Everyone was excited to visit Boston. It is a city rich with history and I looked forward to what we would see and learn. Kaden did his report on Boston and he kept telling me all the places we "needed" to visit. I was eager to see how Kaden would take in Boston - he did not disappoint. Kaden was our family expert.
Our first day in Boston was, for the most part, a long frustrating day. We arrived on the Friday of Labor Day weekend. We had talked about getting a hotel reservation before we left, but we never did. When we travel long distances in the car we don't usually make reservations because we like to drive for as long as we can keep our eyes open. We aren't really sure where that will put us, so instead we just start calling hotels about 30 minutes before we want to stop. Usually we don't have any trouble with that, but we aren't usually in a big city on a holiday - lesson learned. As a result, we spent the day driving around Boston trying to find a vacancy.
A neat feature of Boston is the tunnel system under the city. The boys loved the tunnels. Every time we neared one they would yell, "Hold your breath, there's another tunnel!" I guess we are lucky there was something to keep the boys mind off of driving circles around Boston. Many of the tunnels are quite long, so it was fun to see how far the boys could hold their breath. Most of the time they were laughing, so they didn't make it very far!
The other thing Boston has a lot of is toll roads and bridges - at least it seemed like it to us. Maybe we were just circling around so much that we kept paying the same toll! I really liked this bridge.
When we weren't looking for hotels, we were looking for sporting goods stores. Before we left on our trip we decided we would camp in Acadia National Park (Maine). I was a little concerned that we would not all fit in our tent. We got it out and everyone laid down inside. We all fit - people not luggage, but we decided that was okay. Well, until about two or three days before we left when Chad informed me that we needed to get a bigger tent. The only problem was stores don't sell nice 8 person tents in their establishments, they only sell them online. That wasn't an option, so instead we mapped out the REI's along the way and hoped for the best. Ahh, the best laid plans! I think we went to at least five sporting good stores in the greater Boston area. We did go to REI, but they only had their 8 person tents available online.
By late afternoon, I was starting to have a breakdown. We didn't have a hotel room, we hadn't found a tent, and we hadn't eaten since breakfast. I felt like I was going to burst! That is when we decided to stop at REI. Getting out of the car helped. I was able to feel the fresh air and walk around. We also decided to stop and eat. We went to a pizza place just across the street from REI. It was a fun place. It was decorated in a baseball theme (it was located just down the street from the Red Sock's stadium). The pizza was good, but the sauce was different, it was much sweeter than I am used to. In fact, many of the pizza places we went to had a similar sauce, so maybe it is an east coast thing.
After refueling we continued our search for a tent. We went over several bridges and through several tunnels and finally found a hole in the wall place about a block from the stadium (yes, the same area we had eaten earlier). Chad went in by himself, because it was just easier that way. After close to an hour I was wondering if we would ever see Chad again. I think I was somewhere in between wondering if something had happened to him or if by chance he had actually found a tent. We all cheered when Chad emerged carrying a big duffle bag. I think Chad found his new favorite store - it's a good thing it is all the way it in Boston!
One down, one to go. Shortly after getting the tent we found a hotel a little ways outside of Boston. We had actually seen it earlier in the day, but had wanted to find something closer. Since we wasted the whole day in the car, we took the boys out for ice cream. It was pretty late, but the boys had been so good all day that we wanted to treat them to something fun. The hotel attendant told us about a good ice cream place, Kell's Kreme, along the harbor. It took us a little while to get there, but it was worth it. The ice cream sundae's were huge. They came in a big bowl with tons of whipped cream and a strawberry on top. I wasn't that hungry, so I opted for a strawberry shake. Everything tasted great, but it was a bit chilly to be eating ice cream outside. By the time we were done the boys were all pretty cold. Thank heaven for heaters!
When we got back to the hotel everyone fell asleep quickly. It was nice to put the day behind us and look forward to a fun day tomorrow.
2 comments:
oh man, it sounded just as bad in print as it did when you told us about it! I'm tired all over again!Glad the next days get better!..love, nana
Loving your trip report! Isn't travel such an adventure? How boring would it be to arrive and find a hotel straight away? So much more interesting the way it turned out, don't you think? :) We're feeling you on the tolls. We've added up from our trip to France so far, and I'm guessing the toll total will come up to about $175-200! Oh, and I think a visit to London should come before NYC :)
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