Boston, Lititiz PA(Where the Hell is that you ask?), Morgantown

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After saying goodbye to the Samatulski family, we were headed towards Boston, but me being the big time gambler that I am had to stop at at Mohegan Sun, which was described as the best Hotel and Casino in the area. This structure stood in the middle of a large field all by itself and it was freakin huge. It had 3 different casinos, 20 restaurants, a shopping mall, bars, clubs and whatever else you wanted to do. You could stay a week in this place and be just fine doing so. We have had a pretty good budget for the trip and I definitely didn’t want to break the bank gambling. Anywhoo, besides the really amazing interior of the building, we had an exciting moment at the black jack table. I was down about 60 bucks and had Kati playing with my last 40. (Feel free to skip this section if you don’t care about how I did… seriously it gets confusing) We were playing the $5 tables and on this one hand of BJ I had 77 and the dealer was showing a 6. Well the right play is to split the 7s. We split and the next card was another 7. So we split those. The next card was a 3. We doubled down and the next card was a 10, for a 20. The next card came and it was a 10 for 17. The next card comes and its another 7! Split those 7’s. Next card 3. Double down. (Confused?) By the end of this ordeal we had 5 hands being played and my entire 40 was gone and depending on this one hand. The dealer flips over his under card shows a 5. 11! Luckily his next 2 cards were a 5 and then an 8 for a bust and a win for me! It was a lot of fun and by the time this whole ordeal was over I came out completely even and left satisfied. So… there’s that story, now on to the real trip.

We arrived into Boston around 6pm and met up with our couchsurfing hosts here. Brian and Diana were a couple from St. Louis who moved here 6 months ago. Brian graduated law school, but doesn’t want to be a lawyer. So…. I guess he has his license to fall back on? What a great couple, Brian was really a jack of all trades. He was knowledgeable about almost everything. They were really fun company to be around and great to talk with. Our first order of business for the night was deciding where to go eat. They suggested an authentic small Italian restaurant down the street from them. This place was known for it’s small menu, but delicious entrees. We sat down, ordered wine and looked at the menu. There were maybe only 10 or so dishes to choose from, mostly pasta and a few meat dishes. Again, this was authentic Italian. Brian and I ordered the gnocchi, and Kati ordered a Italian bacon and pasta dish that I would say was the most delicious plate by far. Every dish was great and was extremely heavy and filling. Let me reiterate that I will be coming back from this trip somewhat plumper, so if you see me at the gym not quite looking like Jake from the TV show “Body By Jake,” just let it go. ☺ We made our way that night down towards Fenway Park ,which is the oldest baseball stadium in America and one of the coolest ballparks I have ever seen. One of the best parts about the stadium is a bar that is located in the wall of centerfield, that onlookers can watch from inside through a garage type door. It was almost like being inside the park, only for free! It was such a cool concept and a lot of fun to see and hang out at. In fact, if you didn’t want to miss any of the action and really had to take a pee (guys), you could go to the urinal and there at eye level was a window that looked out towards the field. Greatest idea ever!!! We left there and went out with Brian for Blueberry Ale with real blueberries in it. The beer was like drinking a full alcoholic serving of fruit. Delicious! We got to know Brian a little better, Diana left earlier as she had to work in the morning, but we were shortly home thereafter to skype with my parents and go to bed on what may be the most comfortable futon in the world.

We woke up early the next day and wanted to get an early start on sightseeing and hopefully find tickets to the 1:15 Red Sox game. It was going to be a gorgeous day! Brian offered to be our personal tour guide for the day and we were glad to have him come with us and show the way. Again, Brian was extremely knowledgeable about the city and we were pretty impressed since he had only been there 6 months. (He might have been making up facts, but I’m pretty sure he was legit.) We started by taking the “T” (the metro system) down to market square and the hahbah (harbor). Here we saw some of the historical sights, a homeless man tanning his legs (it was gross), and the “Cheers” bar. We kind of stayed on the freedom trail throughout and saw the oldest library in the states, as well as found out that there are over 50 colleges located in the city of Boston. We waked into the oldest pub in the U.S. that was built in 1709 and across the way looked at the very moving holocaust memorial that was here. By this point it was time to head towards Fenway Park and see if we could pick up some cheap tickets from the scalpers. Well, this really didn’t work out the way we had been hoping. The scalpers were extremely shady people (not surprising) and we couldn’t find tickets for under $75. We were not willing by any means to pay this much for the tickets. This idea was out and instead we decided to grab lunch at the bleacher bar we had visited the night before and watch the game from inside. We stayed for a few innings and decided to head back and take a nap before heading out again for the evening. I watched a little bit of the masters and laid with Kati on the futon for a few hours. By 5:45 we decided to leave for the train again and we were headed towards Cambridge. Home of Hahvahd (Harvard) University and extreme liberalism. The campus was gorgeous and the atmosphere there was really neat to see. Brian and Diana had told us about a burger place they often visit that has the best burgers they have ever had. The burgers were huge and incredibly delicious. I also realized that I had not tried any clam chowdah while I had been here and I promptly ordered a bowl. Just like how I imagined it being… delicious. We left the restaurant and proceeded to a few local bars with some of the college kids. We had scrumptious beer and great conversation with our hosts and after a few beers and some ice cream headed back to the house for the night. We had a great time seeing Boston and really wished we could stay a few more days. We wish we had enough time and money to do a 6 month trip, this way we would be able to see way more than having to swiftly move through each area. Oh well… We said goodbye to our new friends and told them to come see us in Denver where we could return the favor. Our next destination was to see Kati’s old roommate Natalie and her fiancé Matt. We have been really excited to see them and their new home!

We were able to get out off Boston, New York, and New Jersey relatively easily and without much traffic. The ride to Lititz, PA (near Lancaster) was about 6 hours, but there was plenty to see along the way. We arrived that evening and soon thereafter the screaming and hugging began between the two girls. Matt and I shook hands the proper way ☺ but were still very happy to see each other. Natalie and Matt had been great friends in college and Natalie was the best roommate Kati had throughout. It was really nice to see them and their home was beautiful. It was 3 floors with a nice kitchen and indoor patio on top as well as on the bottom. They had a nice room set up for us and were glad we had come to visit. We settled in, bought some beer, and began to make dinner later that evening. They had set out nuts and pistachio’s and I am pretty sure by the time we left I had easily gone through a 5LB bad of pistachios. Natalie made us a delicious shrimp and pasta dinner that night and some amazing Toll house premade cookies (she put them in the oven which made all the difference ☺) that I ate most of. We hung out for the better part of the night discussing everything that had been happening in our lives since we last saw each other while enjoying wine and beer. We were all pretty sleepy and Natalie had to work the next day. We called it a night and we were happy to see our friends again!
The next morning we woke up late and I needed to get some work done. It was rainy and Kati wanted to work out so she used their stair stepper while I was sending out emails and making phone calls. Around noon, Matt told us that every year his neighborhood has a garage sale and that today was the day everyone would be hanging out in there garages selling their crap ☺. We drove around and actually found a few things to buy. We should have gone earlier, I guess that all the hot items are gone by 8:30. I bought a golf towel and bike hat for $.25 each and found a strobe light for my business for $5. It was a good shopping trip and neat to see. As a side note, another tradition this town has is leaving electric candles in the windows of their homes at night to signal that their home is happy and healthy. It seemed very cultish. We finished our shopping and waited for Natalie to come home. Ever since college Matt had told us about a burger place called “Rosie’s” which was a trailer that came out every Saturday for a few hours and they made amazing burgers. We went and grabbed a few and then left to take a tour of Matt’s workplace. Now I bet your asking yourself “why would they want to go see where Matt works? Is Lititz really that small and boring?” Well, to answer your question, Matt’s family owns a business called “Claire Brothers” which provides the sound equipment for over 120 world tours at a single time. So chances are if you go and see a concert, this company is providing the sound. Lititz is the world headquarters for the company and here they have a huge warehouse full of speakers, amplifiers, cables, woodshops, and just about everything related to sound. Matt and Natalie showed us around and tried to explain how it all works. I was able to keep up somewhat, but Kati had no idea what Matt was talking about when explaining how it all works. He also told us some great stories about working with Elton John, meeting Lady Gaga (for the younger people who know who this is) and many other really neat stories that he had seen or heard about from the roadies. It was interesting and fun to hear about the things these guys had seen on the tours. We left and headed back to their place to grill some chicken and bake Kati’s specialty, sweet potato fries… and munch on some pistachios. This was the eve before Easter and I forgot to mention that the girls had gone to the grocery store the previous night to buy groceries for an Easter brunch. Anyways, on that Saturday night we had gone out for some drinks around town and to meet some of Matt’s local friends. The bars were pretty empty, but we still somehow managed to have a great time ☺. (I have just noticed I’ve been putting in a lot of smileys. I don’t know how to put in anything else or to communicate any of the joking emotions on the computer.) After hitting a few of the bars we came back and needed a good sleep before our delicious breakfast in the morning.

The Next day we woke up and once again Kati dragged me out for a run. We decided to take a nice long jog around the neighborhood and we got a little lost, but by the time we finished we had jogged 3 ½ miles, which is a lot for me. We came back showered up and the girls made breakfast along with Matt. I had no purpose or roll in the breakfast making so I just sat back and waited to have the food come to me. (I would put a smiley again here, but I won’t. I’ll just type it “SMILE” ☺…. DAMMIT!) The breakfast was amazing! We had eggs, biscuits, bacon, strawberries, grapes, blueberry pancakes, and orange juice. It was a great way to celebrate Easter with good friends, however this was the first Easter Kati and I had not been with our families so that was a little sad, but were glad Matt and Natalie were there to celebrate with us! After the breakfast we got cozy on the couch and for the rest of the day watched the Masters golf tournament, and took a nap. Matt and Natalie went to Easter dinner with their families that night, so I ordered Carrabba’s to go and Kati had a smorgasbord of leftovers. MMMM DELICIOUS! We hung out and watched TV the remainder of the night, said goodbye to Matt and Natalie as they had to wake up at 5AM we were off the next day to Morgantown, West Virginia to see another friend of Kati’s who she met in Cyprus 2 years ago. It was great being able to see our old friends from school and can’t wait until their wedding this summer!

Our next stop was to meet with Kati’s old friend Bianca who she had met in Cyprus a few years ago. Bianca goes to the University of West Virginia and lived right near the campus. What a beautiful campus it was too. It was located amongst the rolling hills and it reminded us of San Francisco. Bianca lived in a very nice home with 3 other roommates. We were also able to meet her boyfriend Tyler who came over and we all went to a local Sushi restaurant for dinner. It was great for Kati to catch up with Bianca and Tyler was an awesome guy to talk to. The sushi was great and the plum wine was even better ( I know a bit girlish but it was delish.) We went back to their place and were going to go to the bars, but decided to stay in and play a game called apples to apples (basically, well…. I was going to try to explain it, but if you really want to know how it’s played google the rules.) Anyways, it was a ton of fun and we played with Bianca’s roommates while enjoying delicious Rolling Rock beer and Honey Brown. By the time we were ready to go to bed, Kati had won the game by a mile and left the rest of us in the dust. (I try to make sure it doesn’t go to her head.) We were only able to spend the one night in Morgantown before heading to Cleveland the next day, but it was great to be able to meet Kati’s friends and see the beautiful area. We woke up the next morning to the smell of eggs and biscuits that Bianca had made for us. They definitely rivaled McDonald’s biscuit sandwiches. We said our goodbye’s and were back on the road again. Time to head north to Cleveland and see all of my long lost family! So that’s it for now. We miss you all and aren’t looking forward to coming home, but are excited to see you all. Until next time…

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Photos

Cheers!
Where everybody knows your name...

Fenway Park
Through the garage of the beacher bar

Cheering at the bleacher bar
Go Sax! (Sox in Boston speak)

2 Guys Takin a Pee
Watchin the game

The Trailer Hamburger
Our friend Matt in front of Rosie's

Easter Brunch
Where are the cinnamon rolls? Oh..... you didn't buy any? Fail....

Sushi
Bianca and her boyfriend Tyler