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Day 2 of our trip saw us visit some of the most important symbols in American history.

Wandering Raleighite and I spent most of the day on a 11K walk of the Freedom Trail. The Freedom Trail is a 3-mile route, marked by a red line painted on the ground, that takes tourists past 16 national historic sites in Boston that played a pivotal role in shaping the country. We did the trek because we’re members of the American Volkssport Association, a walking club that has chapters all across the nation. Over the past few years, we’ve done walks in places such as Oklahoma City, Washington D.C., Las Vegas and St. Louis.

Today’s walk took us off the Freedom Trail at points, allowing us to see things such as the New England Holocaust Memorial. While on the trail, stops included Paul Revere’s home and the Old North Church, the spot where Revere made his famous dash from to warn the Continentals that the British were coming.

But two snarfs stood out above the rest.

We joined the throng at the Bunker Hill Monument, the 221-ft. high granite obelisk erected to mark the first major battle of the American Revolution. At this battle, which actually took place on Breed’s Hill, the Continentals showed the British that they were going to have a hard fight on their hands. What’s especially impressive is that they completed the monument in 1843, when the equipment wasn’t nearly as advanced. There are 294 steps to the top, which we exhaustingly finally completed. But the view from the top is worth the work to get there.

We also won’t soon forget our visit to the U.S.S. Constitution, the oldest commissioned ship in the U.S. Navy. Completed in 1797, “Old Ironsides” bested the British time and again during the War of 1812. It helped cause the Brits to come to accept that it made more sense to be friendly with America as opposed to fighting its former colonies. Saved from the scrap heap and neglect time and time again, the Constitution represents America’s will to fight. It’s a sweet-looking ship as well.

We spent so long at Bunker Hill and the Constitution that we ran out of time to complete the walk during daylight hours. We’ll finish the walk in the morning before heading to Maine to officially begin the U.S. 1 trip.

With TCM’s kind permission, Wandering Raleighite and I will be blogging our travels along U.S. 1 over the next nine days.

Most of our trip will be spent along U.S. 1 from Pennsylvania to the Canadian border. Time permitting, we’ll also stop in Baltimore before returning to Raleigh.

We’re now in Boston. Our plans had to be adjusted because our U.S. Air flight into Manchester, N.H., was delayed. By the time we got on the free shuttle to Boston, we were more than two hours behind schedule. BTW, Wandering Raleighite says he will never take U.S. Air again.

We made the best of the abbreviated amount of daylight to walk through the Theater District, the outskirts of Boston Commons and the Copley Square area. It was basically a trip around part of Boston’s downtown area.

Many of Boston’s historic theaters opened at the turn of the 20th Century. The Shubert Theatre opened in 1910. Over the years, legendary performers such as Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Henry Fonda have performed there.

We then walked along Boston Commons, home to some of the most important events that culminated in the American Revolution. We saw a monument dedicated to the discovery of ether in Boston in 1846. We also encountered monuments to other greats of American history, including George Washington and Wendell Phillips.

At nearby Commonwealth Mall, we ran into monuments for modern heroes, including one for nine firefighters who were killed responding to a blaze in 1972.

As the daylight dimmed, we ran across historic treasures such as Old South Church, Trinity Church and the Boston Public Library.

Come back tomorrow to hear what happens we walk the Freedom Trail and visit the U.S.S. Constitution.

This blog is part of Markeroni, the Gentle Art of Landmark-Snarfing — a site where you can find out about historical markers and historic landmarks, and even log your visits to them.

Here are thirteen of my favorite logged landmarks from April. It was really hard to choose! To view more details and a picture or pictures, click on the link. :)

1. Garrison Cemetery Garrison, New York

   I love the image of the gravestones sticking up out of the snow. The American flag is a flash of color and the cannon adds a hint of the past. (Logged by ember39.) (more…)

Yay! My guest post about Markeroni has been taken up on the Uptake blog (formerly Kango.com). :)

If you’re a member of BumpZee, feel free to bump it up. ;)

Many thanks to Uptake for the opportunity! :)

You have got to check this out. Seriously.

Click here first…and then please click through to the details to see why this is so incredible. :)

This is beautyredefined’s discovery. Oh, somebody please go, pretty please with cherries on top. Do we have any divers?

This blog is part of Markeroni, the Gentle Art of Landmark-Snarfing, a site where you can find out information about historical markers and historic sites, and log your visits there. To find out more, please visit!

Last weekend AmberLee and I headed out on snarfari. Actually, the excuse to drive out to Old Sacramento came in the form of a Geocaching gather, but after the gather was over we left to run slightly amok in the nearby city. ;) (more…)

This blog is part of Markeroni, the Gentle Art of Landmark-Snarfing. To find out more, please visit the site!

The observant among you will by now have spotted the “whelm level” on the main member index page. This indicates roughly how much of a backlog we have got at Markeroni, and what action to take. Here’s a quick run-down of what it all means, and what you can do to help. (more…)

This blog is part of Markeroni, the Gentle Art of Landmark-Snarfing. To find out more, please visit the site!

Here’s a continuation of a prior Thursday 13 post about traveling on Route 66. There were plenty of things we didn’t get to due to time constraints that make a return trip very, very worthwhile.

1. Wagon Wheel Motel, Cafe and Station
   This should be familiar to anyone who saw the ruins of the fictional Wheel Well Motel in “Cars.” Luckily, this Missouri establishment is still open.

2. Drive-In
   There used to be a time when drive-ins like this one in Missouri were plentiful. Most have died over time, but this one has hung on.

3. Miami Original Nine-Foot Section of Route 66 Roadbed
   It was well worth the bumps to drive this original 1920s stretch of Route 66 in Oklahoma. The story goes that they were tight on cash so they decided to complete the road at only 9-feet wide rather than do a wide road that was only half as long.

4. Route 66 Bridge
   This bridge in Oklahoma is just like what motorists on Route 66 drove on before the 1950s.

5. Oklahoma Route 66 Museum
   There are a lot of Route 66 museums on the route, but this one is a must-see. It’s run by people who have a true love of the Mother Road.

6. Leaning Water Tower
   This should be familiar to anyone who saw Luigi’s Leaning Tower of Tires in “Cars.” This Texas monument was built to lure in tourists. It works.

7. Midpoint Cafe and Gift Shop
   Located halfway on Route 66, this is a major milestone on any trip. I’ll admit to feeling bummed that this Texas café wasn’t open when we stopped by. I really wanted to try their famous ugly pie.

8. Aztec Motor Court
   You’ve got to figure that any motel named Aztec is going to look interesting. This is one of the many classic motels located on Route 66 in Albuquerque, NM that take you back to the road’s heyday.

9. The Snow Cap
   For pure fun, this Arizona spot ranked among the top parts of the trip. They’re known for their cornball humor, such as having two doorknobs on the entrances. The owners are constantly telling jokes, such as offering you rags when you ask for more napkins.

10. Oatman, Arizona (west side)
    As I mentioned in the prior post, you have to stop in at this town when you’re traveling Route 66 in Arizona. Aside from the wild burros on the street, it just exudes old-fashioned Route 66 life.

11. Wigwam Motel
    Its location near the end of the trip in California probably doesn’t help, but it gets less business than the other wigwam motel in Arizona. I’ve got to give the owner kudos for trying to restore this place’s reputation. The last owner was a slime who rented rooms by the hour and advertised the slogan, “do it in a wigwam.”

12. Rialto Theatre
    I was saddened to hear that this California landmark recently closed. There are times when you don’t want to go to a megaplex. It had the longest-running showing of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

13. Will Rogers Highway
    This marker is the no-brainer end to any Route 66 trip when you finish up in California. Some drunk recently smacked into the marker, but it survived.

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To find out more about landmark-hunting, please visit Markeroni, the Gentle Art of Landmark-Snarfing. This blog post is part of that site.

Thirteen Useful Snarfari Preparations
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I feel very fortunate to have been able to travel along Route 66 with a friend earlier this year.

It was such an interesting trip that it was too hard to limit it to 13 items. This first group consists of my favorite sites on the trip. Look for more to come later.

1. Ted Drewes Frozen Custard
   We started in St. Louis instead of Illinois so Drewes seemed like a most appropriate way to kick off the trip. In addition to great frozen custard, it’s been a Route 66 landmark for 78 years.

2. Rock Cafe, Stroud, Oklahoma
   This is a must for any fan of the movie “Cars.” The character of Sally was inspired by the owner of the café. She gave up plans to relocate to Costa Rica to stay in her hometown in Oklahoma.

3. Arcadia Round Barn
   You usually don’t expect to see a big round barn. But the Oklahoma barn, which dates back to 1898, is one of the most distinctive landmarks on Route 66.

4. Tower Building
   More popularly known as the U Drop Inn, this Art Deco masterpiece stands out even in Texas. It was formerly a restaurant and gas station.

5. Phillips 66 Service Station
   I was keeping my eyes out for this stop. Opened in the 1920s, it was the first Phillips 66 station in Texas. I’m glad to say it’s being restored.

6. Cadillac Ranch
   You’ll recognize this Texas landmark if you saw “Cars.” This eccentric millionaire planted 10 Cadillacs nose-first into the ground. He lets you spray paint them.

7. Glenrio Historic District
   This epitomizes a Route 66 ghost town. The town died soon after the I-40 diverted traffic away from 66. The most famous structure was The First in Texas/Last in New Mexico Motel.

8. Blue Swallow Motel
   I’m glad we stayed at the motel overnight in New Mexico. It’s a classic 66 motel with blazing neon. The rooms are big, clean, reasonably priced and have antiques such as rotary dial telephones.

9. Wigwam Village #6
   We unfortunately couldn’t get a room at this classic motel in Arizona. A group of German bikers had the place booked up. Europeans love traveling Route 66.

10. Wild Burros
    How can you not love a landmark involving wild burros? The burros were brought there when Oatman, AZ, was a mining town. They freed them after the mine closed. The burros are now a tourism draw.

11. Original McDonalds
    This was also must-see piece of Americana on Route 66 in California. This is where Mickey D first began. It’s about the only way you’d see me enter a McDonald’s.

12. Aztec Hotel
    This is a stunning building dating back to 1926 in California. I was heartened to hear that the hotel is being restored to its original splendor.

13. Santa Monica Pier This was a fitting end to the Route 66 trip. Located by the ocean in California, you get a nice boardwalk and a stunning view of the beach.