Boston ~ NYC ~ Washington DC

This is a great recap from Rick about our trip. I'll post pictures and more particulars as the days go by. Now, this from Rick:

It is Sunday, October 11, in the early evening, about 5:45 p.m. or so. Yevon and I are back from a grand and glorious trip to the east, including visits to Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C. I can't overstate how wonderful it was, but will say that it was one of the best trips that we have had. We wish all of you could have been with us. I'll give a brief synopsis of the events, as they unfolded.

On Saturday last, the 3rd of October, we left our house early and went to Highland to pick up Grampy and Granny (his parents.) We were trying to pack light, and we succeeded, in the main. Yevon and I had a small suitcase each, with some carry-on luggage. Granny and Grampy were a bit less cooperative, since they each had a quite substantial duffel bag, along with carry-on luggage. We had to be at the airport very early, so we picked them up about two and one-half hours before the flight took off. Yevon dropped me and Granny and Grampy off to attend to checking in, and she parked the car in the short-term lot. Dave and Courtney were good enough to tend the car for us during the week, and they left it back in short-term parking yesterday so it was there for us. We took Grampy's wheelchair, which was quite an adventure, and we got checked in. Since he is disabled, we all got to sit in the bulkhead seats, and we had a quite nice flight to Boston. On the way there, they had a very ingenious little television screen which you could watch, and so we managed to watch some college football, since they weren't broadcasting general conference. Yevon watched a movie and everyone was happy.

On arrival in Boston, we got the rental car, a midsize KIA vehicle which had quite a bit of luggage room in the back, which it needed to accommodate the wheelchair. We stayed in a Hampton Inn quite close to the Boston airport. That night, we went to the Harvard campus to watch the priesthood session of general conference in the Harvard divinity school, which is where they have their meetings since the chapel close to the campus burned down. Yevon was figuring out how to use the GPS system navigator which Janet had loaned her, and we had a few false starts, but we eventually got things figured out. Yevon, Granny and Catherine went out to eat some pizza and visit while we attended the meeting. After the priesthood meeting, we came back and went to bed.

Sunday was a good day on the trip. Catherine (our niece,) who is attending graduate school in speech therapy in Boston, came over and set up her laptop so that we could watch the two sessions of general conference over the internet in our hotel room. We were able to see them over the computer, and we loved hearing from the prophets. I think my favorite talk was by Elder Holland, which was so bold and left no question about his testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Before the morning session, we went to Concord and Lexington, sites of the early battles of the American Revolution, and the "shot heard 'round the world." It was thrilling to see those sites, and to realize what had happened there to bring about the freedoms that we mainly take for granted now. One of the coolest things that happened was when we saw some national guard troops on maneuvers come right by the statue for the colonial fighters. They stopped there, and we took a picture of the new soldiers, and thought about how they have taken over for their forbears, in helping preserve our freedoms. Between the morning and afternoon sessions, we went into Boston and walked in the North Side, by the Paul Revere home and the old north church. It was great to see those places with interesting shops and places to eat. That evening, we went to dinner with Catherine and her boyfriend, Ryan, at a place called Legal Sea Foods, which was a pretty good restaurant, and even had some good non-fish food. Yevon loved their Boston clam chowder and said it is the best she has ever had.

Monday was also a fun day on the trip. We got up, then got on a tour bus which came right to the hotel. The concept was that you could get on and off the bus at the many different stops they had around the city. We paid a flat fee, and really got to see some neat sights. The first stop we made was at the Boston Harbor, and we took a harbor cruise. It was great, and very interesting, to see the city from the bay, and to learn how it grew and developed over time. Grampy went on that, then we went back on the bus for a drive around Boston. Yevon and I hopped off at Fenway Park, which I had always wanted to see. They told us that there weren't going to be any tours for the next couple of hours, but we just hung around with our lower lips out, said we had come all the way from Utah, and I'll be darned if this nice old guy didn't let us tag along with a group of school kids on the tour. It was great! I loved seeing the Green Monster, and the whole park. After that, we got back on the bus, went back toward town, and got off to walk along the Freedom Trail. We made some purchases at Faneuil Hall and then met back up with Granny and Grampy for the bus ride back to the hotel. Grampy was able to sit comfortably in the lobby of the Marriot Longwharf hotel and read some papers after his bus ride.
In the evening, Yevon and I went down to Harvard and walked around there. What an interesting and beautiful campus.

Tuesday was another great day. We got up, checked out of the hotel, and then went to the Kennedy presidential library at the University of Massachusetts. It was a very interesting place, and, even though Kennedy wasn't a favorite, he was pretty smart and quite capable. After seeing the library, it was off to New York, which was about a four hour drive from Boston. We sailed along, except for a traffic jam in New York, caused by and accident on one of the bridges. We did arrive, safe and sound, at our hotel in New York, a Comfort Inn in Chinatown that cost a mere two hundred dollars per night. After we checked in, we went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant, then Yevon and I walked down to ground zero. It was quite sobering to see and to realize the destruction that had happened there since we had last visited the city.

Wednesday, we got up and got going. Yevon and I went to Grand Central Station to buy tickets to the tour bus in New York. It was very interesting to take the tour, which took us through lower Manhattan, Brooklyn, and upper Manhattan. We loved being on the top of the open air bus, which gave us a wonderful view of the skyscrapers and the beautiful sights there. We about wore Grampy out, and he was very tired. That evening, after he had gone to bed, Yevon and Granny went to the musical "South Pacific" at the Lincoln Center, and I went to do sealings at the Manhattan Temple. It was very nice to be there in the temple in such a bustling and wonderful place. The temple is, apparently, a building within a building, since it is so quiet and seems so removed from the hustle and bustle of New York.

Thursday we moved on to Washington, D.C. It was about a four-hour drive between the two cities, and we passed through parts of four states on our way: New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. The drive was nice, and we arrived at my aunt and uncle's home in D.C. none the worse for wear. Yvonne and Mike, dad's sister and brother-in-law, were great hosts, and very kind to us. We enjoyed staying with them. That evening, Yevon and I drove to a subway stop, got on the metro, and went for a wonderful walk up the mall to the capitol, then down the mall to the Washington monument, the World War II memorial, then to the Lincoln Memorial, then to the one for the Vietnam war. It was a wonderful walk, and we were stirred with patriotic feeling about our country, its founding fathers, our fathers who are veterans of World War II, and those who gave so much to preserve our freedoms.

Friday was a good day, as well. We went into D.C., had lunch with Haley (another niece) and filled her in on the family news. She was happy to hear about the cousins, aunts and uncles. It was interesting to hear more about her work and her life in Washington. Yevon and I then got some time to see more of Washington, and we then returned to Aunt Yvonne and Uncle Mike's for a very nice dinner. Granny and Grampy hung around with Yvonne and Mike that day.

Yesterday (Saturday) was also a great day. We went around to see more of the District, and had a very enjoyable time. We went past the place where Dad and Mom lived when Dad was in law school at George Washington, and then went past his law school. We went through the Georgetown area and then went to the World War II memorial with Dad. It was very stirring to see him there, and we got some good pictures of him at the memorial. It was touching to think of him, and of Grandpa Earl, once so young as soldiers. Tears come to my eyes when I think about them and so many like them, many of whom did not return, who gave "that last measure of devotion" to save the world. It was a great and moving moment.

We returned last night, in time to see the second half of the Cougars game, as they pasted UNLV, 59-21. It was not really that close, even. They are now 5-1, with a real good game coming up in Provo against number 10 TCU in two weeks.

Rick continues:
I'll state my opinion of the cities we visited, briefly:

Boston - shot through with history, sophisticated, educated, and a little snooty. It is expensive, interesting, and the people are proud of their history and seem to know about it.

New York - center of the universe. Teeming with people, coming and going every which way at all hours of the day and night. Diverse in the extreme. Interesting, expensive, and sure of itself.

Washington, D.C. - Power center of the nation. Beautiful, with the monuments centrally located and prominent. Residents are aware of things political, and keep up with the news.

I'm grateful for our trip, and I am thankful for the chance to visit these cities and have such great experiences there.