Well, I have come to the final site-specific entry for my trip through Rhode Island and Massachusetts (well over a month ago by this point). Remember that I was operating on one hour of sleep my last day in Boston- it will be key to what happened during my time at the
Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum.
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| The Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum from a distance |
I arrived at the BTPSM hot, thirsty, and tired of lugging around my suitcase across cobblestone pathways. I walked there from the Paul Revere House, which took about 30 minutes at a slower pace than I normally take. After a rather uninterested teenage girl at the ticket booth informed me I would have to carry my suitcase with me (yay! *insert sarcastic tone here*), I was ushered inside a church-ish looking room, and given a feather and a colonial identity that I was to portray throughout my visit.
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| Dr. Elisha Story, at your service! |
After a few minutes, our tour guide "Samuel Sprague" came bursting into the room and later "Samuel Adams" loudly proclaiming the the colonials were being mistreated by King George, and there's a secret meeting and, yadda yadda. I don't remember the exact story, but I loved that they kept me awake by teaching us to yell "Huzzah!" and other positive cheers when something good happened and to boo and hiss (literally) when something we "colonials" didn't like occurred.
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| "Sammy Sprague" giving us the low down on why we should be angry colonials |
Our first stop was on the ship where the tea was being stored prior to the
Boston Tea Party (the historical event all of this museum is actually based on if you hadn't caught on to that by now). We got to walk through the different levels of the boat, go into the "captain's quarters" and in the end some little kids got to throw some "tea" into the harbor. It was coming off the boat that Sam told us that all of the names we had been given were actual people known to have participated in the Boston Tea Party. We were also told that while photos had been allowed up to that point, no photographs were to be taken into the museum.
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| "Tea" that we got to see thrown into the harbor...with ropes for handy retrieval |
By this time, the sun and general fatigue were wearing down on me. The first room we entered looked like a really fancy living room. I sat along the wall (big mistake!). To my left were two portraits of King George- and someone I can't remember representing the colonists- that were actually videos. The effect told the viewpoint of each side of the conflict, in a way that would make any Hogwarts painting proud (that's a Harry Potter reference, in case you've never seen the movies or read the books). To the right was a portrait of an old lady with an audio track, and a display case with the only actual artifact in the museum- one of the few remaining tea cases from the actual Boston Tea Party. Few as in, only two or three are known to remain. So that's a pretty big deal.
So where does my mistake come in? Well. As interesting as I found the presentation (I really think it was cool!) I fell asleep, propped up against my suitcase. Seriously. When I woke up were were transitioning into a different room (a holographic meeting of two colonial wives discussing their views of the British-Colonial problem), and a few of my fellow tour members looked at me with pity and asked if I was OK! I was so embarrassed, but explained it had just been a long day and I was functioning on very little sleep.
The last room was another video presentation with a man discussing the early beginning of the actual Revolutionary War, and how the Boston Tea Party helped ignite the spark for Americans to fight for independence. We all sang 'America the Beautiful' at the end (or we were supposed to anyway- I think I was the only person who actually did). But up next was my favorite part of the experience!
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| The teas available for tasting in Abagail's Tea Room |
Although optional, you can have a treat and sample a variety of teas in Abagail's Tea Room. I think I spent maybe a total of $8 on a chocolate chip cookie and commemorative mug (that doubled for me as another gift for my grandmother!) with unlimited tea drinking. And there were some amazing teas to try- I actually love drinking hot tea, and pity all the coffee addicts that don't "get" how complex and beautiful tea is. But anyway, I was too tired (and my phone and camera were near death and I still had to get to the airport), so I didn't write down or record the actual names of the flavors of tea in the room- but they were very tasty. One had a very smoky flavor, which I loved, another was brewed with strawberries, which I didn't love as much. The kids there enjoyed mixing the flavors up, and I enjoyed being able to sit down, get myself organized, and relax before I hustled home.
From there, you are led into the most expansive gift shop I saw in Boston. I bought some tea for my grandmother (to go with her cup of course) and rushed to the airport as I had just received a text that my flight had been delayed.
(On an aside about my flight home- major kudos to US Airways for their super friendly and helpful staff at Boston's airport. Whereas before
when I went to Memphis on Delta and had a miserable experience, this flight delay actually worked out to my advantage. As soon as I finished my tea and cookie, I rushed to the airport, and went to the counter asking if there was anything I could do- getting home any later than I already was going to would mean I could possibly be stranded at Pittsburgh's airport until the next morning since the buses would stop running by the new arrival time. This blessed employee told me that if I could hurry, there was a flight leaving in 30 minutes going to Pittsburgh, and if that was full, I could try for the one leaving 45 minutes after that. With some paperwork he gave me after typing in some info, I rushed to the first gate, only to learn I missed making that flight by one stand-by customer. So I raced to the second gate, and stood there long before the staff even arrived to prep for the flight, and got my name on the stand-by list. By the grace of God I was the last stand-by person to make that flight, and I ended up getting home nearly two hours sooner than I originally intended. THAT, my friends, is how airlines should operate!)
So, I'm typing this a few days before you guys will actually see it- typing is helping me stay awake so that I can leave on time for this red eye to Seattle for the next two states in my journey: Washington and Alaska. I'm very excited about this trip, because whereas many of my states I've technically been to before but am re-visiting with fresh eyes for the blog, I sincerely have never been anywhere on the west coast before. Follow me on
Twitter to keep up with my check-ins and anticipate my future blog entries, and check out and like my
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Thanks so much for reading, and I'll see you on the next adventure!
