I'm Not Dead, I Just Had Crappy Internet

[Zzzptm]

Was having a lovely vacation in Boston, Massachusetts. Unfortunately, my hotel room never got a good signal from the hotel wireless - it was constantly getting interference from the hotel next door. So my vacation from work was also pretty much a vacation from social media. I had a wee tiny bit of access last week, but that went away as soon as I went back to my room and got comfy.

[Vyn]

Glad to hear you're still among us! And ya know, it can only be a good thing to have an enforced internet vaca

[BOGBLAST]

Gotta agree with Vyn, no WI-FI was probably the best thing that could have happened. Unless you have kids and they're constantly moaning that they can't check Facebook.

[Zzzptm]

Only other drawback from not having mah forumz was that we couldn't get started on the new season of Fauda on Netflix... but that wasn't all that bad, it's still there...

[Charger]

Break from the internet can be tough already nowadays...

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

I carry my own wi-fi with me these days when I'm not at home, a Huawei Mobile Wifi device. It's not great for video but email, Google, Facebook etc. it's perfectly good.

[Typhon]

Was having a lovely vacation in Boston, Massachusetts.

Glad you enjoyed the capital city in my home state. 

[Zzzptm]

Was having a lovely vacation in Boston, Massachusetts.

Glad you enjoyed the capital city in my home state. 

I certainly did! The people of the Boston area were very friendly, and that made for a great experience.

We got a Boston Go pass and that turned out to be a great deal. We definitely spent less on that than we would have on admission to all the places we got in free by way of that card.

Our activities included:

1. Lexington and Concord, with bus trip and guide
2. Plimoth Plantation historical village
3. Peabody Essex Museum
4. Salem Witch Trial Memorial
5. The very old graveyard next to that memorial, one of the oldest in the USA
6. Boston Aquarium
7. Whale watching tour out of Boston Harbor - a real treat, that one
8. Boston Science Museum
9. Salem Witch Museum and the graveyard nearby that attraction
10. Salem Common
11. Boston Freedom Trail - LOTS of sites along the way, we had a hop-on / hop-off bus tour that included a guide from our Boston native drivers. Very fun.
12. The USS Constitution

For eats in Boston, we were lucky that the pizza place near our hotel was voted one of the Best in Boston for its area, so we had that twice. There was also a pizza place in Braintree - BHOP or Braintree House of Pizza - that had great flavor and huge portions. That one was another award-winning place. Lots of good pizza pie in that area, let me tell you.

Seafood? Oh yeah, we had seafood. I ate fancy stuff at Legal Seafood and some great fried lobster at Sea Grillz, also near my hotel. Lots of good seafood in Boston, we would have had more if the kids were more into it.

We also discovered Friendly's, which is a burger-and-ice-cream place much like Braum's here in the Texas-Oklahoma area. Nice treat, Friendly's.

We capped it off with a burger at Wahlburgers. Yes, the owner is the brother of Donny and Mark Wahlberg, but the patty mix for the burgers is a very legitimately good blend of brisket, short rib, and chuck that made for one of the best burgers I've had.

And for dessert, we had some of Mike's Pastry. It's a tourist trap, I was told, but I was also told it was about as good as Metropolitan Pastry, which was nearby in the Italian neighborhood all around Paul Revere's house.

On the note of being told things, one of the delights of the region was hearing the accent. I love regional dialects, so hearing some guy in the pizza place we went to on our first night there saying, "You should always ask Mahhk, he's got aahhhhlll the aansahhs..." (Ask Mark, he's got all the answers) just made our trip and was our in-joke catchphrase for our time there.

One thing for sure, the people there are very proud of their heritage, especially the historical ability to claim that their land was indeed the birthplace of the United States of America, both in thought and in deed.

***

Now, on the cautionary side...

1. Boston traffic: my advice, take the subway and walk. If your hotel is outside the city, as ours was, park your car at a metro station and then take the subway and walk.
2. Massachusetts roads: listen carefully to the GPS on your smartphone. If you miss that exit or that turn, you may have several miles to drive before you are back on the path to where you want to go. There are natural divisions to the land in the form of granite ridges, forests, rivers, coastlines, and swamps that keep the roads from forming a true grid. Add to that the fact that the area was settled hundreds of years ago and the roads then are the roads now adds to the way the roads wind and swing. All the same, if you should get off the path, enjoy the scenery! Lots of very nicely kept houses in beautiful woods is my main impression of the area.
3. Massachusetts interchanges: roundabouts and very unusual left-hand turns. Be ready for them, and they won't try to kill you.
4. Parking in tourist towns around Boston: I use a handicapped placard, which helps greatly. If you're not handicapped, good luck finding a parking spot near to where you want to be. You will likely have a hike ahead of you, my friend. Pack provisions for your day as appropriate to your needs.

[Typhon]

^^^^^^
  I always find it amusing to hear the reactions from out-of-towners when visiting Boston.

Having been born and raised in the coastal city of New Bedford, (once the #1 whaling port in the world, by the way) fresh seafood was always available.  This is why I eat fish 3 to 4 times a week.  I'll never forget the time a seafood chain restaurant, Red Lobster, opened up nearby.  Within a year they closed for lack of business.  There are also many Italian family owned restaurants throughout the state.  I had never even heard of a Papa John's until the owner ran for president.

You are right about the roads lacking a grid setup.  If you're not use to it, this can seem very tricky to maneuver.  Hence, my high end driving skills.

You had a nice list of activities.  Some I have yet to do.  I am going to try and make it a point to visit the Boston Science Museum this summer.

[Zzzptm]

Boston Science Museum definitely is tilted towards kids but has enough stuff to hold adults' attention.

Funniest part: the T Rex with a Red Sox ballcap.

[BOGBLAST]

I vacationed in Boston many years ago during "The Big Dig". I'm sure Typhon knows what I'm talking about. Talk about a traffic nightmare, But we had a great time, lots to see. At the Salem witch trials the woman pointed right at my ex-wife accusing her of being a witch.  She was creeped out for days.

My nephew lives in Boston and on a visit there we ate at a VERY casual restaurant called "The Barking Crab". good seafood.

Hey ZZZ, was the pizza NY or Chicago style?

[Zzzptm]

Chicago style? Geddouddaheah! Nobody served me pizza in a skillet!

The pizza was so legit, there wasn't any option to add pineapple as a topping.

The pizza in the northeast of the USA is pretty uniform, from New York to New England. The same immigrant waves hit Boston that hit NYC, so the Sicilians, Greeks, and Neapolitans that brought their pizza with them made it the same across the region. I've had great pies in Manchester, NH, just as I've had them in NYC and, most lately, in Boston.

All those places have granite-filtered fresh water, so it's very clean and beneficial to the taste of the breading in the pizza.

[BOGBLAST]

^^^^ That's what I wanted to hear. 

[Zzzptm]

Anyone who truly loves pizza should try to make sure to visit NYC and Boston, that's for certain.

[Thelemech]

I was wondering what had happened to you. Glad to hear you had a good time. I would love to visit Boston!!