Boston

We traveled to Boston over Labor Day weekend to spend some time with Sis and  Nephew II.   My sister was attending a conference there and both The Hubs and I tagged along to site see with the nephew while she was attending meetings.  We had the best time.

The Hubs attended his own conference in Boston about seven or eight years ago and loved the town.  He explored a lot of places and was eager to return.   I had visited Boston last when I was eighteen.  Basically all I remember was shopping at Quincy Market  and buying a flashdance inspired sweatshirt with “I was banned in Boston” on it.   (Ah, youth.)

We arrived very early Thursday morning (like 1:30 A.M.)  but we were raring to go by 9 A.M.  In fact, we were the first ones out of the hotel and met Sis and NII at Pavement Coffee, a cool little neighborhood place (that has great granola, I might add).

Then, we proceeded to walk twelve miles all over Boston (on and off the Freedom Trail).  We went to Faneuil Hall, Quincy Market, Boston Commons, the waterfront, and the New England Aquarium (not necessarily in that order).

Hammerhead from above at NE Aquarium.

Swan boats at Boston Commons

We ate a few good lobstah rolls….one traditional one at Yankee Lobster and one at a stall in Quincy Market.   Both were great!

The next day we explored the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Museum of Fine Art.  I had long wanted to go to the Gardner and I loved this museum, the story and woman behind it and the intrigue regarding the 1990 art heist.

Missing and unknown since 1990.

I could have stayed in these surroundings all day.

We should have spent more time at the MFA, but I made sure to see the O’Keeffe exhibit along with the Kahlo exhibit.   The most startling thing we saw was this:

A set of Tamac Pottery

Tamac Pottery was produced in Perry, Oklahoma very near to where we grew up.   My mom had goblets and a decanter in this style.  I immediately texted her to tell her she had items like the ones in the Boston MFA.   She responded that she didn’t remember if she still had the pieces or not.  Doh!

On our final full day in Boston, we took NII whale watching.  (I selfishly may have booked this trip for myself, too.)   What a fabulous trip.  Even though we didn’t get out of the harbor before having to return because of mechanical issues, we were quickly shepherded on another vessel.   It was really quite seamless so kudos to the company.   We booked our trip with New England Aquarium Whale Watching which has a fleet of at least four large catamarans.    We were guaranteed to see whales and we did.

There she blows!

Mother and calf

Our guide was amazing and gave us lots of information about the specific whales we were seeing and about conservation.   According to NII’s Garmin watch, we went out 33 miles.   The catamaran was perfectly smooth  sailing.  No seasickness among us!

I would definitely do this again.

What a great trip we had and thank goodness we had Monday (Labor Day) to recuperate!

(Our hotel was just steps away from Eataly and I will probably post about that more for October’s “In My Kitchen” because you know I bought some gadgetry!)