Yesterday we spent our time in Boston, Salem, and Cambridge before driving to spend the night in Providence. Our first stop was the New England Aquarium which was something I added to our itinerary when I had to eliminate two other National Park sites. It definitely isn't one of the biggest aquariums that we have visited, but the kids enjoyed it. The highlight was watching the penguins being fed. We also felt some sharks and sting rays in a touch tank, watched some seals and sea lions, and witnessed Myrtle, a sea turtle, being fed lettuce. The last time we saw an IMAX movie was at a science museum on our vacation in October 2020, so we decided to splurge and see one at the aquarium. We watched a 20-minute movie about predators. We were the only five people in the theater! Unfortunately, we made a mistake and parked in a parking garage in Boston. It turns out if you stay more than an hour, the charge is $43! Ouch!
We walked a little over a mile from the Aquarium to Boston Common where we were meeting our Freedom Trail tour guide. I remember following the red line on the sidewalk with my family when we were on vacation when I was a child. Our tour guide spent more time in a Burying Ground than I would have expected and didn't include stops at some sites I did think would be included such as Paul Revere's House and the Old North Church. We could have taken a freedom trail tour with a park ranger, but the park sites in Boston are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays at the moment. So, we paid for a tour with another organization. Our tour guide did a very good job during our 90-minute tour. After our tour was over, we walked back to the parking garage. There was a lot of traffic in both Boston and Salem, so it took us longer than expected to drive to see a play about the witch trial of Sarah Bishop. It was also very hard to find parking in Salem. Paul ended up dropping the four of us off, and he missed the production due to how long it took him to find parking and then walk back to the venue. There are many things to do in Salem, but we chose not to spend more time there in favor of other options elsewhere. Our fourth stop on Monday was at Longfellow's House in Cambridge, which was also used as George Washington's headquarters for several months. This was the only place where the kids earned a Junior Ranger badge yesterday. We saw quite a few wild turkeys in Cambridge. Thankfully the parking in Salem and Cambridge was MUCH cheaper than in Boston.
From Cambridge we drove to a Cheesecake Factory. Last September we ate at one for the first time as a family, and I think yesterday's dinner might be the last time we eat at a Cheesecake Factory. Nadia and I ordered an appetizer as our meal (to save $), and the boys ordered off the kids' menu. Paul's meal cost twice as much as an appetizer. We also got two slices of cheesecake that we shared among the five of us. We realized that the gift cards weren't going to cover the entire meal plus tip, but then it turned out that one of the gift cards the credit card company sent us didn't actually have any value which meant we spent even more on our credit card for the meal than we had anticipated. The food was tasty, but I just don't think it's worth it to spend that much on one meal.
After dinner we drove to Providence, Rhode Island. The kids have technically been to Rhode Island before as we spent time in the Providence Children’s Museum on our way home from Cape Cod in September 2016. Six years later we spent a bit more time in the state. We had planned to stop at a place that had go karts and bumper boats before going to the hotel, but everyone (except Oliver) just wanted to go straight to the hotel. The kids have never gone go-karting or been in a bumper boat. We will have let them try those experiences some time, but it won't be in 2022. The Hyatt we stayed in near the airport in Providence was very nice. It had an indoor pool and an outstanding breakfast. I took Oliver to the pool. He swam for an hour. The other two preferred to have screen time in the room with Paul.
We then drove for over an hour (included two large bridges) to get to Newport. We toured Breakers, which was a summer home for the Vanderbilts. There are many mansions in Newport that can be toured. We only toured one. Financially, it would have been better to pay a grand total of $3 more for a family membership for the year, but since we don't plan to return and didn't want to visit more than one mansion today, we didn't go that route. After we toured the mansion, we walked along a portion of the Cliff Walk, which is 3.5 miles long. We had pizza for dinner, which thankfully was NOT overpriced like the one we ate at in Philadelphia was. Over the last eight days we purchased dessert three times, first we had ice cream at Ben and Jerry's in Vermont, the second time was the two slices of cheesecake, and the third time was when we stopped at an ice cream place on our drive from Newport, Rhode Island to the Econo Lodge where we are staying this evening in Connecticut. My caramel apple sundae was delicious! I have been trying to be careful about how many calories I have eaten each day. I am very curious to see what the scale will say when I weigh myself on Thursday morning at home. Unfortunately, we will be only receiving a grab and go breakfast tomorrow. On our trip so far, we've had the full range of no breakfast (once), continental breakfast, grab and go breakfast (once), and hot breakfasts. Four of the mornings we had an above average hot breakfast. We had to put more air in the one tire again today, but other than that everything has gone smoothly with the vehicle, and the weather only altered our plans twice (eliminated miniature golfing the first night and the whale cruise in Maine last week). We spent one night in Vermont, two nights in Maine, three nights near Boston, one night in Rhode Island, and tonight we're spending one night in Connecticut. We plan to sleep in our own beds tomorrow night. We're coming home, Milo, Jenna, and Buttercup!
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