Today is Veteran’s Day 2018. Janet & I have run some errands this weekend getting ready for the kids to visit next weekend. We’ve also toured some loft apartments in an old mill in Nashua. We plan to move in April.  Other than that it’s been pretty quiet around here. I’ve been writing blog posts from 2014, and creating teacher websites for my school district. The weather is clear and in the 40’s so I decided I need to go on an adventure. I believe it high time that I tackle Bunker Hill. I tease Janet about it every time we go by because she always tells me that she’ll never climb those 294 steps again. I drove down to Assembly Row and found some free parking. I was ready to pay for the subway, but as luck would have it, one of the turnstiles wasn’t working (stuck open) so I got on for free. The monument is also free, so I’m thinking I was destined to go today.

The subway stops at the bottom of the hill at the community college. To get to the monument you have to walk through Charleston. Oh that every walk could be as beautiful as the streets of Charleston. Most people don’t get to walk past beautiful brownstone apartments with gas lights still in use. It reminded me of Beacon Hill, with just a little less posh.

I stopped in the museum because I’d heard that you need a free ticket to climb the monument, turns out that’s only in the summer when it’s crowded. I’ve been exercising more these days, but didn’t know if I was ready for 294 steps.  Turns out, I did just fine. There’s only one rail and it’s on the outside wall.  This gets tricky when meeting downward travelers as to who gets to hold the bar. The inside of the steps are much narrower as the whole series of steps is a spiral.

The views were beautiful. There were four windows that faced in each direction.  Only a dozen of us were congregated at the top so everyone got ample opportunities to take selfies and enjoy the view. My trip down was much shorter than the way up and thankfully I could hold the rail most of the time.

As I was reading the information, I thought about how perfect an activity for Veterans day that I was visiting a monument dedicated to the lives lost to create our free country.  I took a different route back to the station and passed by the Freedom Trail. It’s a path marked by red pavers through Boston that passes many of the historic sites of the Revolution. I’ve seen most of the sites, but never walked the trail. Maybe some other time when I’m acting like a tourist.

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” – Helen Keller