The Goodrums

I wrote the below message on the way home from work on my last day in Boston. My feelings have changed since then; I am not as sad now. I still miss Boston and am fondly reminded of it at different times, but now we are glad to be here. I think the weather helped; we were just glad to actually make it with all the ice and snow and flooding everywhere. We are also excited about the house; taking care of the last things before closing and looking forward to having a place of our own again. We already have our growing list of projects and things we are looking forward to doing once we move in. So enjoy the ruminating below and we will keep you updated as the house moves along.

I am pulling out of South Station for the last time today. I am sad. I didn’t really expect this back in early/mid October when I accepted a job with NORESCO. Back then, we were moving to Denver. Yes, there would be three months in Boston and I had always wanted to live for some short period of time in a big city like New York or Boston or something. It would be one of those cool things to do and say you did in your life; one of those things that are dreamed of in movies and stuff. But that was all; it would be really cool and fascinating and then you would say, “that was fun,” and go on excitedly to Denver (kind of like Thanksgiving dinner because you know all those pies are waiting). Three months later I don’t feel like I expected to. Right now I am more sad about leaving Boston than I am excited about living in Denver. During the last three months, Jennifer and I proceeded to fall in love with Boston. To her credit, I think Jennifer suspected this from the start. She knew she would like it and thrive on the city. People even told us we would like Boston and not want to leave. Still, I think we are both caught a little off-guard by how sad we are to leave. We have been blessed; God has been good.

Part of it is the city. There is something great about cities, especially at night; or on a certain unusually warm day in the beginning of January. They have a certain life, a certain pulse to them; almost an excitement at times. Now, smaller places, such as Amarillo, have a charm and appeal all their own; but in a very different manner. Out there you enjoy the open space, you enjoy the landscape, you enjoy the freedom, and perhaps the ease of relationships. So what does the city have? The city has people. Everywhere. All kinds. And that’s what makes it great. In the city you enjoy people, you enjoy activity, you enjoy relationship (not necessarily one on one, but to society), you enjoy possibilities. Now, the city is not a perfect place, it has its drawbacks, but that is true of the smaller places too. God created both. Both are different, but both are good. And we are glad to have been able to take part in the city.

So I am saddened but I am thankful, and I am just going to let it soak in and as odd as it sounds, enjoy the sadness.

In the next post, I will, as Jennifer alluded to, include a list of Boston places. I originally compiled this list for a fellow Ag in Denver who is planning to visit Boston and wanted the “local” perspective. I’m not really a local, but we did take local suggestions on most of these places. So, for those of you planning (or hoping) to visit Boston someday, you may use the list I’ve come up with as a starting point if you like. And if you are planning (or hoping) to visit Denver someday, then call us because we’d love to see you.

Fellow Ags

Texas A&M Club of New England
As you already know, a great resource when scoping out a new place is the local A&M club. The club has made a lot of good improvements (like the new website) and routinely gets together to watch the Ags play (usually at a sports bar in Fenway). Check their website for recommendations on local events and dining, news about the next meeting or game watching, and other good information.


Transportation

The “T”
This is the first thing you should learn about visiting Boston; how to get around. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA, or the “T” as Bostonians call it) operates a network of subways, buses, ferries, and rail lines in the Boston area. Other than walking, this is the best way to get around Boston. You will find the city is much more walkable than it appears on the map, but for longer trips (say into Cambridge) it is nice to know where to catch the T. The MBTA website has all the information you need for riding the T; even better, they just redesigned their website to make it easier to use and have included awesome new street maps that overlay the T onto a Google map of Boston (VERY useful).


Attractions

Freedom Trail
This is probably the one thing all tourists do in Boston, but it is worth it. Not only do you get to see some great landmarks in U.S. history, but you manage to see a great deal of Boston while doing it. The trail itself is free, but some building tours have admission fees (usually below $5.00/adult). You can avoid some of the crowd by starting earlier (9:00 am) but most of the buildings don’t open for tours until 10:00am. Wear comfortable walking shoes and plan to take a break for lunch somewhere; you can spend a good part of a day on this alone.
http://www.nps.gov/archive/bost/freedom_trail.htm


The ICA
If you like art, the Institute of Contemporary Art makes for a good morning or afternoon. The ICA just opened in a new location mid-December and seems to be generating a lot of interest. Personally, I thought the building itself is worth going to see. Admission is $12/adult, but Target sponsors free Thursday nights from 5:00 – 9:00 pm.


Blue Man Group
Blue Man Group has regularly scheduled shows at The Charles Playhouse in the theatre district. There is a busboard that reads something like “If you haven’t seen Blue Man, you haven’t seen Boston.” I don’t know if that’s 100% true, but it is definitely a show worth seeing while here. The tickets are between $48/adult and $58/adult. If you feel daring, you can sit in the poncho section.


Fenway
One of the things I’ve been told to do in Boston is take a tour of Fenway. We’re not huge baseball fans so we haven’t done this yet, but supposedly it’s good even if you’re not. If you’re here during baseball season, then going to a game may be more exciting (albeit more expensive too). Tours run hourly between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm and are $12/adult; I’m told game tickets can be a small fortune.


Harvard
Harvard is another common tourist destination (although you notice more internationals here than Americans), but is kind of a must see while here. There’s not much more to do than walk around campus and scope out the buildings, but it’s still nice to see. The campus has some nice architecture and Harvard Yard is supposed to be one of those “just right” places (I didn’t think it was that special myself), plus Harvard Square is a cool place to hang out, just don’t drive there.


MIT
Most people don’t care to visit MIT, but if you’re going to see Harvard then you could check out MIT. MIT is famous for its dome (seen from the Charles River) but if you like architecture, I would highly recommend checking out the MIT Stata Center, designed by Frank Gehry.

Copley Square
Copley Square is a small public square in front of the Boston Public Library. There’s not a whole lot of stuff to do, but it’s kind of neat and there is a nice church there (I don’t remember the name). Copley Square is in Back Bay and from there you can visit several places that might be of interest in the area.


Boston Common
Boston Common is probably Boston’s most well known public park. Boston Common is part of what is known as The Emerald Necklace, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. The Emerald Necklace is a system of connected green spaces that begins at Boston Common and winds through Boston ending at Franklin Park. The park is bisected by Charles Street; the east side is the park side and the west side is the garden side. The park side includes tennis courts, a gazebo, Frog Pond (they have ice skating in the winter), and lots of open green space for dogs, sports, kites, etc. The Freedom trail visitor center is on this side right off Tremont St. The garden side has, as you would imagine, gardens. It is a nice place to walk or sit and read a book or something. The garden side has a few monuments and Swan lake, where you can ride the Swan boats.


Commonwealth Ave. and Newbury St.
These streets run parallel to each other beginning at Boston Common and running well into Back Bay. Commonwealth is basically residential but the Commonwealth Mall (park) runs right down the middle (it’s actually part of The Emerald Necklace and connects Boston Common to Back Bay Fens) with benches and monuments. This is a great place to take a quiet walk on a nice afternoon and affords you the opportunity to see some nice architecture (homes and churches). Newbury is one block over and is almost the exact opposite. Newbury is lined with all sorts of small boutique shops and attracts a great deal of pedestrian traffic; both tourists and locals. This can be a fun place to window shop, or to actually shop, and there are several small cafes and restaurants scattered among the shops.


Beacon Hill
Beacon Hill is now a small, quaint, very high-end neighborhood just north of Boston Common. It has a great quiet atmosphere and can be a fun place to explore on foot (the streets are a little narrow for exploring by car). Charles Street is lined with several antique shops and various restaurants (including The Paramount). It is pretty amazing how much you can escape the feel of the city while wandering through the neighborhood. Just be ready for a small workout, it’s called Beacon Hill for a reason.


The North End
The North End is a historic neighborhood (The Freedom Trail will take you to Paul Revere’s House here) and now a very Italian neighborhood. If you like Italian, this is the place for you; there are countless restaurants and cafes to check out and try. Everyone has their opinion about which restaurants are the best, but I think that the truth is they’re probably all good. To me one of the best parts about The North End is its authenticity; there are times when it seems you could just as well be in Italy as in Boston.


Food

The Paramount
This is a small restaurant on Charles Street in Beacon Hill. It’s a couple of blocks north on Charles from Boston Common. They have great breakfasts. They probably have good lunch and dinner, but we’ve only been for breakfast. I highly recommend the waffle with fruit (they bring in and chop fresh fruit each morning), it is awesome. I do not recommend putting syrup on the waffle; it’s nowhere near as good as the fruit. The omelettes are also very good and don’t forget the potatoes (the potatoes get better as the morning goes on; they pile them on the griddle at opening and they slowly cook through the morning). Just be sure not to try and save a seat when you arrive, it’s against the rules that you can read on the wall.


Cottonwood Café
Cottonwood Café is a southwestern restaurant located near the theater district (St. James and Berkeley). We recently found this place (in the playbill for Blue Man Group) and it has become one of our favorites. It’s worth going to just for the chili and the margaritas. The other items we’ve tried were good too; but again, chili and margaritas.


Pizzeria Regina
Very good pizza. The crust is great. Their cheese pizza is really good and I don’t even like cheese pizza. I had a Sicilian Pepperoni in South Station and it was awesome. Pizzeria Regina has several locations around Boston. The original is located in the North End and usually has a line down the sidewalk, but it moves pretty fast and is worth waiting. You can search for other locations (for a quick piece to go) on their website.


Finale
Finale specializes in dessert (The host/hostess says “Enjoy your dessert” when seating you) but they also have good “appetizers” in case you didn’t eat before you came. I tried the White Pizza and it was great. After your appetizer comes the hard part; deciding which dessert to get. Finale makes a very unique Boston Cream Pie (presentation) and awesome vanilla Crème Brulee (read, the best crème brulee I’ve ever had). The Park Plaza location is convenient to Boston Common (about a block south), the Theater District, and Cottonwood Café (for dessert after chili and margaritas).


The Parker Restaurant/Bar
The restaurant and the bar are located in The Omni Parker House Hotel on the corner of Tremont and School Streets. While in Boston we set out to find the best Boston Cream Pie. The Parker Restaurant is the place that Boston Cream Pie was created, and perhaps it is no surprise that theirs was the best. Now, we never really had a bad Boston Cream Pie (that’s like a bad Cheesecake, does it exist?) of all we tried, but the Parker Restaurant was the best. Apparently, they serve other things too but we don’t know much about them; however, the honey roasted peanuts in the bar were good.


Trattoria Il Panino
Trattoria Il Panino is one of those famous North End Italian restaurants. It was recommend by the New England A&M Club so we tried it. Excellent recommendation. As I said before, I’m pretty sure all of the places in The North End are good; we just tried this one. The restaurant is very small, but the atmosphere was great. Everything that we had was very good and there was a lot more that we wanted to try. We were there for lunch and it wasn’t too crowded, but there may be a wait for dinner.


Modern Pastry
Modern Pastry is also located in The North End on Hanover Street and is surprisingly, a pastry shop. This was another quality recommendation by the New England A&M Club. Unfortunately, we only visited once, but we wish we could go back. They make all sorts of Italian (and other) pastries to enjoy, but cannoli are the hot item. The Chocolate Dipped (with Ricotta) cannoli are great. They make pretty good cupcakes too.


Mike’s Pastry
Mike’s Pastry is another North End pastry shop on Hanover. You can usually find it by the mass of people crowded in the entry. Mike’s is somewhat larger than Modern Pastry and they have a somewhat larger selection of various pastries. A lot of people say that Mike’s is a tourist trap, which may be partly true (there are a lot of tourists there), but I still thought they were good. I also noted that there seem to be plenty of locals there too, so who knows. Just like Modern Pastry, cannoli are the hot item at Mike’s. I would recommend the Ricotta Chocolate Chip (the popular favorite given the supply) or the very good Ricotta Florentine (that was our favorite at Mike’s). Mike’s also had good Boston Cream Pie. I would recommend going during non meal-times to avoid large lines.


Rosie’s Bakery
Rosie’s is a great place to stop for a snack while in South Station (after grabbing a slice at Pizzeria Regina). There are a couple of locations around Boston, but I’ve only been to the one in South Station. They have a variety of typical bakery goods to choose from. They make mini Boston Cream Pies that are kind of fun, but depending on who you are, they may be more than enough for one person.


Figaro’s
Figaro’s is a deli located in what is known as Boston’s historical Leather District (otherwise known as around the corner from my office). This is a good place to grab a sandwich for lunch, but you better know what you want before getting to the front of the line (think “soup nazi” from Seinfeld). The sandwiches here are good; just don’t expect them to be healthy.


Penang
Penang is a Malaysian restaurant (actually a small chain) with a location in Chinatown (also around the corner from my office). The cuisine is not limited to Malaysian only, but also includes various Asian dishes. This is probably not the place to go if you are conservative about what you eat (actually, that pretty much applies to all of the places in Chinatown). I tried the Chow Kueh Teow and it was pretty good, although I did not expect the squid to include tentacles (or to be purple). I’m told that the Durian Shake can be quite the experience too. My recommendation is to look over the menu online and see if it interests you before paying Penang a visit.


Sorriso
Sorriso is a seemingly small but rather large Italian restaurant also located in Boston’s historical Leather District (right next to the office). We went here for lunch on my last day of work and it was good. I do not know what the pasta is like, but they have good Panini and the pizza is supposed to be good too. Sorriso is a good place to grab lunch if you are in the Leather District or in South Station and want something different than Pizzeria Regina and Rosie’s. (Right now their website is not working, but the link below should still be correct).

There was another commuter train wreck in Boston today. This is the second crash since we've been here (even though I think that's fairly unusual). This time it wasn't the train that Michael rides. The first wreck involved his train - the one he rides to Boston every morning, but he had gone into the other office that day.

Thankfully, it seems that the passengers on the train normally fare pretty well. Bumps and bruises at worst. This crash was worse than the previous one - as the people that were on the receiving end of the train didn't make it. So sad.

Two more days of commuter rail for Michael. With the T's safety record since we've been here, I think we'll be glad to get away. Now that I've converted Michael to being a lover of mass transit, I hope the light rail in Denver does better than this.

This past weekend was our final weekend in Boston. On Saturday, we went into Boston for one last day in the city. It was an incredibly beautiful day - bright, sunny and 70 degrees! The entire northeast was breaking record highs like crazy on Saturday. Boston broke it's record high for the day by 10 degrees and tied the record high for the month of January. The low on Saturday night was 51 degrees. That was the highest low temperature on record for the month of January. We were actually sweating as we trekked around Boston (haven't experienced that since I left Jackson!).

So needless to say, with the ridiculously mild weather - everyone and their dog (literally ;-) were out and about in Boston on Saturday. I have never seen so many people down on the waterfront, in Boston Common or along the Charles River. I guess everyone wanted to take advantage of probably the last nice day until spring. We did a lot of walking around and just enjoying being out with everyone.

For our last meal out in Boston, we went to a restaurant in the North End that was recommended by the New England A&M Club - Trattoria Il Panino. It was excellent. Michael had Lobster Ravioli and I had the Risotto del Giorno (aka Risotto of the day - which was a shrimp, asparagus and lemon, I believe). I'm a Risotto fiend so I was definitely a happy camper. :) We got dessert at the famed Modern Pastry - chocolate dipped cannoli with ricotta filling. Yumm... The filling at Modern Pastry is fresh. It was so good.

Throughout our stay in Boston, Michael has been compiling a lists of his favorites - favorite activities, favorite places to eat, etc. I'm trying to get him to post the "Goodie Travel guide to Boston" on the blog. It may be an exercise in futility - but I'm trying nonetheless.

We will leave Boston on either Thursday night or early, early Friday morning - and begin the 2500 mile drive to Denver. 2500 miles translates into 35 hours without stops. We're going to attempt to do it over 3 days (arriving in Denver on Sunday evening) - but it's still going to be somewhat brutal.

This weekend Michael's parents put an offer on a condo in D.C. Their place definitely puts an end to our complaining about home prices in Denver! For 1700 square feet, they are going to pay almost 3 times our home price in Denver - and over 4 times what we paid for our house in Jackson (for essentially the same square footage). Crazy! But the place is beautiful!

Anyway, they are really excited about their new place so we would like to stop by and see it if we can make it work. We are fighting against major cities along the east coast route (NYC, Newark, Philadelphia, Baltimore, etc. = TRAFFIC, delays, yikes!) and a holiday weekend in D.C. (some of the worst traffic in the country). We're trying to fit it all in - but don't know if we're going to be able to make it work with the territory we have to cover in the time frame we have to work with.

Pray for good weather this weekend for us (the current forecast for Oklahoma on Saturday is ice) - and for our poor little old car to hold together!!

"After bible study, our group normally goes over to Incontro - a pub around the corner. Some people get a beer, some people get water, and we all just hang out for a while. Wanna come?"

Cracking me up... Talk about the polar opposite extreme of from whence we came. After three years of living in the deep South, the invite caught us a tad bit off guard. Michael and I laughed pretty hard about the contrast in cultures later.

We've really enjoyed the people we've met in Massachusetts. We're going to be sad to leave in a week.

A few pictures from the First Night festivities.



















Courtyard at the Boston Public Library
We took a tour of the art and architecture in the Boston Public Library. This was another stop on our "Boston to do list" that we checked off this weekend.















Jen "Rolling in" the new year















Michael celebrates the year of 7















The elephant in the room



















A tribute to our old locale
Although most of our friends would probably like to detonate the missile in the picture














Fun fireworks in Boston Common



















More fireworks



















The funky Boston Christmas tree
Michael and I would make fun of it everytime we saw it. It was seriously lopsided and ugly.



















Ice Sculptures



















New England's Man of Mystery...

New Years 2007 was memorable holiday here in Boston.

On Friday, we attended a performance of the Nutcracker, which was outstanding. We also discovered a new Boston restaurant that joined our list of favorites. Cottonwood Cafe had excellent southwestern dishes. Yummm! ...and that's coming from Texan/New Mexicans who are very picky about Mexican/Tex-Mex/New Mexican cuisine.

Saturday was nice and laid back. We attempted to organize our lives a bit (ha!) and made some progress on Denver house stuff.

On Sunday, we went into Boston to check out the First Night programming. It turns out that most of the afternoon programming for First Night was very family focused. There were a million people everywhere and most of the programming was not great quality. Good entertainment for families - perhaps not so much for others. At least we got to check out the Shops at Prudential Center, something that's been on Michael's "To see in Boston" list for quite some time now.

Some of the evening programming was better. We attended a concert by Eilen Jewell that we enjoyed. Michael liked the fact that she was from Idaho (he spent a summer in Idaho Falls). We also attended a show called Comedy at the Castle, which featured Tony V. and Frank Santorelli. Attending a show at a comedy club had been on my "To do in Boston" list. So, one check mark for both of us. We also saw two sets of fireworks - one in Boston Common and one in Boston Harbour. It was definitely a memorable night. We left Boston around 1am and finally got back to our hotel around 2am.

Therefore... on the first day of the New Year, we slept in, watched a whole bunch of football, called family and friends, and otherwise took it easy.

Happy 2007 everybody!

A disappointing end to the Aggie football season tonight. The Ags made a valiant effort against Cal. They actually made a strong showing at the beginning of the game - but eventually wore down and ran out of time. Nevertheless, the season ended much stronger than I think anyone would have anticipated at the beginning of the year. They made good progress - and we'll look forward to more improvement next season. Hopefully Mike Goodson's injury was minor. He's only a freshman and is supposed to do great things.

At least the basketball team gave us something to celebrate.

Yesterday we celebrated Christmas in Boston with a fun day of cultural activities.

We started the morning at the newly opened Institute of Contemporary Art. Thankfully we arrived early - as it was a holiday and was insane (read: tons of people) by the time we left for the day. They had some really cool exhibits. I'm not much of an artist (thankfully Michael provides some balance here) but I do really enjoy some of the contemporary works.

After leaving the ICA mid-afternoon, we grabbed a quick lunch at P.F. Changs. We then cashed in Michael's Christmas present - attending a performance by the legendary Blue Man Group, which was outstanding. I laughed so hard that I cried (which is not suprising to anyone who knows me). According to the billboard, we have now "seen Boston." I'll have to find a picture of that billboard and post it here someday...

Fun! We have been having snow flurries for most of the day. The snow isn't sticking - but it's still fun. As Mimi and I were discussing earlier, we will probably have to wait until we get to Denver to make our first snowman of the season. Highlands Ranch (where we will be living) got 2 1/2 feet of snow last week - and they are supposed to get another 8-12" tomorrow and Friday. My question at the moment is - how on earth are the builders going to put in our yard?? Growing up, my dad would have said: "Very Carefully!"

Sorry for the lack of blog posts of late. Life has been fairly chaotic.

We spent a few days in Denver during the first week of December - as Michael documented in his posts about house hunting. House stuff has been consuming much of our time lately - documentation for loans, finding inspectors, choosing blinds, etc., etc., etc. There is always an endless list of things to do along the house hunting/closing timeline.

From Denver Michael went to Amarillo for two days and I went to Houston for a week of work "meetings" (very few of the scheduled meetings actually took place) and our company Christmas party. It seems that I am always in Houston when we are trying to make housing decisions. I was there when we listed our house in Jackson and when we accepted the offer on it. This time we were the ones making an offer and trying to coordinate all the associated paperwork.

On Saturday, December 16th, my middle sister flew into Houston from Peru. I surprised her and met her at the airport (along with the rest of my family). Then I spent the next 5 days hanging out with my family in Houston and Oklahoma. Too much fun. (I will post pictures soon.)

I arrived back in Boston this past Wednesday (the 20th) - quite worn out. Thankfully we have the holidays and a few days off of work to catch up on sleep and everything else that needs to be done.

We are spending Christmas Day in our little hotel in Boston. It's somewhat strange to be away from family on Christmas Day but we are thankful to have been able to see everyone recently.

We are gearing up for a "culture week" in Boston - complete with performances by the Blue Man Group, the Nutcracker, a trip to the Institute of Contemporary Art, an A&M v. Cal bowl game (Michael claims that football is a cultural activity) and First Night - Boston's New Year's celebration. It will be a packed week - but we are trying to make the most of our remaining two and a half weeks in Boston. It's hard to believe that three months went that fast - but they did. Soon we will be on our way out to our new Colorado home!

It's been quite a year. It's hard to believe that at this time last year we had just made an offer on our new home in Jackson. Since then we traveled all over - including a super fun trip to Peru and some new highpoints, Michael started a new job, we sold a house, moved to Boston, put a contract on a house in Colorado - and there's more fun to come.

Merry Christmas everybody - and come visit us in Colorado!

We woke up this morning to a white blanket over everything. It's mushy, wet snow - which is great for making snowballs ...if only I had someone to throw them at. :)

Here are a few pictures of our temporary home.











































The view out of our window















Snow covered trees across the street




















A very misplaced Texas car - "What is this stuff??"

Massachusetts is supposed to get the first snow of the season tonight! Woohoo! It's supposed to start snowing about 3am and snow all the way through about 2pm tomorrow afternoon. We are supposed to get between 1 and 3 inches of accumulation (although that's nothing compared to the snow my parents got in Oklahoma last week). A bunch of vehicles here are driving around with the snow plows attached to the front. I think I'm going to refrain from driving tomorrow. :)

On Saturday, we explored the Freedom Trail - which covers most of the historical spots in Boston - as well as Cambridge (Harvard and MIT). We must have walked a marathon over the course of the holiday weekend!

We started out quite early - catching the 6:30am train out of Franklin. We arrived in Boston just in time to open a favorite breakfast spot - The Paramount. After a hearty breakfast, we started on the Freedom Trail. We beat the traffic with our early start - but we also found that a lot of the historic sites didn't open until 10am or later. So that was kind of disappointing. In spite of that, we had plenty of fun.















Starting the Freedom Trail - complete with the guide book




















Some goober inside Quincy market















Michael making funny faces in front of the Paul Revere House




















Mom & Dad G in front of Paul Revere monument















Inside the pew boxes in the North Church




















The North Church
"1 if by land, 2 if by sea"

Following our Freedom Trail walk, we ate lunch at the Durgin Park pub (continuing to hit all the things on Mom G's "to see in Boston list" :). We found out that the original site of the Boston Tea Party is now part of the "Big Dig." We tried to pay a visit to the current museum and memorial, but it looked pretty closed (I don't recommend walking out on that pier unless you are prepared to take a swim).

Afterwards, we headed into Cambridge. We saw Harvard and MIT (in the dark), before heading back to South Station and catching our train back to Franklin.




















Michael & Dad in front of Harvard dining hall
I'm sure there is a real name for the building. I just know it as the dining hall.

Boy - the making of great memories sure wears you out!

Some pictures from our Friday adventures...















Michael's Mom and Dad on the commuter train leaving Franklin (Boston here we come!)















Michael's office building















In front of Chinatown




















Boston Common















The classic tourist picture in front of Cheers















Michael & Dad at Game On (in the tense moments before the big win - Go Ags!)















Family in front of Fenway















Dinner at Pizzeria Regina

So on Friday, we slept in a little and then went to do a little touring of the city of Boston with Michael's parents. We walked all over - to Michael's office, through Chinatown, to Boston Common, around Beacon Hill, and through Back Bay. We went to Game On to watch the final quarter of the A&M v. Texas game. Go Aggies! We were ecstatic!

After the game, we did a little more walking - past Fenway Park, to REI in Brookline, down Newbury Street, through Downtown Crossing, made a brief visit to the original Filene's Basement, and through the North End. We ate dinner at Pizzeria Regina and dessert at Mike's Pastry. We caught an early train home to rest up for another big day on Saturday.

Pictures to come...

Update on the quest...

We finally found Boston Cream Pie in Boston! This weekend I "sampled" (don't get the wrong impression, I pretty much devoured the whole thing) three pieces of Boston Cream Pie - one from Rosie's Bakery, one from Mike's Pastry (a famed cannoli shop in the North End) and one from Durgin-Park pub. I think the current leader is probably the Boston Cream Pie from Mike's Pastry.

Boston Cream Pie is different here than I expected. Instead of a chocolate glaze over the cake, there is a thick chocolate layer on top. That has thrown me for a loop - but it's still really yummy...

Now (after three pieces of Boston Cream Pie in less than 24 hours), I think I need to go on a diet! :)

One morning, when still living in our Jackson apartment, I encountered my first Black Widow. I had just woken up and was still sort of groggy. Michael was walking out of the door and called me downstairs. He said there was something I "had to see." What a great way to wake up! I hate spiders!! - and I was certainly not thrilled with the lesson in black widow anatomy I was being given before 7 in the morning.

Today, Michael got to play with a new kind of Spyder. He got a fun new jacket. We discovered a huge outlet mall a few miles south of us - the Wrentham Village Premium Outlets. Pretty neat discovery! Lots of designer stores - not just the usual outlet staples like Jockey, Dress Barn and the like. Instead there were some of my favorite stores like J.Crew, Banana Republic, Restoration Hardware, and Williams Sonoma/Pottery Barn.

We got a good portion of our Christmas shopping done today - and Michael also enjoyed a few additions to his wardrobe. He got new lenses for his 8-year old Oakleys and a new jacket. The jacket is really cool. It's like the Marmot jacket he got me for Christmas a few years back. It has an outer shell (which is really warm and nice in itself) and then a zip in liner/fleece that you can add for extra warmth when it's really cold.



















Modeling the new gear...




















Modeling the "component"

Michael has been wanting a new fleece - so this purchase works really well. 2 in 1.

So I really like the new jacket. Very fun. Perhaps I have finally found a Spyder that I can like. :)

So I didn't do so much sleeping last night - kept awake by a wild thunderstorm that lasted from about 1am to 5am. 4 hours, so tired, no sleep. Ugh... That is the most frustrating feeling.

Our hotel room is right on the edge of the hotel - which is usually a great thing. Easy access to the car, lots of windows, etc. But last night we caught the brunt of the storm. Heavy rain pounding against the windows, 40 mph winds, constant thunder. I was so tired but couldn't sleep - not even with two pillows over my head. Since we're in a single room set up, I couldn't even go to another room and read a book or watch TV until the storm passed (since I would have disturbed Michael, who managed to sleep through it all!).

I keep learning more and more about our new "home." I wouldn't have thought that the northeast would get such strong thunderstorms - especially in November.

...That Boston Cream Pie would be so hard to find in Boston. I'm on a quest to find the best Boston Cream Pie (one of my favorite desserts) in Boston - and failing pretty miserably at that quest so far. I had the best Boston Cream Pie I've ever had in San Francisco - and that just seems somewhat wrong. I wanted to change that situation but it's proven to be much harder than I thought it would be.

We spent all of Saturday (yesterday) in Boston - exploring most areas of the city in the process. We tried to keep off of the typical tourists paths and see more of the city as natives see it (especially since we hit most of the tourist sites during our July 2005 trip to Boston). We walked everywhere (except for our morning excursion to Belmont). In total, we probably walked somewhere in the range of 8 to 10 miles. And my legs are really tired today.

We started the morning by riding the T (commuter train) in from Franklin to South Station. Michael showed me his office from the outside. Afterwards, we walked to a fun little restaurant in Beacon Hill called The Paramount to have breakfast.

After breakfast, we walked across Boston Common, found a Borders bookstore and wandered all over Government Center, the North End and the West End in our meandering journey to North Station. We caught an 11:20 train from North Station to Belmont, where we took a bunch of pictures of a site for my little sister Teri's architecture class. We caught the train back to North Station and then wandered through the West End, Beacon Hill, Boston Common, down Commonwealth, toward Fenway and out to the REI in Brookline.

After our visit to REI, we walked back to Fenway to a sports cafe called Game On to watch another very disappointing Aggie football game. We also went to Game On last week to watch the Aggie game. This week I was not impressed with Game On. They were not very accommodating due to the Ohio State game being aired at the same time and the service was quite poor. The game outcome didn't help much. Ugh.

So upon leaving from the game, I was in definite need of a pick-me-up, hence the quest for Boston Cream Pie. We wandered up Newbury Street, through a good portion of Back Bay up to Boston Common, through the Theater District, Financial District, Chinatown and back to South Station. Along the way, we stopped at almost every restaurant looking for Boston Cream Pie. I found it quite hard to believe that not one place had it on the menu. What's with that??!? So I left Boston yesterday afternoon quite disappointed.

Anyone have any suggestions? I figured out that Boston Cream Pie started at the Parker House Hotel, which is now the Omni Parker House (where Michael stayed during his interview). I think we'll try that next time we're in the city. There's also one other place in the Theater District that we wandered by called Finale - that we will probably try - but we weren't dressed appropriately this time. These are the only two places that I've found so far that offers BCP (aside from the tourist trap, Cheers - whose pie I've already had and it wasn't that good).