A Boston weekend

I'm home from Boston! What a whirlwind weekend--it went by so quickly. I started to write out a detailed post about everything we did, but it would have taken forever, so I'll just do a quick recap.

Friday

I arrived in Boston at around 8:00 AM, and Caitlin and John picked me up from the airport. We headed from the airport to Sam Adams Brewery for a tour! "It's five o'clock somewhere" applies quite literally at Sam Adams Brewery, because all of their clocks are permanently set to 5:00, haha. So, the fact that it was a 9:30 on a Friday morning made no difference ;)

Waiting for our Sam Adams tour

First, we did a tasting while we were waiting for our tour. They had four blind samples of beers to taste and then respond to questions about each one on a computer.

Caitlin and I are not exactly beer-people, so we took a tiny sip of each just to see what we thought, but they all tasted the same to us. Our tour guide was awesome, and I learned quite a bit about making beer. I was mostly interested when he described putting unusual things into beers that are brewing--like oysters!

At the end of the tour, they gave us more beer to taste--some of their best sellers--so it was fun to taste without committing to a beer that I wasn't sure if I'd like. Then took a free shuttle/party bus to a cool pub called Doyle's. The driver of the bus was very intense, and had us cracking up. I felt like I was on a sitcom or something. I would love to do that again if I go back to Boston.

At Doyle's, I had the BEST fried pickles I've ever had in my life! Fried pickles are a favorite of mine, but these ones were honestly the best I've had.

Fried pickles at Doyle's

After lunch at Doyle's, we went on a mission to get a piece of carrot cake from Mike's Pastry. Their carrot cake is SO good, and I was looking forward to having a piece while I was in town!

Unfortunately, they were sold out. So I "settled" for a chocolate chip cannoli instead, and it was amazing. I'm kind of glad they didn't have the cake, because I wouldn't have tried the cannoli otherwise.

Chocolate chip cannoli from Mike's Pastry

We went to the Airbnb and chatted for a little while before going to a dive bar about a mile away. I love dive bars, especially when they have Keno. Caitlin and I played Keno, and we all chatted for several hours--it was exactly what I was looking forward to! I love being able to catch up with friends in a low-key environment.

At Sully's, the dive bar where we spent the evening

Saturday

I had gotten a comment on my blog from a reader named Rachel, who is from Boston and asked about meeting up. I hadn't planned an actual "meet-up" because I was only going to be there for two nights, but I suggested that she meet us for breakfast on Saturday morning. I was happy that it worked out, and she met us at a little cafe near the Airbnb.

Rachel!

I always get nervous before meeting readers, because I typically know NOTHING about them. There is a lot of my life described here on my blog, so I feel like they know all about me--but I'm literally meeting a stranger. Thankfully, Rachel turned out to be not just "normal/not a serial killer", but she was awesome! As soon as she walked up to the table, I stopped being nervous. We had great conversation, and a yummy breakfast. Then we said goodbye, and John, Caitlin, and I went into downtown Boston.

It was cold and raining, unfortunately! It was raining the last time I was in Boston, so I had hoped for nice weather, but no such luck. Still, we walked the Freedom Trail, stopping at David's Tea to warm our hands with a hot cup of tea.

Our first stop on the Freedom Trail

I love cemeteries, and I could have walked through this all day;
I'm amazed that these stones are in such good condition for being
from the 1700's. 

We went back to Mike's to see if they had carrot cake, and they told us to go back after 3:00, because it wasn't ready yet.

We went to Fenway Park for a tour. Caitlin and I both have Reynaud's (mine is terrible in my feet, and hers is in her hands). My feet started to get numb and then very painful, which drives me crazy! It was hard to walk up and down the stairs because my feet hurt from the Reynaud's (triggered from the cold). I was wishing Jerry was with me, because he would have loved the tour--but I'm pretty sure we'll go next year together, so he can see it then.

Fenway Park

It felt like January, not April!

After the park, Caitlin and I were dying to get warm, so we headed to the nearest restaurant for lunch. All I could think about was hot clam chowder. My toes finally thawed out, and I had some delicious chowder for lunch. John's friends, Will and Denise, met us there. They were fantastic people! I enjoyed getting to know them, and I could clearly see why John likes them so much.

After a late lunch, we went to Mike's (for the third time!) to get some carrot cake. It was only about 4:30, but they were out! The line for Mike's is insane--but it's totally worth it. And the line actually moves pretty quickly. We couldn't see if there was any carrot cake until we got to the front of the line, but we actually had fun while we waited.

The line outside of Mike's

Almost our turn! (That's Will on the right)

We walked to the car, and I couldn't resist getting a picture with this food truck, of course:

After that, we went to Caitlin's house to meet her boyfriend, Joe. Since our lunch was so late, we didn't get a chance to sit and chat, but Joe was great! His brother lives in Detroit, so we chatted about Detroit a little. Now, how is THIS for coincidence?--remember that day Caitlin came to visit last summer, and we went to Eastern Market in Detroit? Well, Joe (who Caitlin hadn't met yet!) was actually at a Tigers game in Detroit on that same day at the same time. Crazy, right?! They later met and are now smitten with each other ;)

Joe wanted to take us all out to dinner, so we went to a Chinese place called

Kowloon

. Holy cow--I can't even describe how cool this place was! I wish I'd have taken some pictures inside, because it was truly indescribable. It was the largest restaurant I'd ever seen in my life, and the atmosphere was really fun. Even with the restaurant being so large, there was a wait to get a table, so clearly the food was good.

The menu was overwhelming, and I asked Caitlin and Joe to just choose for me, because I wanted to eat what

they

like to eat there. They chose well--the food was AMAZING. I wasn't very hungry because our lunch was so late, but I instantly made room when I tasted the food ;) Another place I want to go back to with Jerry!

Just some of the food at Kowloon

After dinner, we went upstairs for a comedy show. I happen to really love comedy shows, so I was looking forward to it. When we walked in, the hostess sat us front and center--which is a notorious spot for getting heckled by the comedians. Thankfully, the only attention we got was when the first comedian accidentally knocked the microphone stand over, and it fell right between John and me. John caught it before it hit me, so that was cool ;)

Joe, Caitlin, me, and John

Anyway, we had lots of laughs at the comedy show; and then I was full, tired, and ready for bed--it was a long (fun) day!

Sunday

We took our time getting ready on Sunday morning, and then went to breakfast at the same little cafe as Saturday. I had packed up my stuff for the airport, because I knew I'd have to get there at 2:30. We got tickets for a Duck Tour (a tour around Boston from a vehicle that goes on land and in water). I learned some really interesting facts about Boston and saw some of the city I hadn't seen. It was fun! And the day ended up being beautiful--Friday and Saturday were cold and rainy, but Sunday made up for it.

I look so awkward in this photo, because I thought
John was taking a picture with me on the RIGHT,
and the "Duck Tours" sign on the left. Hahaha

I didn't know she had done this, but early in the morning, Caitlin called Mike's and ordered a WHOLE carrot cake! Hahaha. She wanted to make sure I got a piece of carrot cake before I left. After the Duck Tour, we stopped at Mike's to get the cake. We drove around for a while looking for parking so that we could each have some, but we couldn't find a spot--and it was time to head to the airport. So, we did what any carrot-cake-hungry people would do and we stopped in the cell phone lot. I cut out a slice of cake to take into the airport with me, and we all had a couple of bites of cake in the car. It was just as delicious as I remembered! (I imagine the other people in the lot were pretty curious about the three of us swooning over bites of cake in the car, lol)

Caitlin and John dropped me off, and I headed home. I had such a fun weekend, but it felt good to get home and see all my boys. I was wound up last night and couldn't fall asleep until around midnight; then I got up with the kids today. I'm exhausted! But thankfully, it's for good reason. I'm looking forward to going back to Boston (hopefully with Jerry) next year!

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