This section of our trip was mostly devoted to visiting friends and family. I’m originally from New York, in the suburbs of NYC. I have a lot of family in the area, and it had been a long time since we all got together. We also have some friends in Boston and we specifically made this branch of the trip to see them! Bonus, a friend of mine from undergrad also is in Massachusetts, so we got time with her as well!

I was all about autumn leaves, and this autumn was a pretty good flop in that sense. The weather had been unusually warm so the trees were not up to showing off. I was a little disappointed, but we were going to enjoy what we could. (Aside: I hear the leaf peeping was great in California this year…)

After we left upstate New York, we headed to Boston. We camped at Wompatuck State Park, right outside of the city. I fully recommend this campground. It was very pretty under a thick canopy of leaves that hadn’t changed yet. There were some splashes of color here and there, and I made everyone look at them! The bath-houses were very clean, always a plus. We had electric and water, but no dump, so those clean bath-houses were very appreciated!

We took a day to explore the nearby historic Plymouth. We stopped by Plymouth Rock, ate some seafood, and counted weather vanes.

After our lunch, we took a short drive to the Plimoth Plantation. This is a living history museum with a Wampanoag Homesite and a 17th Century English Village.

The Wampanoag Homesite has examples of home construction, cooking demonstrations and a few other treasures. The staff in this section are not actors, they are all people of Native descent (of various tribes) and are quite happy to answer any questions you have.

The English Village is staffed by actors role playing as 17th Century English Villagers. Expect accents and outdated world views. I was very entertained when one gentleman gave my daughter an explanation on why onions cure colds.

My daughters didn’t quite get what was happening, Goose is pretty literal, so it was probably not as educational as I thought it would be. Nonetheless, it was a great place to visit, and I’ll return when the girls are older!

Another neat feature are the heritage breeds of livestock. The Village has quite a few chickens roaming around and there are areas with other farm animals.

We took one day to visit Boston. We were able to take the subway in, which saved us the trouble of parking Truckasaurus in a city! Always something to be avoided.

After some deliberation, we decided against more history and went to the Boston Children’s Museum. Wow. What an amazing museum! The first thing you encounter is this amazing climbing structure that kept my girls busy for a good twenty minutes!

We then moved to rock walls, crazy dance floors, and an assortment of science oriented activities. The water play/bubble room was amazing! They had all sorts of ways to enjoy bubble making, including some rigging that pulled an enormous bubble sheet!

After the kids ran the crazy action gauntlet, the activities became more subdued and calm. I’m pretty sure this is by design, role them up, calm them down. We loved our time here.

We even has some company at Jolly! Our friends met us out and about town, and made time to visit us “at home.” I love sharing our home with people, so this was a special treat!

Boston was a fast visit and I was eager to get to my hometown. The drive from Boston to Rockland County is usually about three hours, unless you’re driving on Columbus Day weekend… then it’s six hours. Ugh.

We eventually arrived at our camp, which was my friends driveway! He generously hosted us for a week. My kids loved being in a house for a while, and even got to do some chore and play tons of video games.

Seeing my family was really something special. I don’t get to see my cousins or Aunts very often, as we live on different coasts. I had really been looking forward to this, and it did not disappoint! We even updated the Ol’ Cousin photo! (I like the one where I’m the tallest..)

We took some time to explore Piermont and Nyack, two towns I spent a lot of time in during my teenage years. You may have never heard of these, but you’re probably familiar with the sight of them. They been in a multitude of movies and television shows, but my favorite is Labyrinth! The beginning scenes are shot in both towns.

Play dates and parties ensued. There was no shortage of people to visit with. I had thought we would have enough time to catch up with everyone, but I was wrong! I’d probably need a month for all of these visits. Especially, if we’re going to discuss politics.

I realized a few things on this trip. I miss my family and childhood friends more than I ever knew, I love watching my kids play with my the kids of my friends, and we all have gigantic smiles!

This did the soul good! I’m eager to return, hopefully in the next two years.