Return to Boston

Dad arrived on Thursday. We met on the mall and went to see our Senator’s offices. Who were predictably not in. On Thursday night we went to dinner at a crab house in Bethesda with Kaitlin Perry. It was a very authentic crab house, with newspaper on the tables. Their resources were clearly dedicated to the food and not the interior décor. Or more specifically, the crabs.

There were only a few things on the menu; crab, corn, and coleslaw. We ordered 6 dozen and they were delicious. Thankfully Kaitlin showed us how to extract every morsel of meat.
On Friday dad hung around Georgetown and the monuments until I was done with work. He also had lunch at Old Ebbitt’s Grill, which is the oldest Restaurant in DC and right next to the white house. Barack was not in, but I’m sure some of his staffers were. We left that afternoon for Boston. Traffic was heavy getting past Philly. We stopped for dinner and had Philly cheese steaks. We decided we were going to sample characteristic foods along our “journey”. This one claimed to be the original, but whether or not it was, it was great. It was located right in historic Philly, we walked past Independence Hall to get there. Many cool restaurants and a very interesting place.

We got to New London and decided to stop for the night and drive the rest of the way in the AM. We arrived in Boston around 1pm, close to Andrew’s Square and experienced a little of South Boston. We took the T in to the city and headed first to Beacon Hill. We walked past 41 Revere and the neighborhood was really nice. We walked over the hill to the commons and then down Winter Street. We saw Locke Ober’s, but they were not open until 5pm. So on to the Union Oyster Bar, which is officially the oldest restaurant continuously serving in the nation, since 1826. We shared a lob roll and clam chowder at the bar. We got to see a lot of Boston on our foot tour, Quincy Market, Faniel Hall, where mom worked in the Financial District; I really got a flavor of downtown Boston. Then we headed across the bridge to MIT and went sailing at the Boat House. It was amazing, they just pulled dad’s sailing card out of one of the lower drawers and out we went. The wind was variable, but it was a beautiful day and really fun to be on the water. Then we walked the Infinite Corridor and saw some of the impressive architecture on the MIT campus.
Then we walked to the first home of Sarah Heilman Widder, 14 Ellsworth. After finding the street, which is characteristically only one block long, we located the house after consulting mom. But dad knew the house when he first walked by, even though it had changed a lot. We walked from there through Harvard Yard to Harvard Square, a much more upscale part of town.
We printed out tickets we had purchased that morning to the Red Sox game and sat and had a beer for a while. Then we took the bus over to Fenway. However, as we were approaching the stadium we realized the tickets were unfortunately for September 8th.

The same teams were playing and this game was sold out, so the internet must have forwarded us to the next available game or something. At any rate, they very nicely refunded Dad’s tickets and we sat in a bar called Game On in the Fenway complex and watched the game.

We slept in Sunday morning, which was wonderful. That’s what you should do on vacation. We both deserved it.
We decided we had had enough of city and headed out to the Cape. We drove to the southernmost part of Cape Cod National Sea Shore, Nauset Beach. It was beautiful, just like White Fish Dunes. A little more crowded, but the beach just goes on forever.

I got to walk along the beach while dad did a postcard watercolor and made a commemorative sand sculpture for James’s 22nd year. It had 21 objects in a grid and then one “transitional” crab shell and a sun dial. We only had a few hours, but it was worth it. The beach is always so regenerative. Afterwards we went to the beach clam shack

and had a clam roll.
Then began the epic journey back, which was long and dark and rainy. We stopped at an Italian place in New Rochelle, NY for dinner to break it up, but didn’t get back until late. It was a wonderful trip and quite an adventure, but that just makes life all the more interesting! Now I am back in DC and getting back into the routine and trying to get myself motivated to go to work. I might go to the grocery store first, because that is more fun.