Bahston is Wicked Pissah

Since I'm always going on and on about how much I love Boston, I've been really trying to "put my money where my mouth is" lately. There are some typical touristy things I hadn't done in the seven years I've lived here. My mother came to visit a few weekends ago and so we decided to check one of them out. The Longfellow House in Harvard Square is a National Historic Site that was the home of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and also served as headquarters for General George Washington during the Siege of Boston, July 1775 - April 1776. It is only open to the public through $3 tours, but has a beautiful garden, which is free and open from dawn to dusk. The tour guide who led my mother and I through the house was pretty full of himself and kind of annoying at first, but once he started reciting Longfellow's poetry I was sold. I've never been one for poetry, but hearing the stories behind many of the poems made the words so much more interesting.

After the Longfellow House, mom and I headed down to the Harbor to see the Tall Ships with Spike. Boston is an official Port of the Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge. The trans-Atlantic regatta started in Vigo, Spain. From there the fleet raced to Tenerife in the Canary Islands, en route to Bermuda. Then to Charleston, South Carolina before racing to Boston. From Boston the fleet will cruise in company north to Halifax, Canada. From there the fleet will race back across the North Atlantic to Belfast, Northern Ireland. There were tons and tons of people waiting in line to board some of the ships, but we were happy just walking around and checking out the sailors. Spike loves a man in uniform. The giant masts (heehee) against the Boston skyline were truly amazing.

There's a pickle cart on Boston Common right outside the Park Street Station. It's just like a hot dog cart or a pretzel cart, but they sell pickles. Delicious pickles. I had seen a segment about Grillo's Pickles on TV and knew immediately that I had to go to there. Well, it met my expectations and then some, because it led me to an idea which had been percolating in the back of my head for a few months. The pickle martini. Do you see it? It's called the Green Mile and I dragged three of my friends to Alibi Lounge in the Liberty Hotel on Friday night just to taste that sweet nectar. Well, I'm going to have to keep waiting as the had neither Grillo's Pickles NOR pickle juice on hand that night. I was devastated and I'm not quite sure I've fully recovered.

My brother, David, came and I dragged him around downtown and the aquarium because I think that's just what people want to do when they come to Boston. Maybe I'm still just a tourist at heart. We were going to go on the Codzilla, but the timing was wrong as we had to get back to Fenway to meet my mother and see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince for the second time. David has now seen it three times and I'm pretty sure he can recite every word by heart. Anyway, we watched the seals at the aquarium and then walked over through the North End. Did you know that seals have toenails?

Saturday, in celebration of Rose's birthday, a few friends went kayaking down the Charles. This was another thing that I've been meaning to do for seven years but have just never gotten around to. It was a great time, though my arms were definitely sore by the end. We started up past Harvard and paddled all the way down to the BU bridge. The view from there was pretty great, but I was distracted by the insane geese and darkening storm clouds. As soon as we turned around, though, the clouds cleared and we were able to enjoy a beautiful journey back upstream... as long as you don't count almost getting run over by the Charles Riverboat Co. Oops!