Memorial Day in New England

For Memorial Day, Dan and I decided to explore Massachusetts. So we headed up to Lexington and Concord to walk around and enjoy the day.  Given their historical importance to the Revolutionary War, they seemed like nice choices for celebrating the holiday.

Lexington

Lexington was our first stop of the day. We found a little deli to eat at and then walked around the town. It was a beautiful day for exploring and relaxing.

These gentlemen are dressed in Minutemen attire. They were coming from a celebration on the Green that we had just missed.

 

This memorial is to those that died in the Revolution. Lexington was the site of the "shot heard 'round the world" so there are quite a lot of plaques and memorials for Revolutionary soldiers. 

For example, here is another memorial to those who died. Apparently the first killed were buried within the gates of this obelisk.

A Minuteman statue. He looks out onto the town, forever watchful.

Closeup of the pansies just because they were so pretty.

This belltower was destroyed by a storm, but was rebuilt in 1910. It was used to signal to the Minutemen when it was time to fight. It used to be on the Green, but was later relocated to a hill above the town.

On our way up to see the belltower, Dan pointed out a rabbit along the path.

After walking around for an hour or so, we hopped in the car and drove to nearby Concord.

Concord

Right by the parking lot was a beautiful old cemetery. I took a few seconds to take some quick snapshots. 

We missed the festivities in Lexington, but arrived just in time at Concord. They were announcing names of Concord residents who had died in service of their country. Vets stood at attention in front of different war memorials with wreaths in hand. 

A local bagpipe group played a few patriotic tunes.

And then the Concord Minutement saluted the fallen with a gun salute. 

 

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Fire!

 

They were standing in front of a cemetery where many of the actual Minutemen were buried.

Afterwards, the parade continued with all veterans in the community marching through the streets. 

 

 

 

There were some WWII trucks that were pretty cool. I had to take a few photos. 

 

 

America... 

After the parade, we explored some of the antique shops and walked around. Concord is a quaint and cute little town and it was a nice place to spend a relaxing Memorial Day.

Graffiti Sunday

After a nice brunch with my friend Adam, we walked around Cambridge and stumbled upon some interesting graffiti art.

First, Adam showed me a piece from when Banksy came through town. There is another Banksy piece in Chinatown, but I haven't made it over there yet to photograph it.

In Central Square, there is an alley full of graffiti art. When I first moved up here, I took a few photographs of the alley. All of those pieces are covered up by now, of course, making the space a constantly changing landscape of color and art.

 In fact, we happened upon these guys painting over some older (and according to Adam, better) art.

I particularly liked the sexy ET.

Some was better than others, but even though this piece was pretty basic, I like the layers of art atop art. 

 I love the happy monster guy!

We also walked by the Stata Building at MIT which was designed by Frank  Gehry. It apparently has all kinds of drainage issues, but it looks pretty cool.

Red Sox vs LA Angels May 3

Recently we were given some awesome Red Sox tickets. They were three rows up in the third base box. You could hear the players curse, see their expressions as they ran into home, and heckle the Angels whose dug out was to our left.  I have to say I might be spoiled now.

View from our seats before the game started.

They aren't kidding. A lady got hit in the back a few rows up. Ouch...

Dan

It was Marine Week so they had a group of recruits take their oath on the field. Afterwards, the color guard walked past us.

Warming up before the game.

Heidi, the sports reporter from NESN. The guys in front of us would alternate between heckling the Angels batters and catcalling at Heidi.

Pitching

LAA Dugout

Matsui at bat

And that's it for the Angels players. The Red Sox kicked their butts, so they don't deserve any more pictures. However, I can't promise they are all in the correct game order. For everyone's sake, I'm only posting the pictures that came out well. 

Martinez at bat.

Pedroia at bat.

Scutaro at bat.

McDonald at bat.

Youkilis at bat - you don't even have to read this to know. I'd make fun of his stance if he weren't so awesome.

Home run! Youk rounding third.

Yooooooouuuuuuk running it in!

Another hit - Beltre rounding third.

Drew at bat.

We had so many runs that I don't even remember who this was. But click on the picture and look at it large sized - I love the dejected Angels outfielder in the background. 

Final score: Red Sox 17, LAA 8