This June Taylor & I went on a trip to New England that was a gifted trip from his stepdad & mom! We had our choice of destinations and we went with New England because we hadn't been there, and we felt like we could see the most in the 8 days we had! We decided we would name it our official
"Dental School Moon". Like a baby moon, just before dental school instead of before a baby. :) We went to Boston, Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, Portland (Maine), the White Mountains, Woodstock (Vermont) & Springfield. There were multiple stops along the way, as we decided to road trip once we landed in Boston! Our only rule was that we didn't have a schedule. If you know me you know that I live for planning and schedules, but it was a really nice break to not have one. We didn't rush anywhere, we stopped when we wanted to and stayed longer if we felt like it. I loved it!
Day One : Saturday : San Antonio to Boston
We got up
early before the sun on Saturday morning (3:30AM), got ready and headed to the airport! We thought that since our flight was at 5:45AM that we shouldn't have any problem checking our bags, going through security, etc. - spoiler alert - we were wrong! I've never seen so many people awake at 4:45AM!!! We were SO lucky though because since Taylor's stepdad booked our flights we were able to enjoy HIS perks - going through the shortest line at the airport! YAY! The flight to Houston was a breeze, as was the flight to Boston! We landed in Boston at noon, picked up our rental car and set out on our dental school moon!
First stop was the Sam Adams Brewery. It was a quaint brewery with a short tour. At the end they let you sample three of their beers. I did my best but I just couldn't quite appreciate the taste. After the tour we drove through Boston (HORRIBLE IDEA for the record) to find a pizza place a friend told me about. Once we found the spot we started the next obstacle in Boston - parking. We finally found a garage and walked to Regina Pizzeria. It was delicious! We had a supreme and a four cheese, and just about finished both!
After pizza we went to the New England Aquarium. Taylor isn't pursuing marine science anymore but he still loves marine life/aquariums and so do I! Everywhere we go we are sure to find the aquarium and check it out! I think my favorite is still the Atlanta Aquarium. The aquarium was great and afterwards we were able to hang out on the pier behind the aquarium and enjoy the nice weather and view!
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| Boston Harbor |
For dinner we drove about an hour south of Boston to eat at
Wahlburgers in Hingham, MA. I hadn't heard of Wahlburgers until a couple weeks before our trip when we were flipping through the channels and saw the show about the Wahlburgs & their burger joint. It wasn't anything special, just burgers, fries & tots, but it was a goooood burger! We also had a
FlufferNutter for dessert that was delicious! We stayed the night in Newton and prepared for Sunday which was going to be a FULL day!
Day Two : Sunday : Boston Freedom Trail
We woke up early on Sunday and headed into Boston. After paying over $50 for parking on Saturday I did some research and found out that you can park in the Post Office parking garage downtown for $9 ALL DAY on Saturday & Sunday. I was pretty proud of this as you can see!
Our plan was the Freedom Trail & lobster rolls along the way! I would say that we accomplished our goals for the day. We walked the entire Freedom Trail and had two lobster rolls for lunch! We walked a total of 10 miles!!! It really was nice not worrying about traffic all day! We made sure to start at the beginning of the Freedom Trail - Boston Common. I would really recommend this day trip to anyone going to Boston. It was so educational and really interesting! Even if you can't go you should check it out and see how much history Boston holds!
www.thefreedomtrail.org
We hit every spot along the trail! The Granary Burying Ground was one of the most interesting stops for me. Multiple famous people from our history are buried there, but what I found so surprising was that they weren't given huge headstones or crypts when they died. They were important, but not treated as so at that time. As the years passed others put monuments/grander headstones where they were buried, but initially they were only mere headstones like the rest of the people buried there. Paul Revere, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Robert Trent Paine & the victims of the Boston Massacre were among those buried here.
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| The Barking Crab |
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| James Hook & Co. |
We saw 2 of the first churches in Boston, Park Street Church & King's Chapel along with King's Chapel burying ground. We visited the Boston Massacre site along with the Old State House and headed for lunch! We decided we would try two Lobster Roll places and have one at each! First stop was The Barking Crab! This was my favorite lobster roll of the trip. It may have been because it was my first, I don't know, I just know I loved it! Then we walked back over the bridge and had another at James Hook & Co. It was good as well, just a little too mayonnaise-y for me.
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| On the Trail! |
After lunch we hit the trail again and headed towards Quincy Market where there were street performers galore! We decided we needed to try a cannoli from Mike's Pastry's in the North End (Boston's little Italy). They were great! Taylor had a caramel pecan crunch and I had peanut butter (naturally). We went to Paul Revere's house as we finished our cannoli's. Then we prepared for the longest part of our trek - all the way north on that map you'll see Bunker Hill - and that's where we were going! We saw the Old North Church, where the lanterns were hung "One if by land, two if by sea". We stopped at another burial ground and then headed over the bridge. For those who don't know, I HATE bridges! They terrify me! Yes, I know it's 2015 and we know how to construct bridges, but they still make me nervous. Well we got to
walk RUN over that very long bridge - twice. Along the way to the Bunker Hill Monument we saw a parade for flag day in a small neighborhood. It was so fun to see, an added bonus to our tour! We sat on Bunker Hill for a while and rested/enjoyed the weather. We had tickets for the Boston Harbor Cruise that evening so we made our way back towards the docks.
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| The city of Boston from the harbor |
The cruise was really nice. There was a tour guide who pointed out everything in the harbor and along the shore. Multiple planes flew right above us as the Boston airport is in the harbor. It did get quite cold on the cruise so we opted to sit inside for the ride back in. We knew we wanted to have dinner in the North End so we made our way towards there after docking. We found a couple Italian places that sounded good and each stood outside and waited for table at each. --Side note: that was the strangest part of the northeast for me, you don't put your name on a list for table, you just wait in line and they will come get you when a table is available.-- My place won so Taylor joined me and we had GREAT Italian food for dinner! The windows were open and the weather was awesome! I had lobster ravioli (a new favorite!) and Taylor had chicken parmesan! We walked back to our car and headed south to our hotel for the next couple of days in New Bedford! Two days down - Seven to Go!
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| The Boston Freedom Trail |
