Boston Road Trip 2009

Okay, for anyone bored enough to want to read it, this is a condensed version of our road trip...

Friday, September 11, 2009

We left York at 7:00 AM; I had already decided for an early start to avoid a repeat of our last Boston trip. There was no way I was driving in the city after dark again! No worries, though; Isie was up and we left on time. It was raining, though, which made the drive a bit challenging at times. It was pretty uneventful, though; other than a bit of traffic at the beginning, and a delay at the George Washington Bridge, we made good time, arriving in Boston at 2:34 PM. Our GPS had started out with an ETA of 1:13, but with the rain, traffic, and our 2 stops, 1 for gas and 1 for food, it added about an hour and twenty minutes. Still, 7 and a half hours was not bad at all. And conveniently, our hotel was right off 93, so there was no trouble finding it.

We checked in, went to the room, and waited for Sherry. Her flight into Logan had been delayed, so she didn't arrive at the hotel until after 5. She got settled, then came up to our room. After talking for a bit, we decided that since it was so late, we would just walk across the parking lot to the Olive Garden for dinner instead of trying to navigate the 'T' and find someplace to eat. We had a great time, then came back to our room and watched TV and played on the computer for a bit. Sherry did the trivia question, and Isie and I hashed it out, all the while trying to list the Bones first season episodes in order. Isie did it, too...eventually. Lol

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Woke up to a very rainy and wet morning. I let Isie sleep late, seeing as I was going to make her get up earlier tomorrow. Meanwhile, Gimme texted me that she was going to come meet us for a bit. YAY! Now the challenge was to get Isie out of bed, lol. It took me awhile and she whined, but I did it...met Sherry downstairs for breakfast at 10:15...geez...lol.

After breakfast we hung out in the room until gimme got here, then we all headed off in the misting rain to Faneuil Hall. Gimme's so sweet, I loved meeting her! We walked to the 'T' station nearest our hotel...surprisingly we had no issues with public transportation this time, lol.

When we got to Faneuil Hall, it was raining a bit harder, so we went inside for awhile and had some lunch. I had lobster bisque, and it was awesome! After, we headed outside since the rain had stopped. The temperature was pleasant, even with the gray day. We looked around for a while and I bought a few postcards, including one that I should have gotten the last time I was here...an 'I got lost in Boston' one! Anyway, after a few hours we headed back, since Gimme had a lot to do this weekend and couldn't stay too long. It's too bad...I would have loved for her to stay over and meet kasper. However, we got back to the hotel and said goodbye.

After hanging out in the room for a bit, (I would say on the computer, but since Isie once again confiscated mine...), we decided on Bertucci's for dinner. There are a few different locations in Boston...I've only seen two, but we headed to the one in Brookline Village, since that's the only one I could remember exactly how to get there. I joked on the way that I hoped it was still there...turns out that wasn't so funny after all, seeing as when we got the check, there was a paper in it saying they were closing that location on September 16! However, we had dinner without incident, then returned to the hotel, where we once again watched TV and logged on the computer till we finally went to bed.

Meeting Kasper and possibly Fluff tomorrow, and it's supposed to be a much nicer day...can't wait!


Sunday, September 13, 2009

Today we woke up to a gray morning, however no more rain, and the weather was promising. I kicked Isie out of bed at 8:30, and we got to breakfast around 9. After breakfast, we started off to the Boston Common to start the Freedom Trail. The sun had come out, and it was a beautiful day.

Sherry bought a map, and we were on our way. First stop...the State House. After, we wandered along the trail...it's quite easy to follow, since the sidewalk is paved with a red brick line, or a red stripe. We made it to Quincy market before Kasper texted me to say she was on her way. We continued on through the North End, past Paul Revere's House and the Old North Church. Just before we crossed the bridge, kasper texted again, and we waited until she found us. Actually, her exact text was, “Are you across that stupid bridge?”...lol. Instead of continuing on the trail, since she didn't have much time to spend, we went to Mike's pastry. While we were there, Fluff called to say that she had arrived.

She said that she was at the Old North Church, so Kas went to find her, but then she called to say that instead she was at Faneuil Hall. We told her to walk towards us on the trail, and met in the middle. Fluff is so sweet...she only had an hour or so to spend, but we had fun. We just all walked and talked for awhile...it's so nice to put a face to a name. And of course, I took lots of abuse from our dear ghost...it's what she's best at, though...lol.

After we left Fluff, we walked through the Public Garden. It's very pretty there, and I wanted to see the statues of the ducks from the book, “Make Way for Ducklings”, which took place there. How I knew that...me, who had never been there before...but Kasper, who has been going to school here for two years didn't is beyond me. Her excuse was that she's not a tour guide, she's a human. I'm still waiting for the scientific proof of that...

Sherry left us shortly after that to go back to the hotel, and Kas, Isie and I continued on toward the Prudential Building. Of course, Kasper had to leave to go back, so Isie and I went on alone. We walked for a bit then went back to the hotel to relax before dinner.

Sherry, Isie and I went to Fire and Ice for dinner. Kasper recommended it, and gave us directions. Well, the 'directions' weren't quite the best, but we did eventually find it, and it was quite an experience. After, we made our way back to the hotel, where we relaxed for awhile before going to bed. Tomorrow we go home...but Isie and I are going to try to finish the Freedom Trail first. One more day!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Our last day...and for once, I didn't have to wake Isie up, she woke up herself just after 9. We got ready and headed down to breakfast, meeting Sherry around 9:30. After breakfast, we all went back to our rooms to pack. Sherry stopped up when she was finished to say goodbye; she had to catch the shuttle to Logan at 11.

At around 11:45, Isie and I checked out and started off; we decided to go into Boston for a bit before heading home, but first we had to stop at Target and get a cooler to bring our pastries home in. Instead of walking across the bridge to finish the Freedom Trail, we instead decided to go to Quincy Market and walk around for a bit and enjoy the day. It was once again sunny and beautiful.

We got off the 'T' at Downtown Crossing and decided to walk the rest of the way instead of transferring to the orange line. After a few minutes, we figured out which way to go, and in no time we were there. We walked around and bought a few souvenirs, then got some lunch before heading back. We got back to the car around 2:30, and we headed home.

We were hoping the trip home would be better, seeing as it was a nice sunny day, with no rain. However, we did have a few issues. Before we even left the city, as we were driving down the highway, a police officer had a person stopped on the side of the 3 lane highway. For some reason, a person in the extreme left lane had stopped and put his flashers on, right across from the cop...and the cop was screaming at the guy, telling him to get out of there. Of course, he used much stronger language than that...lol.

After a few mishaps with tractor trailers drifting into my lane, and a car that drove half off the road at 80 mph and that we thought was going to crash, (thankfully he didn't), we were finally in that great state of New Jersey. The one where apparently ezpass users on the turnpike don't even have a toll booth to go through...so when the sign said that ezpass users use the left lane, and others use the right, (on a four lane highway), I went into a right lane, but apparently not far enough, because I just followed the traffic and missed the stupid toll booth. So of course I had no ticket, and had to pay the highest toll...$6.95 for only going like 2 exits. Stupid state...

Anyway, we were hungry by this time, and needed to stop for something for dinner. Now, we were traveling on a highway, and we found an exit that had a McDonald's sign, (that's what Isie wanted), so we got off. But you have to remember, this is New Jersey...when it tells you that there is civilization at an exit, they mean that you have to drive forever to find it...lol. Eventually we found a hole-in-the-wall McDonald's that was just on the end of a tiny strip mall...it was attached to the other buildings, no drive through, and it closed at like 10 pm! However, we got our food and were again on our way. I love New Jersey! lol

Anyway, with no further incidents, we were home just before 10 PM. I miss Boston already...and again want to go back. Of course, this time the biggest reason is Fire and Ice...it was really good, and we have nothing like that around here, lol. So unless I'm going to CA, RI, or some little hick town in New York that I've never heard of, I need to go back to Boston for it...lol

It was great meeting Isie, Sherry, Gimme and Fluff...and Kasper is always a pleasure, of course, lol. I wonder who I'll meet on the next road trip...

Fly,

Thanks for a great time in Boston!

I had fun meeting you and the other fellow ABY'ers, and banging around Boston for a few days. Sight-seeing, souvenir shopping, eating, drinking, walking my poor tootsies off ... it was a great little adventure!!!

I'm going to post this here too, what I already stuck in the Totally Random thread earlier this morning ... because it's totally part of the Boston trip!

DBCrazy wrote:While sightseeing in Boston I wanted to get something Bones-y to remember the trip as a Bones-Boston trip. I met Fly and Squirt, and gimmeagun and Fluff and Kasper! I was sort of looking for something with a skull on it, but all I found was a baby shirt with a skull above "Boston". How weird, right! Anyway, I would've gotten an adult sized one, but no need for baby clothes.

So anyway, I kept seeing the book "Make Way for Ducklings" which is a Boston story about the ducks. The park even had a little monument to that story with the ducks for the kids to climb on. There's duck boat tours, and duck boat rides. Ducks all over. So in one little museum store we were in I found my Bones-Boston souvenir.

I was so excited!

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I can just see Booth sitting in that bathtub right now!! Thanks to the constant reminders this summer from Snoop's siggies! Yum!!

DBCrazy wrote:Fly,

Thanks for a great time in Boston!

I had fun meeting you and the other fellow ABY'ers, and banging around Boston for a few days. Sight-seeing, souvenir shopping, eating, drinking, walking my poor tootsies off ... it was a great little adventure!!!

I'm going to post this here too, what I already stuck in the Totally Random thread earlier this morning ... because it's totally part of the Boston trip!

DBCrazy wrote:While sightseeing in Boston I wanted to get something Bones-y to remember the trip as a Bones-Boston trip. I met Fly and Squirt, and gimmeagun and Fluff and Kasper! I was sort of looking for something with a skull on it, but all I found was a baby shirt with a skull above "Boston". How weird, right! Anyway, I would've gotten an adult sized one, but no need for baby clothes.

So anyway, I kept seeing the book "Make Way for Ducklings" which is a Boston story about the ducks. The park even had a little monument to that story with the ducks for the kids to climb on. There's duck boat tours, and duck boat rides. Ducks all over. So in one little museum store we were in I found my Bones-Boston souvenir.

I was so excited!

[Only admins are allowed to see this image][Only admins are allowed to see this link] alt="" />

I can just see Booth sitting in that bathtub right now!! Thanks to the constant reminders this summer from Snoop's siggies! Yum!!

Yay for Bones-Boston souveniers!!!! And I totally love Make Way for Ducklings!! Fun fact: it's the official children's book of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

I loved meeting you guys and maybe if/when we meet up next time, I'll actually have time to do stuff with you all!

Next time you're road tripping you should all head down under!!!

i_heart_bones wrote:Next time you're road tripping you should all head down under!!!

Oh believe me, I'd love to...but it's a little far to drive...lol

sounds like you peeps had fun...........and fly....you had to wait until 10:15 for grub to get out of bed????? oh you must have been going nuts.......because if anyone knows fly......well she is up at the crack of dawn........in fact when we went last time to boston....she was ALWAYS the first one up and the last one to bed........and at her house.....i dont even think she slept........i however am a morning person.......not too early.....but was up by 7:30 ......so i dont think i drove her too nuts.......and bertuccis.......oh i loved that place..........fly liked the fuzzy navels...........and i am sooooooooooooo jealous you met all those other peeps.......including crazy.......maybe another time.........all will be well..............

flyersfan35 wrote:

i_heart_bones wrote:Next time you're road tripping you should all head down under!!!

Oh believe me, I'd love to...but it's a little far to drive...lol

hmmm you could be right!