It had been 1.5 years since we had flown right before the pandemic in March 2020. We had gone one mini vacations since then, that is weekend road trips to Springfield, IL, St. Louis, and West Virginia….if only we had said we had gone somewhere. This time it was a big trip with low risk. New England for the most part had a heavy vaccination rate. That coupled with my wife and my vaccination status we felt safe. Sharon’s family – 2 sisters and mother were joining us. They had little experience flying so it was my job to be the Moses of the group leading them to the promised land of attractions and hotels each day. Nashville’s airport had changed since I had been there. Gone was much of the iconic carpet. There were new security areas leading to specific terminals. Only 2 restaurants where there – a sushi place – and an overpriced bar. We decided to skip the meal in hopes of finding mana in Boston. Our flight had heavy turbulence at one point. A passenger screamed as it felt like we were headed down, but the pilot corrected it. I felt bad for my sister in-law, Laura, who was taking her first flight ever and tried to explain that this was highly unusual. The cause was hitting another plane’s wake from 20 mines out. Once landing in Boston all restaurants were closed. We slowly found our way to the Hilton at Logan International airport through a connecting passenger bridge. And just a note about this Hilton. Don’t ever stay there. It may be convenient, but their service is bad. The hotel was full because of the Boston marathon. My in-law’s room had standing water in the bathroom which had seeped into the carpet. The hotel sent someone up, but tried to blame the customer for the problem. The next day I caught the hotel shuttle to the airport then the blue line to the car rental warehouse. The line to get the car was LONG. I probably waited in line for an hour to get our car. I wasn’t sure why it took sooooo long. I figure there’s just a few questions the Budget sales reps ask the customer. “Do you want the extra insurance?” “Do you want the electronic toll enabled?” And that should be it. Somehow it was taking 10 to 15 minutes for each rental. Once I got to a sales rep, she upgraded me to a Toyota 4Runner for free and gave me a specific car in a specific parking space. This was much different than the “You’re on your own” at the Thrifty Car rental counter at Las Vegas in 2019….not cars and I was offered a 15 passenger church van. Note to self: Don’t ever use Thrifty Rental car service. They overbook. Back at the hotel I parked in the hotel garage and got charged $19 for what amounted to 15 minutes of getting our luggage ready to load in our car. Then it was off to get breakfast. Dunkin Donuts are prevalent, so we got a dozen – mostly blueberry but some where chocolate and glazed. And I really mean that Dunkin was prevalent in that they are at every small down and interstate exit. We went to the Minute Man national park and learned about the birth of the American Revolutionary War. For example there was another many by the name of “Dawes” who along with Paul Revere warned the patriots that the British were coming. Sharon explained that Revere gets all the credit because of the poem (by Longfellow). I was reading about the start and propaganda about the Revolutionary war. Americans were told that British were doing dreadful things to them….and I’m not sure how much of that was propaganda vs. truth. Afterwards we ate a picnic area with the overpriced groceries we had bought previously. And we ate all of the meat. Not much went to waste. It was good to travel with families and have a picnic lunch at minimal price. Then it was off to the Orchid house, Louisa May Alcott’s home and where she based her novel “Little Women” on. My wife and her sisters were interested in this. Tickets had sold out online, but they were allowing walk ins, but our schedule didn’t permit it. Then it was on to the Eric Carle Musuem. Eric Carle wrote “The Very Hungry Caterpilar,” a children’s book from my childhood. He wrote much more – somewhat like a children’s book each year. The gallery featured art from other children’s authors. The bathroom at the far end of the musuem was a unisex bathroom, but in reality it was a women’s bathroom that they let men into. I had only seen this at another location – the Cliffs of Moher. But there the doors went all the way to the bottom with more privacy. This bathroom had the usual bathroom stalls with gaps in the doors. Totally inappropriate for a man to be in there. Afterwards we drove to our hotel in Enfield, Connecticut and ordered from 99 Restaurant to go. We planned on sleeping in as church was a 10:30AM the next day.