I packed my bags in 2011 and left Oklahoma. But like the saying goes “home is where the heart is” definitely lies true, because there is not a day that goes by that I do not think about and miss my family. While living in California, my mother and brother both came to visit me. Now, living in Boston, I just had my first two visitors, my papa and brother! It makes my heart happy every time I get to see them.
Papa and Tayler arrived early Friday morning. Although they were expecting to lie down for a few hours, I had different plans in store for them. We headed straight to a local diner to get some grub and a little caffeine to start the day. We then headed over to downtown Boston to begin the Freedom Trail. The one other time I walked the Freedom Trail, I started around 7 am. I find this to be the best time, especially in the summer. You beat the heat and the crowds.
We began the journey in the Boston Commons and then followed the red brick line. The trail starts in a space of serenity, and then you get mixed up in the crazy downtown eight am foot and car traffic, grabbing pieces of history along the way, and ending up at the Bunker Hill Monument.
Along the way we walked through Faneuil Hall, Quincy Market, and tried going into Paul Revere’s house, but it was too early for all of the above. However, it was awesome seeing it in a not so hectic environment.
On the way back from Bunker Hill, my brother had never tried a cannoli. So, of course, we stopped at Mike’s Pastry. T got the chocolate chip and I shared my Oreo cannoli. By far my favorite! And since my brother got a treat, my papa decided he was thirsty. So, first stop after the cannoli was Goody Glover’s Pub. And this is where the unintentional pub crawl began. We were the first people in there, so it didn’t provide the ambiance we were looking for, so we headed back down the trail to Bell in Hand, their claim to fame as being the “first tavern”. One beer turned into another and another. And what better pub food to grab then a cold lobster (lobsta) roll and some clam chowder (chowda). My brothers first time to try both… and he loved them! He isn’t the picky eater he was 10 years ago! The next pub was right across the ally at the Green Dragon, and although it was mid-day, this was our nightcap.
The next day was a recovery day for some, but Mike had a Spartan race to be at in Connecticut at 830 in the morning. Needless to say, the drive there was long. After arriving back home, everyone was pretty comatose, so no field trips were done that day. We grabbed dinner at Legal Seafood’s in Chestnut Hill. The restaurant has nice ambiance, but with so many other seafood options around town, I’m not sure if we will be back. After dinner, we drove around the Newton neighborhoods to look at the beautiful homes and to learn some history on some of the Victorian style homes.
Sunday, we were up and at it again! We grabbed breakfast at another local diner, the New York Diner. Then we headed over to Charleston area to view the USS Constitution. It’s always great having people come visit, so you can also do all of the tourist things you wouldn’t normally do on your days off. This was really different from the aircraft carrier, USS Midway in San Diego. We walked around the Harbor area to view some more history and then headed back. With not much on our list, we decided to drive over to Harvard. What better timing to go than when school is out? The campus is beautiful, although there are many restrictions where visitors can not enter, so it definitely limited the trip. We grabbed a bite in Harvard Square and then headed back. My brother is an amazing runner, so we also drove over to Newton to the Heartbreak Hill store to pick up a couple souvenir shirts. After a bit of rest and soccer, we decided to cook out delicious turkey burgers for the evening.
Monday, was a sad day. Unfortunately, I had to go back to work and my family had a flight out that evening. So, all of us had a case of the Mondays.
Although it is sad to see them go, I am so blessed that they had a safe flight and were able to visit me! Now I get to look forward to visiting them and trying to get my mother to plan a trip to the East Coast!
