the original desk where John wrote many important documents, the chair where he was sitting when he suffered a stroke on July 4, 1826, and the bedroom and bed where Abigail died of typhoid fever. It really made him a real person along with Abigail, John Quincy and the rest of the family.
We ended the tour in the library which is housed in a different building. We kept trying to imagine the houses surrounded by rolling farmland and not a crowded neighborhood. It was very interesting and we were dripping history when we finished. Walked to the Congregational Church where John, John Quincy and their wives are all buried.
Then it was back into the car and armed with maps and a wing and a prayer we headed back to Wellsley. As I navigated carefully the reverse directions I gave Judi the wrong instructions and the next thing we know we are tearing through the Big Dig and driving under the city of Boston. The idea all along was to drive but skirt the chaotic driving of downtown. Aghhhhhh!!!!! I fell all over myself apologizing but was able to lead us out of the maze and cirlcle around and finally get going in the right direction. And I had to give up drinking! We are headed in the general direction tomorrow and perhaps we should take a cab! Cost us a few hundred dollars? Would be cheaper than the therapy we are all going to need when we finish this trip. I kept moaning for the good old days in Montana! Ahhhhh, lovely Montana with all the straight roads and no traffic!
Susan and Bob were waiting for us with some cookies and Desperate Housewives ready to begin. Ahhhhhhh!!!! Off to Plymouth and Cape Cod tomorrow for a day trip and then we will be moving on down the road on Tuesday. Love it here in Wellsley but don't want to wear out our welcom
Happy third anniversary, Matt and Ferda. Goodnight from the Gotta Go Girls.
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