Weekend Roadtrip to Boston

7:30 am on Friday… off we head to Boston. No issues crossing the border, quick stop in Houlton for crappy Tim Hortons (pass) and away we go… stop again in Portland for lunch… we were going to go to Ginger Pad in the Maine Mall, but it’s closed now apparently… hit the Lindt store (mmmm spicy chocolate bars, conveniently all 50% off that day) and Bath and Body Works.. lunch at Macaroni Grill… starting to hate chain restaurants, but that one is fine (though the food is saltier than we would eat in real life for sure)… a quick stop an Hannafords for some fruit (though I also came out with 3 bags of organic coffee 🙂 … a wrong turn in Portland combined with construction delays us for a bit, but we’re off again… we finally hit our hotel in Boston (Holiday Inn Somerville – a few mins walk from the T orange line, FREE PARKING, reasonably nice, free shuttle to close attractions)…

Quick showers and changes around and we grab a cab to the House of Blues (on Lansdowne across from Fenway)… poor timing creeps in here, but everything turned out fine… some dumbass driving a transport truck got stuff under an overpass on Storrow Drive… REALLY stuck… not sure how he/she missed the many large signs that said no trucks… anyways, that slowed down traffic A LOT… since it was already Friday at 6:00 and the Sox were home… but we made it eventually and the music hadn’t started yet… I liked the HoB set up well enough for music… one main floor where the stage is, with two other floors with bars and balconies kind of thing… I think there’s some actual nice seating up on the second floor, but I didn’t actually see it… they weren’t serving drinks on the bottom floor when we got in, and you can’t smoke in there at all… both of which were fine with me, but others hated it for these reasons… Andrew Hires opened … he was quite good… I’ve since bought his CD on iTunes and quite like it… Erin McCarthy came next… she sounded the same as too many others to me… but she was fine… then Paolo came on with a big band which was nice… good show, 2 encores… had a great time… we ate at the HoB restaurant after the show… food was fine but nothing special

Saturday morning… thankfully I have Nic so I don’t have to eat breakfast by myself (not that I wouldn’t) as the non-morning people snooze away… went down and wandered around Quincy Market for a bit… had some overpriced yet delicious ice cream and a coffee… watched a busker… Wally (Sox mascot) was around as well… back to the hotel after that to get ready for the game… headed down for 2:30 and spent a few hours drinking beer at Boston Beerworks…. Was very excited to see watermelon beer back on the menu for this summer… the girls got into some deep political conversations with some American guys about politics…. Not my cup of tea… will stick with the beer… picked up the tix at will call (last minute decision to go to the ballgame really, so bid on Red Sox auctions – SRO on the Green Monster)… headed in… gave Nic a quick tour of Fenway and then wandered

up… Love the Green Monster, but the beer selection leaves much to be desired… Amstel Light – disgusting… and Miller Lite – slightly less disgusting… but since I actually wanted to watch the GAME… didn’t wander downstairs for more variety… Didn’t bring my gear, so I didn’t take many pics at Fenway… we won 7-2 or something like that… was Laroche’s first night… pretty fast and uneventful game through really…

The plan was to head to Game On after the game with some guys from CT we met, but someone threw their ID in the trash at Fenway and couldn’t get in… so we hit the store and then went back to the hotel…

Headed back home early Sunday morning… stopped in Kittery for a few mins… and then to eat/drink coffee later… uneventful trip back for sure…. Got back in around 6:00 our time and Greg had a lovely dinner ready for us… Back to Boston again in a couple of weeks for some more Sox games… yay!!! Go Sox!

#NewEngland #Boston #Fenway #RedSox #baseball