Kaboom!

So in the two days of Boston-to-Portland-to-Boston-to-Mystic, I didn't manage to post about the one thing I did in Boston Tuesday morning before heading to Portland.

In the course of going to North Station both Sunday and Monday morning, I realized how close it was to Charlestown. Most importantly, it's close to the Charlestown Navy Yard, home of the Constitution. During my tour of the ship this time around, one of the sailors had mentioned that they fire off a gun at 8 a.m. in the morning when they hoist the flag, and again at sunset.

I wasn't about to wake up early just to go over there and see a gun fired off, but since my train to Portland was at 9, heading over to the Navy Yard by boat a bit before 8, and then walking over to North Station from there, would put me there in good time for my train.

Having been just burned by the National Park Service saying the Friendship would depart Salem at 1 p.m., when the ship clearly left much earlier, I was a little leery that I would be going over there for nothing. I needn't have worried. Unlike the Park Service, when the Navy says they're going to fire off a gun at 8 a.m., they fire off a damn gun at 8 a.m.

I watched from the one vantage point I thought I'd be able to see the gun, and it was pretty silent except for some muffled calling out ("Fire in the hole!" I think). And then BOOM! I totally jumped, which is quite visible in the video I shot.



The video does show the brief orange flame, and then the cloud of smoke. No car alarms went off, as apparently they sometimes do. Still, the noise of that one blank gave me a better idea of what it must have been like in battle, with guns going off constantly.

Watching the gun go off was pretty sweet, and getting over there early ensured I was easily on time for my Downeaster train, so everything worked out well.

As for today, I've got a bit more time in Mystic, and then I'll be heading back home to DC. I should have lots of time to edit photos on the train, and hopefully Flickr Uploadr won't be so angry with my home Internet connection as it has been with the connections at my hotels.

Until then, I did finally manage to get my Saturday pics up.