Boston Trip, Round 2
Debbie (my girlfriend's designated pseudonym) and I went to Boston this past weekend. We have been there before I started this site, so I never posted about the first trip. We did less tourist-y things this time, but we still had a lot of fun.
Friday night - Boston, MA
My biggest gripe with Boston is that it has a bedtime. At around 12:30AM or so, the "T", Boston's mass-transit trains, stop running. Restaurants close early, and blue laws really end night life on the weekend as alcohol restrictions take effect. I come from a land where 24-hour diners are everywhere and there is always something happening regardless of what time it is (NJ and NYC, respectfully). Being home by 12:45AM isn't a typical weekend plan.
Saturday - Boston, MA
I'm a big fan of shepard's pie. At the Union Oyster House, they make a seafood pie. It's full of scallops, shrimp, and white fish. It's delicious and goes well with their house brew. The beer is both tasty and smooth. I've had a lot of house beers, and Union Oyster House is one of the few that I would go to for the beer alone. If you're ever in Boston, make a reservation. They fill up quick. It's the oldest restaurant in the U.S. It has been continuously running since 1826. They make a great clam chowder, and everything comes with corn bread.
We were in Boston during a Gay Pride Day, so rainbows and bright colors were everywhere, from churches to statues to people.
Unfortunately, the rain canceled most of our plans. We had the opportunity to see the Blue Man Group for half price, but the tickets were cash-only. Because the T wouldn't be running by the time the concert was over, we'd have to get a cab back to the hotel. We didn't have enough money for both the tickets and the cab, so we had to pass. Boston's bedtime sucks.
When we finally got home, I had take a shower. We had a "deluxe" shower cap that came with the room, which pretty much meant that I was going to wear a shower cap at some point during this trip. I wasn't sure which side of my head to put it on.
Sunday morning - Salem, MA
We wanted to see the Salem Witch Museum.
Unfortunately, photography inside the museum isn't allowed. Even worse, the museum is only two relatively small rooms full of a few wax figures. It's two presentations, which are just recorded voice-overs basically reading you a summary of Arthur Miller's The Crucible. It's a little ironic that the last line of the tour is a wax figure of a modern Wiccan saying how "We are normal people. Please ignore the stereotype," because you are then ushered into a gift shop full of spell books and charms. By spell books, I mean books of the Silver Ravenwolf caliber, which are criticized as some of the most inaccurate drivel that attempts to capitalize of the religion. The top Amazon reviews at the time of writing for the linked book (which is the book that popped into my head when I first saw the gift shop) can be found here, here, and here.
All in all, the museum was as a bit of a letdown.
Salem's shops are set up as if Halloween exists year-round. I guess that's what tourists expect. Something unexpected was all the soap foam in the wind.
Our weekend trip was fun. There were a few other things we wanted to do, but time and the weather didn't permit it, including a duck tour, the aquarium, and a few geocaches. I accidentally found a geocache on the way home, though, so I was happy. I'll post that info in another article.
