Snapshots of the Northeast // Days 1 & 2 // Boston // October 2018

Back in October we flew out to Boston to meet up with our friends Brittany and Tyler and their little one Ada. We spent an evening and a day in Boston before heading out on a Northeast road trip. Stay tuned for snapshots from Salem, MA, Portland, ME, The White Mountains, NH, Galusha Farms,VT, and a teeny tiny bit of time in Providence, RI.

Edward Cullen??

I was in love with this pretty green restroom. LOL

These are spools of thread!

Mermaid Spotted in Boston.

We ate hear back in 2013!

Eat: we definitely had as much lobster as possible on our trip...

• Giacomo's Ristorante - This place was SO GOOD. If you like pasta, you are set. I had the lobster ravioli (divine), KC had a seafood pasta (super good), Tyler had the Butternut Squash Ravioli (which he swears by), and Brittany tried something with prosciutto and peas. The dessert was also super good. This place is small so you might have a wait, it was worth it for us though. 
• James Hook & Co. - KC wanted a lobster roll after dreaming about the one he had in NYC for over a year. This place was just ok, but we might have caught them at a busy time. Super simple menu, fun outdoor seating. Wouldn't particularly recommend unless you are very near.
• Granary Tavern - We did not eat here on this trip, but we did get a little bit of nostalgia seeing this place on a walk. We loved eating here back in 2013. 
• Ghiradelli - We stopped for a milkshake at Ghiradelli. KC loved it. LOL
• Doyle's Pub - We were looking for an Irish Pub, and this was the closest that google got us. It was in a suburb of the city and had a cool vibe, but very little Irish or Irish American food. I had lobster mac and cheese that was just ok and KC got some pub nachos that he really enjoyed. 

See: Market Areas, Faneuil Hall, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Shop: 

• Brattle Book Shop - Indoor/outdoor bookstore. Honestly it is a bit of a crapshoot on the collection outside, but it is fun to dig and to be in a big bookstore. Found a few things inside.

Do: 

• Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum - We always like to catch an art museum on our trips. Since we hadn't spent a lot of time in Boston before we chose the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum because it was smaller than the MFA. This home-turned-museum was fascinating and filled with sculptures, relics, and art. I wouldn't like to live there, but it was definitely fascinating. Worth the visit if you're in the city. So cool that ISG had a portrait of her and her daughter painted by John Singer Sargeant as well. Wow! The Common Threads exhibit was interesting as well. I particularly enjoyed the random green bathroom!
• Faneuil Marketplace - We visited South Market and had fun walking around the area. We saw an antique printing press where they were printing copies of the declaration of independence which was cool. This is mostly a shopping area, but a good place to stop for a snack or shopping.

Stay: We stayed with our friends in Boston on the days in the city.

Favorites: Lobster Ravioli, The Green Bathroom, and the Paintings at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

New Experiences: Lobster Ravioli. :) 

Have you been to Boston? What were some of your favorite things to do? 

Do you have any fun trips coming up?! We are heading somewhere really exciting in December! Any guesses?!

Other Northeast Posts: 

More Northeast travel posts coming soon!

Happy Travels!

XO,

Alexandra

Snapshots of Boston // Cruise // July 2013

Because our cruise departed from Boston, we had time before and after the cruise to explore the city.. or so we thought.

Before we left our house for the airport we got a call that our first flight (from Kansas City to Detroit) was delayed. We left early so we would have a better chance of making a change and catching our connecting flight (to Boston). 

On the drive in, we got another call that it was delayed an additional period of time. It was chaos for a while... we had to cancel things and change things and it was pretty terrible... in the end our flight was delayed 4(!) hours. 

We finally got to Detroit at about 11pm E, with a voucher for a free hotel (thank you, Delta). We took the shuttle to the hotel and finally got up to the counter, only to find out that they were full, and our voucher wasn't worth anything to them. The very nicely helped us contact Delta and got a new place for us to go. Their shuttle got us there and we checked in.. (without a new voucher..) and finally got to sleep at about 1 AM E. 

Luckily our flight to Boston was swapped for one the next morning and there were no delays on this leg of the trip!

So, we really ended up just having free time at the end of our trip.. but that's ok... because it was AMAZING!

We got off the boat and checked into our hotel, the Harborside Inn, which happened to have a pretty cool mermaid painting behind the reception desk... :) We took a nap and then walked over the the New England Aquarium where we saw that they had WHALE WATCHING(!) tours that were associated with the aquarium! 

We decided to go for it and booked a tour for the next day early in the morning, so we could still make our late afternoon flight. The aquarium + whale watching tickets were just $45 each! :) It was such a great deal! (the cruise excursions for whale watching were at least $100 per person!)

We spent the afternoon at the aquarium and saw the right whale skeleton, so huge! and not even a fully grown whale! The size is baffling, the fact that they have a juvenile whale skeleton.. is pretty sad. But, at least it is helping people learn.

We watched the penguins, which was so fun! They couldn't get one to eat, finally we had to walk away because he was kind of sad.

Then we saw the various tanks including one with these two silly yellow fish that kept spitting out dirt toward the people watching. They were very expressive, and it was hilarious. They were probably angry, though no one was tapping on the glass.

The seals were very fun, one in particular was playing with a torpedo pool toy and it was so entertaining to watch! He played for about 5 minutes! There were also other seals in front of the aquarium outside, which swam a lot and were very fun! It was too hard to take a picture because of the glare. I love the seals they are so chubby and have funny little feet. :) 

After the aquarium we sat on the steps by the harbor and watched the boats and had some ice cream. It was so nice by the water, breezy and cool. :)

After that we relaxed a bit before a late dinner at a brewery called the Granary Tavern, one block over from our hotel. It was so nice outside, so we sat on the patio and ordered delicious flat breads (mine: Margherita, his: Hawaiian). 

We also had dessert, Kyle got chocolate torte and I got apple crisp. My crisp seemed like it had been sitting a while before baking, all of the cinnamon was in the bottom... but it was still good. Kyle's was yummy! Location was the most important part! (we were tired!)

The next day we got up and walked to the Starbucks before getting ready to whale watch. It was SO exciting!

We got on the boat and got a spot on the front, I had a jacket and a hat and lots of sunscreen so I wouldn't burn. 

The water was great and the the catamaran was so fast (look at Kyle's hair!)! We sailed for about an hour and a half before we got to Stellwagen Marine Sanctuary, where the whales come to feed in the summer. They spend the winter in the Caribbean with their calves and then come up to Boston in the summer to gorge themselves on lots of fish! 

We got to see the three main whales that live in that area!!! 

First we saw a Humpback named Nile, she was beautiful! Humpback tails are like human finger prints, and our marine biologist was able to identify her! So cool!

Sadly, the boat favored the right side and I was in the middle so I didn't get a ton of great shots, but seeing them was my goal.. and I did and I was AMAZED!

Then we saw a Finback Whale, which is the second largest animal living on earth! 

It was GIGANTIC! 

It was longer than our boat, which was so incredible to see. I got much closer looks and better pictures at/of that one. 

Then we saw a Minke Whale which is the smallest one in that area, about the size of a dolphin. Kyle laughs when I say "the little whale" because it is still 20 feet long. :)

When we were on the cruise, we saw maybe 20 whales in the distance, it was my first sighting and so breathtaking. I asked the marine biologist on the whale watching ship about them based on what we saw etc. and she said that they were probably Humbacks, which is so cool, because they are my favorites! Seeing them was so out of the blue, one of those perfect moments!

When we were done I realized that I was TOTALLY sunburnt.. :( So the way home was not super fun.. but it was very very worth it! I would definitely recommend this trip and hope to go whale watching many more times in many more locations in the future!

As you've seen from my Saint John, NB post, my Halifax, NS post and this post... this was pretty much a trip of a lifetime for me! And I had no idea in advance, so it was so exciting to happen upon so many whales, mermaids, good food and beautiful sights! Click the links to the other posts to explore the Canadian ports!

Up next: some of the Cruise pictures.. since none of these photos were actually from the ship :)

Have you ever been whale watching? If so, please share the details!

All for now,

Alexandra