Pumpkin World Record Smashed!!!

(I'm going to cheat here a little and just cut and paste the details of my time in Boston from an email I sent out...)

I'm still alive and well, if a little cold, on the other side of the World. It's 'Fall' here and it's already colder then the worst days in a Melbourne winter.

I've spent the past five days in Boston and had a fantastic time here. However, after five full days I still have absolutely no sense of direction here. This afternoon I decided to go over to Cambridge to visit Harvard and promptly headed off in the wrong direction!

During my time in the city I have visited a tonne of historical sites in the area, all of which I would have known about if I went to school in the USA but, alas, I had to read about them in my DK travel guide. I think having grown up with the stories (history) as most Americans have, would have enhanced my experience here. Despite knowing very little before coming here it's still been very interesting visiting the different locations and learning the details as I go.

Scott H - I don't think this would be your kind of place to visit. The 'locals' are very very excited over a little battle they won way back in the day against England... Not too many royalists around here, I'm afraid to say ;)

On Saturday I took a break from touring historical sites and participated in what seems to be a favourite past time of the people in the USA - PUMPKIN CARVING! I kid you not. I happened to hear about this 'Pumpkin Festival' to be held on Boston Common and thought it would be worth a look.

Well, it was so much fun. There were pumpkins and people and more pumpkins everywhere. It was a fundraising event for Camp Sunshine (something like Australia's Camp Quality) held by Life is Good and as well as raising money for Camp Sunshine they were also trying to break the World Record for the number of Jack-O-Lanterns (carved pumpkins with candles stuck in them) lit at one time in one location. The record stood at around 28,000. On Saturday night on Boston Common they managed to light 30,128 Pumpkins! I am proud to say that I was a part of that World Record as I carved a pumpkin during the day and I also went back at nightfall to help light them.

Seriously, I never realised people could hold a vegetable in such high regard as the Americans hold the humble Pumpkin :)

Sunday, I went up to Salem to take a look around. They are totally geared towards Halloween in that town right about now. There were people walking around already dressed up - fully grown people too, not just kids. If my time in Salem taught me anything - besides that fact that mass hysteria is hardly ever a good thing (Salem Witch Trial, 1692) - it's that Haunted Houses are no fun by yourself ;)

Yesterday I caught the train to Mystic, Connecticut. Some of you may remember the movie Mystic Pizza from the 1980s - starring Julia Roberts - which was set in the local pizza shop in Mystic called, funny enough, Mystic Pizza. Mystic is a pretty little town. I enjoyed a relaxing day looking around the shops of downtown Mystic as well as walking out to Olde Mystick Village. I had a 'Mystic Pizza' - best pizza! - for dinner and then had 3 hours to wait for my train back to Boston at 22:11pm. It was 19:00 - The train station was closed, the temperature outside was hovering around 5c and my phone battery was almost dead. I was beginning to feel a bit on the isolated side. I gathered my wits and I did what any self-respecting person would do in a situation like that - I hung out in a doughnut shop for over 2 hours. Not just any doughnut shop, but a Tim Horton's doughnut shop. Lisa G. would have to agree with me there! Aaah, Maple Dipped Doughnuts... See, there is a reason for a doughnut shop to stay open for 24 hours!