Boston

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Geo: 42.3585, -71.0596

Boston 2016, our newest Adventure has begun. As it is typical for the majority of my trips, this one started with the highly-anticipated flight from Tampa to Boston. Some of my office said it was poor planning and made fun of me, and others just shook their head, but I was confident in the itinerary that had us leaving the house at 4:45 a.m., thanks to my dad for driving. We did the usual bag check and security. As we exited the security area, we took a brief moment to heckle a lady who was pulled out of the line and placed in a timeout chair in the middle of the room and just left sitting there. Then on to the plane. It is at this point that I would like to thank my friends who convinced me that as long as some sort of juice was involved, and it was just a continuation of the night before, it would be permissible to ease my nerves, that were a little frazzled due to flying, with some cocktails. Being the planner I am, I brought Annemarie and I each three little bottles of, let's just say, an adult beverage, to mix with my orange juice. Fortunately for us, the flight from Tampa to Atlanta was uneventful as was the flight from Atlanta to Boston. With the help of my orange juice, it was actually quite tolerable. It is at this point, I will make a public service announcement for all my fellow air travelers that like to BYOB on a plane. To our benefit I chatted it up a little with the flight attendant earlier because as we put empty liquor containers into his garbage bag, he took a step, pulled one out, and looked at us. He then, very nicely advised that while it is okay to bring the liquor on the plane, it is actually illegal to drink it. I quickly spoke up to defend Annemarie who had been the one holding all the empty bottles for me and said oh no, she wasn't drinking on the plane, we brought the empties with us. He was very cool about it and said some Airlines will really give you trouble. Shortly after finding our greeters holding up signs for us we were in Boston riding in a very large Cadillac SUV to our hotel. The lobby of this hotel, built in 1912, was magnificent. Marble pillars, high ceilings, and beautiful chandeliers. There is a even a famous resident dog that apparently you can borrow and take for walks. Being only noon, we now had the day to go out and play. And this is where my friends making fun of us makes a difference. They're plane ended up being 2 hours late because they left later in the day. We decided to head out and have a beer at the most famous bar I know of, Cheers. Annemarie and I set off on foot and admired the incredible historic architecture on the way. I'm a little dismayed though that they charge to see the inside of it church. Isnt it written somewhere in a certain book about merchants in front of the church? On our way we made a stop to admire the oldest park in the US. It had well groomed gardens as well as a swan boat tour through a lake. Of course, and Annemarie, doing what girls do, took this man on a swan boat, complete with a guy behind us, peddling away. Later, when we mention this to a couple at the bar, the woman told her husband that was there next stop, he just dropped his head and said to me, here, go ahead and take my man card, I've lost all rights to it. Cheers was a cool little bar. Much smaller than I thought it would be. We talked with some others travelers and founf out where the oldest continuous restaurant in the US was and headed that way for some Boston clam chowder. Now when I say headed that way, I really mean, Annemarie had us walk across the city looking for the Union Oyster that has been in business over 190 years. Along the way I admired the scenery and we even sae where Ben Ben Franklin was baptized. Annemarie kept pulling me along and we finally sat and had a delicious cup of soup and another overpriced beer before heading back to the hotel for the Welcome event. And yes, this time we took the train. In top notch Allstate style, they welcomed us with a big party complete with all sorts of food and beverages. We enjoyed the evening with friends and headed to a room for the night. Tomorrow we're off on a city tour provided to us with a surprise at the end On the side note, interestingly,, the locals here like to wear a nice shirt, tie, and suit jacket with beach shorts and flip flops??

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Comments

[Big Momma]

I thoroughly enjoyed the blog. It brought back wonderful memories of our trip many years ago. You have to remember that the Yankees dress up for everything. I don't get the flip flops, maybe that is their way of dressing down. lol. I am
glad you are having fun and Allstate is doing it up right. Love to you both,

[Laran]

Hilarious! Remind me to tell you about the fight I got into about a church's policies yesterday lol! Have fun!

[Dad]

I enjoyed your blog and am happy you're having a great time. I'm surprised about Ben Franklin, I never thought of him being religious.

[Brenda Cosme]

Great pictures! Wow what a beautiful church! You both look like you are having great fun! You need to go to Cape Cod and Falmouth, there is a lot of history there too! Have great fun!

[tonshow]

Poor Annemarie, thrown straight under the bus/plane for drinking all of those minis on the plane. That hotel looks amazing!

[tonshow]

I hope I don't sound stupid asking this, but who is the man dragging you lol The journey entry made it sound like Annemarie was dragging all across town;)