Crazy Parade Day

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We all got up early today specifically to take the train into Boston and wait in line for Neptune Oyster. There was no one in line when we first arrived, and the air outside was frigid cold. Thankfully there was a Peet's coffee next door we all drank coffee in and kept warm. I drank a sip of someone's nasty espresso. I forgot how much I dislike espresso. Yup- still hate it. David and I went and got in line about an hour before the place opened. Slowly, a line began to form behind us. I felt a little bad holding spots for people that weren't actually waiting with us but I also felt like it was to everyone's benefit in line to not have to listen to a toddler crying from the cold. David and I chatted as we watched people in parade costumes walk by. That's where we were headed later if we could figure out where the parade route was. Eventually, it was our turn and we were all seated at a table. Which was awesome because it had begun to snow on us.

The food was REALLY good here- the reviews aren't lyin. My appetizer was a Johnny cake with "fishy stuff" on it, Chris had clam chowder (which was less creamy than the version we're used to here in California), another platter of oysters AND a lobster roll topped with butter that was even better than the one the day before. I'm going to gain a few pounds in buttered lobster this trip, methinks. Arya once again passed out (this time in my lap), and I enjoyed a glass of wine since I wasn't going to be chasing after her. Parenting win.

After brunch, it was time to figure out how to get to the parade. It seemed like the rest of the city was pretty quiet, either because they were all at the parade or knew in advance to avoid it. We tried to get there by subway, but it turned out crowds were being diverted. We had to get off a stop early and then walk the rest of the way. We realized pretty quickly we were the odd people out considering we were sober. Masses of drunk college-age kids were headed towards the parade route like us. Poor Ary was just freezing- she refused to walk at this point because it was too cold. We had a lot of ground to cover so it was just as well. My toe was still throbbing from having smashed it two days prior so I just kept limping along. We heard the parade well before we saw it. Periodically we'd hear this loud BOOM!!!! That made us quite nervous so we approached cautiously, hoping it was just part of the parade and not a terrorist attack. Turns out they were firing what we think were muskets every so often. We stood on the route and watched as policeman walked, military marched and random cars and trucks drove by with important people. Most of the parade was very unelaborate and the parade security was terrible at keeping the drunk people in check. There was nothing to keep wasted kids from jumping into the parade, and they often did. One police officer nearly attacked a drunk guy who surprise jumped at him. The kid was joking around but he's lucky he didn't get decked by that officer. We really enjoyed the bagpipers ofcourse (always a favorite of ours in parades), and jumped around trying to catch green beads for Arya.

Eventually the crowd was just getting too annoying, and it was still freezing cold, so we decided to head back to the subway to try and get out of Boston. We started walking in the direction GPS indicated and the masses of people only got thicker and rowdier. We ended up in the middle of a bottleneck between a storefront of drunk kids, people shoving every which way and an actual barricade. My nerves were roiling at this point. I paused at one point, absolutely scared I wouldn't be able to hold onto Arya and shove through a crowd to get where we needed to go. So, Chris took her while I pushed ahead. We rounded a corner and literally people were PUSHING into Chris as he held Arya (who was also freaked out). Pandemonium was ensuing on this corner- one asshole and it could be a riot, that's how rowdy it was. Chris finally held an arm up to brace against the next person shoving into him and Arya, and it happened to be some drunk college girl. She ran right into his arm, and she got in his face, as he's holding our daughter. "What the FUCK?!" she yelled at him. I think she reacted to a "man" holding his arm to her and went into anger defense mode. Which terrified me because Chris had Arya, so I just went into Mama Bear mode and screamed the first words that popped in my head, "YOU NEED TO BACK THE FUCK OFF! I HAVE A DAUGHTER!" Her eyes went big, not having seen me or Arya until that moment. We didn't wait and just pushed forwards to get out of that goddamned, crazy crowd. Drunk, puking kids EVERYwhere. All of our nerves were shot and we all just wanted to be the hell out of Boston. Later David mentions, "Oh, I thought you knew it was going to be that crazy." Nope. No idea. Wouldn't do it again.

We relaxed at the house until we decided we were all hungry enough for dinner. Heading back to Boston was out of the question so we decided on Italian in Salem. Bambolina was very good- we shared meat and veggie appetizers, and then ordered our own mains. I got a pizza and Chris got pasta- both with poached eggs added! I'm a firm believer that egg makes most great things even better. That night we decided to just chill at the house again, playing games and drinking.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Seafood
I love food photos.

[tinyisgreat]

;D
I love food!