Boston and Maine

We left New York and made a pit stop at Avery’s Sodas along the way.  We purchased a case of flavored soda. Each one of us got 6 picks. The first ones we tried were super fun. My husband chose Birch Beer; which we all decided tastes exactly like a peppermint Breath Mint. It was funny – he couldn’t even drink the whole thing.

We arrived in Boston Thursday evening. Once again we were wiped out, so we ordered pizza in our room. Such a good decision and it gave us the time to get organized a little which is really needed when you live out of a suitcase for 3 weeks!

Friday morning we drove to the “T” station and caught the rail train in to Boston. We followed the trail around the city that highlights Old Boston and shows you the history of the city. I really enjoy seeing our history up close and wish we lived around it in the Northwest. It’s amazing that people can walk right by something that has been so pivotal for our country as a nation.

We saw the oldest surviving gravestone (from the 1600's!), some of the signers of the Declaration of Independence gravesites, saw Old North Church where Paul Revere attended (and where the famous lanterns that signified the British were coming were hung), the old South Meeting House, the site of the Boston Massacre, Paul Revere’s house and more.

Our feet were SO sore. But we plunged on. We ate lunch at Fenuil Hall where there was tons of food and hardly anywhere to eat it. We had to stand which didn’t help our tired feet any. But it was good. My girls each chose pizza (again.) My husband ate a BBQ burger and I got mac and cheese that was cooked in mozzarella, basil and had tomatoes in it. Very good – I was full. 

We enjoyed some of the local talent here and there performing for the tourists and even had time to do a little shopping.

I especially liked Old Boston which was so “yesteryear.”

Saturday, we got up, packed once again,  and hit the road. We drove through New Hampshire and stopped in Portland, Maine for a few hours.  It was so pretty and charming! It was just adorable.

We were hungry so we set out to find a place to eat lunch first thing.  We decided on  a place that had a sign that said Coca Cola but once we set down we found out they had Pepsi. My husband mentioned something about “wanting to cry.” He just can’t drink any other soda other than coke.  HA HA So we all got water. The girls got chicken fingers, I tried a grilled chicken sandwich on Panini bread and my husband got a haddock sandwich. We are not a “seafood” family but he wanted to try it since we were in Maine after all! He said it was good. I know it looked huge – he couldn’t eat all the fish.

We then roamed around Old Port for about 45 minutes. Found an awesome jewelry store where I bought 2 bracelets and a leather ring and my oldest got a leather ring and a headband. I could have bought more in there! 

We found a candy store and I decided to treat each member of my family to one of those fancy chocolates that you see in the glass case. We never get those.  My youngest and I chose the dark chocolate truffle (which let me just say was divine.) My oldest daughter got a dark chocolate covered oreo and my husband chose a milk chocolate almond piece. We all relished our selections.

We then went down to the Wharf and caught an hour and half boat ride by some lighthouses. This was a lot of fun and very enjoyable to get off land for a brief bit. We saw some seals and some stunning houses along the shoreline. Just a refreshing jaunt for a brief spell.