October 9-13, AJ and I went to Boston. We have had this trip planned since June so when it finally got here we were a little overwhelmed and we had not planned a thing (on purpose).
See, our last trip together was in May 2006 - we went on a 10 day road trip from Dallas west through New Mexico, Arizona, up through Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and then finally back home - 4300 miles in 10 days. That road trip was planned to the wire b/c we had reservations at hotels and we had to be in certain places at a certain time. Well, with the trip to Boston, we knew were were just staying in one hotel and we would rely on public transportation for everything else. AJ stayed with me the night before we left so that he could leave his car at my apartment and then we'd go to the airport. We booked the first plane out Thursday morning which meant leaving here at 5am to get on the 6:55am flight. We made it, no problems. BUT we were up until 2:30am BOOKING STUFF that we initially decided we didn't need...go figure.
I'll do a brief summary of each day and then I will add corresponding pics later. Let me just say, I had over 400 pictures to download when I got home. I AM SUCH A NERD!!!
Thursday: We land in Boston, AJ gets the luggage, I get our Charlie Card (public transpo weekly card), we get a cab and go to the hotel. Seaport Hotel & World Trade Center is where we stayed. VERY NICE!!! Get checked in and then we walk/ride the subway/catch a city bus/walk probably 1 1/2 miles and we get on The Super Duck Tour (goes by land and water). So cool. Let's just say this about the public transpo - AJ was initially overwhelmed by the subway and city bus. I think we are a little spoiled with driving our own vehicles everywhere (I'm speaking for myself here too.) After we did the Duck Tour, we rode the Water Shuttle to Long Wharf and ate at Legal Seafoods. My friend Adam from chuch gave us a run down on things to do and that list was awesome. We covered two of his suggestions the first day. AJ had a stuffed lobster at Legal Seafoods - it was so impressive he took a picture and emailed it to dad!!!! We found this cute little park right in the middle of the city across from a local ice cream place, so we got ice cream, sat in the park and just relaxed. Then we walked back to the hotel exhausted.
Friday: One of the things we booked at 1:30am before we left was a Whale Watching Cruise that left out from the New England Aquarium at Long Wharf. Long Wharf was exactly a mile from our hotel so it was a nice walk in the morning. There was a Dunkin' Donuts across the street, so that was breakfast everyday (btw - Dunkin' Donuts is EVERYWHERE up there). So we do the Whale Watch, literally MILES from the harbor OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN and it was awesome. We saw 12 whales and I have MANY pictures. It was amazing. After we landed from the cruise, we walked around the Aquarium and grabbed a bite to eat before the Salem Ferry left for Salem, Mass., which is what we had planned for Friday afternoon/evening. We catch the ferry and an hour later we are at the harbor in Salem. ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!!!! We walked to The House of Seven Gables and toured that and then we walked around town. Very eclectic town. It's like Halloween there year round. We found this authentic little Irish Pub to eat dinner. They had live music playing and it was such a neat atmosphere. AJ had booked us on a TERROR TRAIL in Salem which was supposed to be scary....and it SO was not. It was a 'candle lit tour' through Salem's most haunted areas......WHAT A JOKE. We had styrofoam cups and taper candles shoved up through the bottoms....let's just say by the third "haunted" story, AJ and I blew out our candles, hid in the driveway of a house and ditched the group. It was awful. We then walked to the Salem train depot to catch our train back to Boston. The train depot at night was scarier than the TERROR TRAIL.....
Saturday: We slept in this day. We got up and took the subway to Boston Commons and did our own self-guided tour from these cards I had bought before the trip. We saw the State House, walked around the burial ground where Samuel Adams and Paul Revere are buried. We walked around Boston Commons and across the lawn where they played the rugby game in THE DEPARTED at the beginning of the movie. We then walked to Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market. This is just a neat place for shopping, street performers and restaurants. LOTS of people out and about. Saturday night the Red Sox were playing a playoff game in Tampa, so AJ and I found a local hangout to watch the game and get the whole "RED SOX" feel in Boston and it was amazing. I do no believe Dallas has ever had anything close to that type of pride in a team. This is one of the many reasons I love Boston. Win or lose, Red Sox fans are Red Sox fans and the entire city has this pride everywhere you go.
Sunday: We headed to Fenway Park to do a tour but they were sold out. We did hit the souvenir shop and got a few goodies!!! I got a picture of the Green Monster from the overpass on the way back to the subway. We then took the subway into Cambridge to go to Harvard University. AWESOME. We get off the subway and it happens to be the 29th annual OKTOBERFEST in Harvard Square. There are people everywhere. Street vendors, live bands everywhere. It was a mad house. We walked around for a little while and then made our way over to Harvard University. It had a certain peace about it. There were literally people laying on the grass and reading and stuff like that. It's indescribable. I felt smarter for a brief moment and then once we left the campus, I was me again. This is literally an "ivy league" school....there is ivy growing on the brick walls everywhere (that thought cracked me up as I walked through there - probably a major reason I'd never get in).
Monday: We go home today. We booked a Boston Movie Tour for that morning since we had to check out of the hotel by noon and our flight didn't leave until 5:20pm. We get back over to Boston Commons to meet the tour and take off for a 2 hour and drive around Boston looking at all the places where movies were filmed. 3 of my favorite movies were filmed here and it was just so neat so see some of the places that were in those movies or the way they changed the original store fronts and incorported them into the movies. We did get to stop off at the L Street Tavern and sit at the booth Matt Damon & Ben Affleck sat at in Good Will Hunting. It's a very small little bar but there are pictures all over the place from shooting that movie. After the movie tour we walked back to Faneuil Hall for some last minute souvenir shopping, then back to the hotel to pick up the luggage they were holding for us and off to the airport. Little did we know that the airport public transpo only came by every 30 minutes, it is now 4:20 and I'm getting a little panicked. We finally make it onto a cramped bus and get to our gate. This trip is definitely going smoother than the last one (Ohio) - right???
We get back to Dallas and we are dropped off at my car. I get in pull out of the parking space and I tell AJ it is driving funny and he just tells me to keep going b/c he thinks I'm always dramatic about EVERYTHING....PLEASE!!!! So I get out and sure enough....I HAVE A FLAT. SO here we go. It's now 9pm and we are just ready to get home, we both have to work the next day and we are having to change a flat in the middle of the parking lot. YEAH US.
But we did make it home just fine. No problems. We didn't even get charged for checking on our luggage.....how awesome is that!!!! I still have figured out that one. Anyways, I'll add pictures in a few days that go with our adventures.
