Saturday I joined Abby and Sean for the Head of the Charles Regatta. It is a crew regatta up the Charles River and is the largest crew regatta in the world! We drove over to Joe and Ally’s house and then walked to the races. It was neat to see, but not really as exciting as I expected. It was more of just a fun day along the river. I think that is in part because it’s run like a time trail, rather then head to head the way I’ve seen run on TV in the Olympics. They do catch and pass the boats in front of them occasionally, but it’s still not most exciting thing to watch. Don’t get me wrong, it was a wonderful and fun day, just not what I expected. And isn’t it the things that you don’t expect that are the best anyway? The crowd was amazing, dozens of colleges and non-colleges all together and from all over the place. Plenty of teams come in from other countries. Meeting Abby’s friends Alley and Joe was great to, really nice people who are doing an insane remodel on thier house. (P.S. Lots more photos on Flickr)
I didn’t have definite plans on Sunday and thought about heading to Cape Cod for the day, or Salem. Ultimately I got a slow start (nearly noon) since I spent the morning figuring out where to go and what to do and that meant that Cape Cod was out since it was to far away to visit.
I should mention I hadn’t really “planned” anything in the Boston area because I don’t plan… and because I didn’t plan on staying more than two nights. However, just before leaving Pennsylvania I found out that there is a new Thai Consulate office in Boston that could issue me a visa on the spot, but only by appointment. So I had an appointment for Monday and asked Abby if I could stay an extra day or two.
Salem was great and much bigger than I expected. I spent the early part of the afternoon walking the streets of the “Witch Village” with Tucker, taking time to go down some non-touristy streets and check out the architecture as well. Later in the afternoon I discovered there was an entire other side to Salem, the historic side, and I spent the early evening checking out the old wharf and old buildings. Then when I finally was about to leave Salem I stumbled upon a walking tour and thought what the heck and took a 90 minutes walking tour to end the evening. Tucker and I were both certainly walked out for the day…
Monday I left a still tired from the day before Tucker at Abby’s and headed into Boston alone by “T” (Boston’s Subway). Getting my Thai visa was way easier than I had feared and they got it done on the spot, rather than the usually 24/48 hour turn around. I spent the rest of the day exploring Boston. Taking TWO guided walking tours of the Freedom Trail. I’m a big fan of walking tours. These were both good and very different from one another. The first was run by the city and started at Boston Commons. The guide was dress in period (1770’s) clothing and took us past graveyards and historic buildings. He was lively and animated and told colorful stories. I was amazed at the role Boston played in the birth of the nation. Later in the day I took another walking tour, this one though the National Park Service, which operates a National Historical Site in the center of the city. This tour was lead by a park ranger, a park ranger with a history degree. It wasn’t as animated, but it wasn’t dull either. The Park Ranger went to deeper historical details and timelines which was a welcome bit of info. I ended the day by walking the remaining portion of the Freedom trail, not covered in either tour. From the end of the second tour, at the Paul Revere monument, I headed north across the bridge to the USS Constitution, and then returned to the city proper, via water taxi which made for a beautiful end of the day.
Tuesday I finally departed Abby’s and headed for… Cape Cod. Well it’s one of the things I wanted to see so I thought I’d spend a day there then turn around and head north again.
After getting here, I’m glad I came, so much so I’m going to spend two nights here so that I’ll have a full day tomorrow to explore the Cape. I stumbled upon an incredible campground and campsite at Nickerson State Park. That’s a big part of why I’m staying, I’d like a couple days and nights here to enjoy this fabulous campground.
Melinda says
Love the picture of your dog who is about to have his head chopped off! =)
jb510 says
Thanks Meli! Glad to see you made it to my blog.