Through Boston, I walked the line

With Johnny Cash in my head, no less.

The so-called "Freedom Trail" links historical monuments on a cool 2.5 mile walking tour through Boston's center.

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It was raining most of the time, but I didn't bust out my umbrella. Seattle-born people are hardcore that way.

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A beautiful array of old American flags in Massachusetts' capitol building includes one displayed backwards to show its more neatly embroidered side.

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Further down the road, Granary Burial Ground, founded in 1660, is the city's third-oldest cemetery.

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Our tombstone engraving norms sure have changed. This close to Halloween, I found the old style sort of creepy!

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Old and new buildings in a skyline are one of my favorite things… keep reading for a closeup of the glass skyscraper.

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Boston's Quincy Market is a great people watching and grub getting hangout.

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But the very Italian North End district won my heart.

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Easily could have spent all day here listening to people chit chat in Italian and Boston accents.

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Paul Revere sort of resembles Paul Newman, don't you think?

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Paul newman

In front of an historic church, a modern memorial to lost Iraq War vets

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And that spectacular building, again….

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When I'd had my share of walking around and reading plaques, I hopped on the subway and headed outbound to meet a friend at Harvard.

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As I walked through Cambridge toward a campus entrance, I saw a perfect looking apple someone had forgotten about. It was sitting on a ledge inside the school, separated from the outside world by iron bars. The apple and the tree in the background made me contemplate the knowledge we attain through higher education.

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At least the W.A.S.P.y university's motto is "Truth"

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And it's not considered Ivy League for nothing. 

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The beginning of the beginning

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It was beginning of the beginning for the United States of America and the beginning of the end for native tribes' societies when the Pilgrims landed here in 1620. It was also December, so while I am kicking myself for being here in near freezing weather in mid-October, they were even less prepared.

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Plymouth Rock is symbolic, but I found the portico built over the rock in 1921 to be equally important. Here, 300 years after those tired refugees walked ashore, a firmly established nation erected a symbol of permanence. We had yet to face the Great Depression, wage battle with nuclear weapons or experience terrorism on our own soil.

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To this day, the town of Plymouth is an energized place.

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Groups of school children embark on physical history lessons.

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While the shoreline is haloed in a crowd of boats.

The quiet just north of Boston

Manchester-by-the Sea is a cute little town in Massachusett's North Shore region
that swells with vacationers during summer. An unseasonably early cold
spell returns its beaches to nature.

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Nearby in Topsfield, a typical looking church illustrates the boxy colonial style that predominates in area towns with settlements dating to the pilgrims.

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Alone for just a second,"Tall Tex" surveys a busy crowd at the annual Topsfield Fair.

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