Boston!

I had a really good time in Boston. 

As part of my recovery, the doctor ordered me to sojourn to Boston for the weekend.

And by doctor, I mean my buddy, Dr. Emily.

(It's ok, because she's a real doctor.)

Dr. Emily moved to Boston back in July, and a group of us agreed that we needed to visit her. And the Samuel Adams brewery. Until we heard that the Harpoon Brewery was way better, and then it was ascertained that we needed to visit Dr. Emily. And the Harpoon Brewery.

Fall is a pretty fantastic time to visit anywhere in the north east, and while none of the leaves had yet begun to wear the Autumn Line, the weather was absolutely beautiful. Kind of. On Sunday.

My pals and I flew out early Saturday morning (and flew back butt-early Monday morning, in time to make it to work) and in the course of the barely-48 hours that we were there, we saw a lot of Boston.

The sky was not at all pretty.

Not my first time, bee-tee-dubs - Boston and I go way back. In 2003, I lived in Maine for a summer and worked as a camp counselor, and weekends/days off often meant trips to Boston. We'd pool together our cash to get a motel room ($79 a night for 1 room for 7 people) and two cases of beer ($20 for some delicious Keystone Lite) and then traipse around the nicer parts of Boston pretending like we weren't gross, dirty camp counselors with hemp necklaces and Tevas, but tourists on vacayyyy.

I also went to Boston for a conference in 2005 where I stayed in a (much nicer) hotel and posessed a thing called a "per diem" and discovered that Boston has a pretty spectacular night life.

But I haven't been to old Beantown in years, except to fly in and out of Logan on various Trans-Atlantic adventures. And, mostly, I just wanted to see my friend. Dr. Emily was really good to me in the year or so that The Gentleman moved overseas and she moved to Baltimore and became my partner in crime. I miss her dearly, but I am excited that now I get to go and visit her in Boston, because she's super fun and lives next to Fenway Park.

The weather was not so lovely the first day.

Now, it should be noted that Dr. Emily is an amazing host. Whatever you wanted/needed - Trader Joe's Coronas, hot tea, kale chips, a warmer blanket, a sweatshirt - it's yours. She will generously allow you to make fun of her really, really fat voluptuous cat. You want to take a nap? Dr. Emily will ask you if she should set an alarm for 15 minutes or two hours. She is truly a lovely host.

Except...Dr. Emily lives in a world where the time-space continuum is vastly different from that on earth. Meaning - if she tells you that something is "a brief, 10-15 minute walk away," this means that the destination is approximately 14 miles afar. She is a true creative when it comes to map reading, and Google maps can really only offer an approximation, right?

It took us an hour to walk from the T-stop downtown to the Harpoon Brewery. I'm certain there are faster better easier different ways to get there, but we took the T to East West Foreveraway and then walked 18.2 miles to the brewery. Signs taunted us along the way:

Harpoon Brewery and Beer Hall.

And then! Sweet victory! The Harpoon Beer Hall! Alas, tours were already booked for most of the day (we got there around 1pm and hadn't made a reservation), but we were invited to enjoy brew samplers and delicious pretzels at the beer hall. Which we did.

Harpoon Brewery Beer Hall, Boston

I basically LOVE pumpkin beer. I mean...love love. LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE. You get the idea.

We sampled a flight of "pilot beers" that came in this handy little Harpoon sampler shelf thingy.

Pretzels and a plethora of dips at the Harpoon Brewery

After the brewery, we went on another 18.2 mile jaunt of Boston. But we got to see some beautiful sights along the way, including the tequila bar at Temazcal. 

Dr. Emily loves tequila. And we love Dr. Emily. So, to a tequila bar we went....

....to taste some pretty ridiculous tequila. This stuff was approximately 400 years old, aged in the 

One of these was a pomegranate tequila. I'll let you figure out which one.

Damn Yankees and their damn lobsters.

T

T

Downtown

The Intercon, Boston

Our first night in Boston, we went for cocktails at The Hawthorne Bar (including a delightful champagne jobby called "Air Mail" while we awaited a table at Island Creek Oyster Bar. 

Air Mail! I don't know what's in it, but it's delightful!

I mean, how can you not?

The walls are lined with err-sters.

Smoked salmon toast 

Clamz

Errsters (shocking)

Amazing heirloom tomato and goat cheese salad

Boston Cream Pie, believe it or not - layers upon layers wrapped in dark chocolate. Amazing.

Brainiac ads on the T heading towards BC.

Sunday was beautiful.

Fenway Park area at night

Sunday was a pret-ty gorgeous day. Copley Square on Sunday morning

STOP LOOKING AT ME, SWAN (Public Gardens)

Boston Public Garden

Boston Public Library

public gardens

public gardens

sky

We went to the SoWa open market on Sunday which boasts food trucks, locally grown and/or produced foods, and crafts. I had a pretty epic ice cream cookie sandwich from the Cookie Monstah - peanut butter cookies and Reese's peanut butter ice cream. Soooo good.

Glorious Sunday brunch at Cafeteria

Sunday Funday!

Smoked salmon platter from Cafeteria

The finish line of the Boston marathon. This was a little heavy. But not as heavy as the dedicated light post near the bomb site...

We do, too.

Boston strong

Boston loves you too, Joanne & Charlie!

When you live next to Fenway, pre-gaming means delivery Indian and Trader Joses.

Naturally, we couldn't come to Boston and stay next to Fenway without going to see a Red Sox game. AND, we happened to be there during a Red Sox-Yankees game. It was pretty awesome.

Everyone drinks red wine at Red Sox vs Yankee games. Right?

Make way for ducklings! And random kids! 

Also, can we just talk about the fact that Dr. Emily's Trader Joes sells "Trader Jose" which is the cheap alternative to Corona and is like $5 FOR A 6-PACK?! WHEN WILL MARYLAND GET ON BOARD WITH THE SELLING OF THE ALCOHOLS IN THE GROCERY STORES?? (If it's anything like the gay marriage trend, we're only a few years behind....)

Leaving Boston at 6:30am on Monday morning. Hashtag no filter. Hashtag I'm tired. Hashtag COFFEE. Hashtag I slept the entire flight back to Baltimore.

Until next time, Boston! Now, just let us borrow Dr. Emily for a weekend or two. At least in Baltimore she can't tell me that something is "just a ten minute walk away."