Freedom Trail and amazing heritage

For the last week (give or take), our good friend Maria has been out visiting us. She and I had the opportunity to go down to Boston and walk the Freedom Trail together. Joshua and I did this the second or third day that we were here with the Lannings, so I already knew what to expect. Little did I know that being in the area for two years, and being steeped in the history of Boston and its surrounding areas would make such a dramatic difference. This trip to the city took on new life, as I was able to appreciate the richness of the history that was all around me. Even visiting the cemetaries was more amazing with a bit of knowledge of gravestone art. Maria and I had an awesome day absorping history and the beauty of the Boston area in the fall. I've included some of my favorite pictures from the day.

Even if you never come out while we are here (we're cheap tour guides, after all)--I strongly encourage you to come out and experience the richness of the history that you find in Boston.

Maine Adventures

This story proves that you never know what will happen when you head out on a road trip....

On Wednesday, Joshua and I headed up to Freeport, Maine with Jon and his fiancee Joy. There are many tales that I could tell from the day. Jon and Joshua planned the whole thing and it was pretty much awesome. They even planned a bountiful feast (aka picnic lunch) for us at a gorgeous park on the coast. But this story is the one I want to share (right now) because it was seriously amazing.

We were driving home, after an exhausting but fantastic day, and all of the sudden we blew a tire. Joshua immediately pulled over to the side of the freeway and the boys got out to assess the damage. They did what every man would do--jacked up the car, took off the lug nuts, and began to remove the tire to put on the spare. It was really the removing the tire part that caused problems. They kicked, they tugged, they used a nasty tree branch to try to bash it off the axle--to no avail. So then we do the other smart thing...we called AAA. (a side note: AAA was seriously unhelpful)

Well, as we're on the phone with AAA, a state trooper rolls up behind us--lights flashing and all. He was extremely nice and after making sure that we were all okay, he called his dispatch to have a service truck come and help us with the tire. After he left, we were just standing around, eating Chips Ahoy chocolate chip cookies, and wondering how long it would take for a truck to get to us.

Now for the cool part...
As we were waiting for either AAA or the other service truck to come, we suddenly see the tail lights of a car backing up on the shoulder in front of us. This guy gets out of his car and comes over to where our car is. Jon, being the protective guy, goes over to tell the guy that we've got everything under control--two trucks are coming for us. He kind of shrugged and said "I'm a mechanic...want me to see if I can help?" And so he does...he walked over to the car, Joshua and Jon explain what's going on with the tire, and he takes a look at it. And then he did the coolest thing...he climbed under the car and, with his steel toed boots, full on kicked the tire off the axle! It was like Chuck Norris had come to our rescue. He stands back up, moves the blown tire to the side, puts the spare on...and then leaves. He was barely there long enough for us to thank him.

Not only was this guy extremely cool for roundhouse kicking the tire off the Audi, he also saved us from a long wait in the rain after dark. Amazing.

Well, we got home safely, and as I type this post Jon and Joy are getting the tires replaced.

Praise God for fun road trips and for the Good Samaritans who still stop to help the person in need!!!