Boston - Day 7

BOSTON - DAY 7

Today, Craig is taking us to Plymouth, so we can see Plimouth (sic) Plantation and the Plymouth Rock. 

After having a breakfast at the hotel, we headed to the town of Plymouth, about 40 minutes south of Boston.   Kids slept in the car.  When we got to the Plimouth Plantation, though, the parking lot was full because of something called Free Fun Friday, where several Boston-area attractions are free for the day – so of course, the place was packed.  We went to an overflow lot a couple of miles away, but the line to get on the bus was ridiculous, so we just took off and went to downtown Plymouth to see the Mayflower II and the Plymouth Rock.  We found a sweet parking spot on the street and headed down to the coast. It was pretty chilly and Brooke had to buy a hoodie.  There were tons of boats parked in the bay – I’m not really sure why, I really didn’t see people fishing and it was too cold to do anything else…

First we visited the Mayflower II – a replica of the Mayflower ship that carried the Pilgrims from Europe to the US in 1620.  It was Free Fun Friday here too, but not too many people, so we got in immediately.  The ship was pretty big compared to the tea party boats, but for 102 people it wasn’t that big.  It had several decks and you could explore the different areas of the boat.  The ship was just restored in June at another location, so I was glad it was back on time for our visit. 

Then we headed down the street a couple of blocks to see Plymouth Rock.  The rock is iin a colonnade and engraved with the date “1620”.  We took a couple of pictures and then headed back into town to find a place to eat.

Tripadvisor recommended KKatie’s (kuh-Katies) for burgers and it was really good.  Just down the street is the Plymouth Grist Mill – another FFF attraction, but we all just headed home.  We said goodbye to Craig at the hotel and then I took the kids swimming (more like wrestling and fighting in water) – I’m sure the other guest loved it… L  We turned in early since we had to get up at 4 to catch our early flight.  All in all, we had a great trip, loved Boston, and would like to come back to see things we didn’t get to do and do more of the things we loved.

Boston - Day 6

BOSTON - Day 6

Today Craig is picking us up for a trip to Salem and we’re going to see his place outside of Boston.

Craig picked us up and we made the short trip up the coast to Salem, Massachusetts, famous for the Witch Trials in 1692.  We parked near the wharf and followed a red line painted on the sidewalk for a self-guided tour of Salem.   Just a couple of blocks from where we parked was a long pier and boathouse.  The air was pretty cool with the breeze coming off the water.   Craig said there used to be a large old ship parked there that wasn’t there today.

We continued down the road past a bunch of shops and restaurants toward the House of the Seven Gables, made famous by the book by Nathaniel Hawthorne, who also wrote The Scarlet Letter.  On the way, we saw a squirrel which had been placed in a trance-like state by a witch.

We arrived just minutes before the next tour and met in the foreroom of the house with a few other folks.  The house was refurbished in the early 1900’s, but many of the original wood and furnishings remained.  The rooms had low ceilings and there was a secret staircase and secret doors as you wind through the house.  Bix loved the tour and wants to read the book.

Next we headed across town to the Witch Museum.  Craig had already been a couple of times so he waited in the large park near the museum while we went in – it was about a 30-40 minute presentation which recounted the events leading up to the Salem Witch trials.  TIP:  Sit in the middle.

After the Museum we went to a restaurant called Rockafellas – the food was pretty good – I had a Wachusett Blueberry beer – which looked and tasted like a Bud Light with a few blueberries thrown in it.  We spent the rest of the day looking in shops and buying souvenirs.  Shellie had us take a picture of her next to a ghoul and when she stepped next to it, it booed her and she ran away - see picture :) 

In total, the number of witches spotted was somewhere between 5 and 30.

View from Craig's balcony

After Salem we drove back to Craig’s house where the kids declined to go swimming.  Brooke took a nap and Bix played on his phone which Craig and I went over some band stuff to prepare for our third album.

 















After a couple of hours, Craig took us home and we ate in the room.

Boston - Day 5

Boston - Day 5

Today we are going to go on a whale watch and to the Science Museum.  If we have enough energy we're going to do a Charles River Cruise.

We took a cab to the wharf and got there right when the 9am cruise was leaving.  So we were first in line for the 10am cruise we had reserved.  That way we could get primo spots on the aft deck.  We met two other groups in line and hung out with them on the cruise.  Miranda was from Boston and she had a lot of tips, having been on the whale watch before.

After about an hour drive toward Cape Cod, we saw our first humpback whale.  It was all alone and kind of far away, so after a few minutes we journeyed onward and found a whole bunch of them.  Several people including Bix saw three whales breaching (jumping out of the water) and we all saw them repeatedly surfacing and showing their tails as the dove for food.  Towards the end of the tour, we got very close to them and could really appreciate how large they are.  Shellie even saw two more jumping out of the water.

We went in search for lunch, but the place that was recommended was outside-only seating so we caught a cab to the Science Museum and ate there.

We could have spent hours there - there were so many interactive exhibits - here's just a sampling of things we could do and did:

• Shellie saw a live chicken hatching from a group of eggs
• Brooke measured how efficient her stride was
• We saw an exhibit on spiders with huge blown up parts of the spider and closeup pictures
• We went to a math exhibit that showed the history of mathematics
• We saw an exhibit that showed a sampling of 20+ people from around the world and what they ate every day
• We saw a life-sized t-rex
• We saw a giant Van der Graaf generator (but missed the show where they create lightning)

And we still didn't do everything.  We took a cab back, but instead of going to the hotel we went to the nearest store to pick up beer and breakfast items and then walked about a mile to our hotel.  Kind of a bad move, but we made it.  To top it off the kids ordered delivery pizza which had NO SAUCE - Otto - not recommended.

Boston - Day 4

BOSTON - DAY 4

Today we decided to sleep in before we moved to our new hotel instead of touring Fenway Park.  It was probably best - I'm sure we have plenty of fun ahead.

We first moved our luggage to our new home - the Hyatt Cambridge on the edge of the MIT campus.

Our room wasn't ready so we checked our luggage and took a shuttle to Harvard.





When we got to Harvard our first stop was at Mike's Pastries - famous for their cannolis.  We bought some desserts for lunch and then ate them on the way to the Harvard Natural History Museum.  We passed the Harvard Law area on the way - the campus was beautiful and the buildings were old and grand.  We also saw a turkey walking down the street.

Harvard Square

At the Natural History Museum we saw very precisely arranged and cataloged animals and minerals of all types.  We loved looking at the expressions on the faces of the animals and seeing new animals we didn't recognize.












After Harvard, we went to MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) - on Bix's short list for colleges.  We ate lunch at the Miracle of Science - a pub near the MIT Museum.  The food was really good and it was a funky place with the menu on the walls in the form of a giant periodic table.






We all liked the MIT Museum - it had a couple of interactive exhibits for the kids - they built a balloon rocket and made electrical circuits to light up LED's.  Mom and dad liked the different robotics exhibits.






After the museum we went to check out the Gehry buildings - some funky shaped buildings on campus, we went to the co-op and then we headed home.


















We finished by going for a swim, eating dinner at the hotel, and watching Zoolander 2.

Boston - Day 3

BOSTON - DAY 3

Today is July 4th - US Independence Day!

Today we plan to hit the Freedom Trail, the Aquarium, the Prudential Center Skywalk, and finally, see the Boston 4th of July Fireworks.

The first stop for us today was the Boston Freedom Trail - 2 1/2 miles of historic sites that retell events around America's revolutionary times. We took a cab down to Boston Common and signed up for the noon tour (I know - late start for us!)  The tour guide was almost too informative (lots of information vs hitting the highlights), but there was a significant amount we could take away.

We started with the Golden Domed Massachusetts State House and the Granary Burial Ground where several significant people are buried - John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and the five people who were killed in the Boston Massacre.

Then we saw the Old State House and Faneuil Hall.











We ate lunch at the Black Rose, near Faneuil Hall.  The Irish Bar food was some of the better food we had during the trip so far - recommended.

After lunch we headed to the New England Aquarium.  The minute we walked in there were live penguins out in the open (not behind glass like at other aquariums).  It was really cool to see them running around.

They had a lot of great other exhibits - sea lions, giant turtles, octopii, huge fish, jellyfish, and a petting zoo.






After the Aquarium we headed back to the Prudential Center for a 360 degree view of the city.  Unfortunately we got to the top right when they sold out of a limited number of tickets for the evening's big firework show.  Turns out that at 4pm on July 4th, they sell a limited number of tickets and they sold out in 27 minutes.  With 500,000 people expected to be on the ground, it would have been cool to see it from the sky, but, oh well...  The views of Boston and Cambridge and the Charles River from up top were spectacular - see the pictures!

Above: Panorama of Charles River Left:  Downtown;  Right: MIT

We went home and headed to Tasty Burger right next to the hotel - highly rated, but only Bix liked his burger - the rest of us will pass next time.  Brooke felt sick and did not want to go see the fireworks, so we watched the first hour and a half of the live TV show on CBS and then left the kids at the hotel and walked about a 1/2 mile to the riverbank nearest to Fenway.


We had the perfect spot - just a few hundred people at the eastern tip of Soldier Park - TIP: Go to Commonwealth Ave by the Kenmore Subway station.  Find Raleigh St. and go north a couple of blocks.  Cross the blocked off Storrow Dr, and you're there.  (It's really close to the huge Citgo Sign).

We could see a sweet view of the fireworks shot from the barges and from the Harvard bridge which let off lots of synchronized volleys.

It was a really good show - got tons of video and a picture of us enjoying the show!

Boston - Day 2

Boston 2016 - Day 2

On Day 2 we started out by eating breakfast at the Japanese restaurant next door - Hojoko - and I would not recommend it for breakfast.  None of us would.

So then we grabbed a cab back to the Prudential Center for the Duck Tour.  We got a  really funny tour guide and got to see a lot of downtown Boston before going for a cruise in the St. Charles river.  Bix got to drive the boat.

 

My friend Craig met us afterwards and he drove us out to Legal Harborside where we wanted to go to lunch on Day 1.  I had a good Lobster bake, we ate some oysters, fish and chips, and then we went up to the third floor and got a primo table overlooking the harbor.

 

 

Then we went to nearby Castle Island and Fort Independence and enjoyed a cool summer breeze coming off the water.  Craig had never been there.  After the fort, we went back to the hotel to relax before dinner and the Boston Pops pre-show (the night before the 4th show).

We headed out to eat dinner downtown, but we couldn't get anywhere near the restaurant due to streets being blocked off.  So we went almost back to the hotel and ate at a place called Bertucci's a local restaurant with several locations.  I liked the food well enough.  After dinner we asked Craig to drop us off near the Hatch Shell where the Pops were playing.  We got dropped off on the Cambridge side and walked across the bridge - we could hear the Pops playing the 1812 Overture, complete with ridiculously loud cannon sounds that sounded like bombs going off.  But by the time we reached the Esplanade, they had stopped playing.  We couldn't get into the grounds with my backpack, so we were restricted to wait on the perimeter.  We heard Demi Lovato sing a song and then we took off.  So it was really a bust we could have waited and listened for more, but I wasn't feeling well, so we went back home.   We're going to watch it on TV tomorrow.