This year, I spent the 4th of July, America’s birthday, in one of the country's most historic regions: New England! Boston’s rich history makes it an interesting place to celebrate Independence Day, but its accessible public transportation system makes it very easy to travel around the region too!

As a Florida girl, I love water, the beach, and sun. Boston, though, isn’t known for its magnificent beaches. A few days before July 4^th, I saw that the weekend would be extremely sunny, and I figured that it would be the perfect beach weather I’ve been waiting for. I spent days researching the closest beaches to Cambridge, and eventually settled on visiting Singing Beach in Manchester-by-the-Sea. I found some friends who were also looking for a good beach trip, and devoted all my energy on making Independence Day a great day by the water!

Manchester-by-the-Sea, or just Manchester, is an hour and thirty minutes away from Cambridge by public transportation, making it a pretty accessible beach if one has the time to commit to traveling. Our commute was a mix of a Red Line train, a Green Line train, and  the commuter rail. Fortunately, that time can fly by with good company, and every friend in my party was willing to brave the commute. With the location and commute determined, I shifted my focus to researching the town we’d be visiting for the day. It’s a small coastal town with lots of cute restaurants, shops, and water activities to do. I made an itinerary, sent it to my friends, and packed all my beach essentials for a good trip.

On the morning of July 4^th, I had everyone wake up early to beat any holiday crowds at the beach. We met at the Harvard train station stop, reviewed our commute one last time, bought our commuter rail tickets, and we were off! In order to get to the beach at a reasonable time, we needed to arrive at North Station, a hub for commuter rail trains, by 8:30AM. Thankfully, the different trains we needed to ride to get there stayed on schedule and were spacious. We saw very few people with beach supplies while heading to North Station, and thought we had really outsmarted any other eager beach-goers. However, when we arrived at North Station and heard the announcement of our train’s arrival, it seemed like hundreds of people had the same idea as us. Many people quickly boarded the train, clad in bathing suits and holding beach chairs, and I laughed at myself for thinking my idea to leave the city early was unique. Nonetheless, my party boarded the train, settled in, and waited to reach our destination in Manchester.

Once we reached Manchester, I knew we had made the right choice in spending our day in the town. We were immediately greeted by blue skies, boats, and kind locals. We also found ourselves behind a large crowd of people headed for the beach, so I turned off the maps app on my phone and followed them. There’s only one beach, that I was aware of, the immediate surrounding area, so I figured the crowd must share our intentions. We passed an ice cream shop, a pizza place, and beautiful coastal homes before reaching Singing Beach.

Singing Beach was stunning! It didn’t even look like it was in Massachusetts! The water was really blue, there were large rocks and cliffs, and even an island in the distance. The water was very cold (and it made my Floridian heart sad), but our bodies got used to the temperature after a while. On top of the great atmosphere, at no point in the day did the beach ever feel too full. My friends and I spent our day tanning, reading books, napping, and swimming. We’d even packed a few snacks, and had a mini picnic in the middle of our time on the beach. Once we had enough of the beach, we packed up, and left to explore the town before our train home arrived. We stopped and grabbed lunch in Cala’s, a small restaurant that served seafood and staple American dishes. The restaurant was streaming a hot-dog eating contest, and I remember our horrified reactions to the competition vividly. We had about an hour to eat and chat before catching our train home, wrapping up our fun day before 6PM!

Once we returned to Cambridge, I said my goodbyes to my friends and we parted ways. Because we returned to town so early in the evening, I had more than enough time to freshen up and see some fireworks to wrap up the day. My friend had access to the Science Center’s observatory, and invited me to watch fireworks from the building’s top floor. The City of Boston puts on a fireworks show every year for the 4^th of July, and I wanted to enjoy them without having to deal with a large crowd. The observatory’s balcony was perfect, and we could watch the entire show in relative privacy and also have a stunning view of Harvard’s campus too!

Overall, my 4^th of July on campus this year was a success! I spent time with friends, soaked up lots of sun, and got to catch some beautiful fireworks before calling it a night. I love exploring the greater New England area, and can’t wait to see what I find next!