Nantucket!

Another bucket list item checked off.  I've wanted to go to Nantucket ever since "Wings" was on TV.  One of my favorite shows of all time.  No lie.

The weather did NOT cooperate today.  It was 43 and super windy, but it stopped raining on the (nauseating) ferry ride over.  I'm wearing all the same clothes I wore yesterday - thank God I brought long underwear tops and two cashmere sweaters.  Those along with a light jacket and then my raincoat kept me pretty much OK.

We at lunch at The Brotherhood of Thieves.  It was good, but expensive for lunch.  And I again ate way too much.  That seems to be a theme and I can hardly wait to get home and stop eating!

Here is the restaurant:

After the restaurant we went walking along main street and stopped in a shop or two.  I decided not to buy the $1,200 cashmere throw I saw.   (Honestly.  $1,200?  I mean I get that you weave it right there, but for God's sake.  Who can buy that??)

We then went to the Whaling Museum.  A good little museum, but the $20 per person ticket price was a bit much.  Are you seeing a theme on the island??

We then walked out to Brant Point Lighthouse, this cute little lighthouse not too far from the wharf.  See pictures below.  It was wicked windy, and we were freezing, so we decided to take the earlier ferry back to the Cape and head to our B&B earlier than planned.  I will put this on my "if I ever have enough money to be extravagant and come here for a week in the summer I will" list.  Definitely.  Loved it for the short time we were here.

Back at the B&B now...tomorrow, sightseeing on the Cape!

Chris at Brant Point Lighthouse

Lighthouse Selfie

Me...with Nantucket behind me...

Me...wayyyyyyyyy down by the lighthouse.

Chris...cold.  You know it is cold when Chris is cold.

Brant Point beach selfie.

Brotherhood of Thieves

Having lunch on Nantucket in this awesome little bar.  Started with quahog chowder and fried calamari.  I can't wait to see what the fish burrito is like!!

Seasick...

On the ferry to Nantucket...ugh.

Stoddard's Fine Food and Ale

This restaurant was really tasty.  From the oysters...to the charcuterie plate...to the fish and chips...to the awesome beer.  All very good.

Finished it off with a snickerdoodle-ice cream-sandwich.  Whoa.  Totally going to make that at home.

Oysters!! Bucket List Item. Check.

So tonight we had oysters.  First time.  Bucket list item.  Source of controversy and discussion.

My assessment?  Meh.

What is the big deal?  We shared a half dozen, and the first ones we had with mignonette sauce (whatever that was) and cocktail sauce.  #2 was naked - just chewed twice and horked it down.  Number three was just with lemon juice.

I feel like there is something I'm missing.  To begin with, I was expecting it to be WAY more like a big phlegm globber.  Not so.  More like a watery...I don't know...rubbery piece of chicken or fish?  With the first one, it just tasted like the sauce.  The second one was actually better naked - briny, salty, like the sea.  I dug that.  The third one was maybe my favorite, with just a bit of lemon juice.

We'll be on Cape Cod on Thursday, and we'll get them again in Wellfleet.  Let's see how we do then.

Before...

After...

Lunch in North End

Someone at work mentioned to have Italian food in the North End...so we did.  A little place called Panza.  It was pretty good.

We started with mussels...which were huge, and kind of freaked me out the more I ate.  I guess it is what they look like and the texture.  How am I going to eat oysters later???   I'm a little scared.

We each had pasta - mine was sweet potato tortelloni in a brown butter sauce - YUMMY but super rich.  Chris has cavatelli with sausage, tomato, roasted red pepper.  I liked his better.

Then we walked back to the hotel, stopped at Whole Foods to get breakfast for tomorrow, and then took a nap!

The internet connection is SO SLOW, we've been working on the blog for an hour to upload all the pictures while watching Dangerous Catch.  Yep, this is how we vacation...

Freedom Trail

We headed out this morning for our walking tour after having breakfast at Mike & Patty's.  This is the outside, and the inside...the whole inside including the kitchen, was about the size of our dining room.  We had a couple of tasty egg sandwiches and then walked to Boston Common to start our walking tour.

We then saw the following sites and took these pics!  And by the way, it was about 48 degrees and WINDY.  Brrrrrrrr...

• Boston Common
• Massachusetts State House
• Park Street Church
• Granary Burying Ground
• King's Chapel and Burying Ground
• Old South Meeting House
• Old State House and Boston Massacre Site
• Faneuil Hall
• Paul Revere House

Boston Common

Us in front of the Massachusetts State House

Massachusetts State House

Park Street Church

Granary Burying Ground - Final Resting Place of Samuel Adams,
John Hancock, Robert Treat Paine (signers of the Declaration
of Independence), Paul Revere, and Ben Franklin's parents.

Granary Burying Ground - Samuel Adams Tombstone

Granary Burying Ground - Paul Revere's Tombstone

Granary Burying Ground - John Hancock's Tomb Marker

Granary Burying Ground - Ben Franklin's Parent's Tomb

King's Chapel

Old South Meeting House - where the Boston Tea Party meeting
occurred and the event was planned.

Old State House / Across the street from where
the Boston Massacre (clash between Bostonians and Redcoats
in which five men died)

Faneuil Hall (site where Americans first protested against the Sugar
Act and Stamp Act that would set the doctrine of "no taxation
without representation.")

Paul Revere's House

Boston Selfie

Treachery...

A little nervous about turning an ankle...

I'm freezing my ass off.

Tuesday in Boston - Freedom Trail!

The plan today is to walk the Freedom Trail - a collection of historic sites related to the American Revolution.

http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/

And it's going to be 49 with a chilly wind!

Awesome.

Oh well, we need the walk.  When we get home, we need some life changes with eating and drinking...at least until mid June when we go to Michigan for the National Homebrew Conference.

Cue Gretchen...  :)

Then tonight we are eating at Stoddard's Food & Ale.  Get ready for OYSTERS!!!!

What is with the honking?

I have never seen such bad driving as I have here in Boston.  Now, I don't mean scary, aggressive, "oh my God I'm going to die" driving.  But slow, inattentive, dumb driving.  And I'm from Minnesota, so I know dumb drivers.

And the honking??  I mean, with all the traffic where do they think the person in front of them can go? 

Stupid. 

OK, let's go back to yesterday...Salem

So we drove from New Jersey up to Boston yesterday.  It was sunny and breezy all the way through New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut, and then as soon as we were in Massachusetts it got all cloudy and chilly.

We stopped at a McDonald's for lunch because we were starving - and as I remembered soon after, like every time I have McDonald's...we should have stayed hungry.  Ugh.

We decided to go straight to Salem and bypass Boston rush hour traffic.  And the traffic here is stupid, by the way.

We went to the Salem Witch Museum, and were treated to a tour - um...super cheesy.  But Erin, our probably 16 year old tour guide, was in Puritan dress and stayed totally in character for the 25 minute tour.  I had to hand it to her, she was all in.

But in reality, it is just a really sad event - 19 people hanged, 1 crushed to death, and 5 died in prison.  All for intolerance.  Clearly we haven't learned much as a human race since 1692, have we?

After the cheesy museum tour, we went to the Salem Witch Trials Memorial, dedicated by Elie Wiesel.  It's actually a beautiful little park, next to the The Burying Point, the oldest cemetery in Salem.  It's quiet and quite peaceful, and beautifully done with 20 stone benches with the names and dates for each of those hanged/crushed.  You'll recognize some of the names if you have seen or read "The Crucible."

Quite lovely - I'm glad we came.

Hmmm...naive?

So our cab driver on the way back from the hotel talked us up about sports teams.  Do you think they take a course in how to talk up tourists?

Blind Man's Bluff

Just get readers already!!!

Out of order...

We are at Lord Hobo in Cambridge...amazing!!  I have had a Bear Republic Mach 10 and some damn thing called Pretty Things Fluffy White Rabbits (its a tripel).  Chris had Port Wipeout IPA and Trillium Trillium. 

Shared the mac and cheese with bacon, and the caprese sandwich with proscuitto.  Hard to be disappointed.

AND!!  They are playing the entire Thriller LP.  Just heard PYT.  Come on.  My life is amazing.

Hi. Nicest cab driver ever.

Our cab driver in Boston is the nicest person ever.  Asked where we were from, then chatted us up about home town sports.  Good man.  Makes up for that drive in from hell.

WTF??

Ok, I will properly blog about our day in sequence later, but what in the fuck is with the streets, freeways, and roads in Boston???  CLUSTER FUCK.

(But we are staying at The Liberty and you get complementary champagne when you check in.  It's clearly because of that fucking drive in.  Cheers!!)

Ironic

Before we left we were talking to JM's dad about our trip.  He lives in Rhode Island and we were joking that on our way from New York to Boston we would drive right by their house.

It's ironic that we are bypassing Rhode Island completely with the way the GPS led us.  We now will have been in every state in New England except where we know good people!

Can everyone tell...

...that I am bored and sick of being in the car?  

Chris's Tooth

I forgot to give an update on my early comment about Chris cracking his tooth and then getting an emergency root canal and temporary crown before we left.

Let's just say that flying three days after a root canal isn't something I would advise.  He was in a huge amount of pain Friday night, so we called Larry, our dentist, and he called in a prescription for pain killers and antibiotics.

That did the trick!  After Saturday about mid day, all better.  Let me also say there are few things more important than a dentist you can you can trust and rely on.  And that is Larry. He is awesome.

So long, New Jersey...

We had a wonderful time in New Jersey with Katie and Patrick and the girls.  Such gracious hosts, they carted us to New York twice, and hosted us for three days.  To say they are great friends is quite an understatement.

On our way to Boston now...got cloudy when we hit Massachusetts.  Hopefully the rain will hold off as we head for a quick trip to Salem before checking into our hotel.  More to come...

Bucket List Item: Broadway Play. Check.

Saw Kinky Boots today on Broadway - loved it!!  Great play, great singing, great music.  And super funny.  I can cross this one off my bucket list!

New York Slice!

Finally...he got his slice of pizza.  Imagine how much grease was ingested if that was left on the plate.

Whoa.

Torst Dork

This guy was as Torst yesterday...d-bag.

Shoe Shopping

Went to a shoe store and almost bought these...but they didn't have my size.  Jack Purcell Converse.

Word.