My last day- Boston

Michael and I slept in and had a leisurely morning at Alex and Tionna's house.  Then we packed up and parted ways.  He drove back to Vermont because he was flying out of Burlington the next day.  I was flying out of Boston on Tuesday, so Tionna was taking me into the city for the day and for my flight.

It just so happened that Tionna's niece was visiting from Tucson at the same time, so Danielle's mom (Tionna's sister) got her on the same flight as me so that I could be her flying buddy and get her safely back to Arizona.

We got to Boston around lunch time.  We took some pictures in front of the Boston Tea Party Ships before walking to Quincy Marketplace for lunch.

Oh, and there was a dead jelly fish.

I didn't take any pictures at lunch.  I had a seafood sandwich.  I give it a C+.  I also bought a totally unneeded Christmas ornament at Quincy Marketplace.  

After lunch we walked to the North End to visit Mike's Pastries.  I was temped to get a lobster tail (top right), 

but ended up with an espresso cannoli.  I ate it while walking down the street.  Not really so easy.

At this point I split up with Tionna.  She took the kids to the Children's Museum and I went to the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum.

It was $25 to get in and I was kind of overwhelmed by that price thinking that it was going to be a self-guided tour where I just walked onto the ship, looked around and then wandered around inside the museum.  But it wasn't like that at all.  It was completely interactive experience- the guides wore authentic clothing and there were holographic displays and films. 

I had NO idea that Elliott was born on the 238th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party.  I'm sure I knew that date at some point in my life, but I certainly wasn't remembering it when I was giving birth that day in 2011.  I asked the guide (because it wasn't anywhere on the tour) and she said that based on diaries of people that were there, the town meeting starting around 10 am and the actual tea started being dumped in the harbor around 5 pm that day.

The tour started with a re-enactment of the town hall meeting.  People on the tour were given lines to say.  I didn't have one, but it was still fun.

Then we moved onto the ship.

We got to throw pretend tea overboard.  Huzzah!

Down below deck.

The captain's quarters with a creepy life size doll captain.

Tea in the harbor

This building is as close as they can estimate as to where the three ships were actually docked in 1773.

No picture taking was allowed in the museum, but it was really cool in there.  It wasn't really a museum at all.  We were in three different rooms and in two of them there were interactive, hologram movies to watch.  The last room had a regular movie screen with a 10 minute movie about the aftermath of the Boston Tea Party and the start of the Revolutionary War.  I may or may not have teared up a little during it.

There was a nice tea room and bakery for snacking after the tour, but I was in a time crunch.  Plus, I needed to do some very fast last minute shopping.

After I very quickly spent $60 I rushed back to meet Tionna.  Then I took Danielle to the parking garage while Tionna took the kids to get the parking validated.  Danielle and I changed in the car.  I may or may not have stealthily changed my bra and my shirt.  

Twenty minutes later we were at the airport where more than one person thought I was Danielle's mom.  She is 10, so this is actually entirely possible.  I took a picture and texted Tionna so she knew we made it onto the plane.

And a quick 6 hours later, we landed in Phoenix.  Where we immediately caught on fire.

Danielle's mom picked us up from the airport and dropped me off at home before they drove back to Tucson.  I got home around 10:30.  My mom and Elliott were asleep, but Spencer popped right out of bed when he heard the front door open.  He was waiting up for me.

He helped me unpack and since he was there I decided to give him his present from Boston.  Except, first this kind of freaky chicken claw mistake of a picture happened.

Ah.  That's better.

I drank a big coffee at the airport before we left Boston, so actually, despite it being 11:00 in Phoenix and 2:00 to my internal clock, I was pretty wired when I got home.  I ended up unpacking all of my stuff, putting everything away and reading until 2:00 am Phoenix time/5:00 am internal clock time before going to bed.  

The next morning my mom got up with Elliott and didn't remind him that I was home, which was nice, because I got to sleep a little later.  Not much though, because I had a 9:30 appointment to get hacked up one more time by my plastic surgeon.  But that is a story for another day.  Another day, like, tomorrow.

From Vermont to New Hampshire

Michael and I actually had to set the alarm for 6:00 am on Monday morning.  Alarm setting is never a good thing on vacation, BUT, when it means you are on your way to visit good friends, it's tolerable. 

We left his aunt and uncle's house at 7:00.  We remembered to bring everything with us except for the damn bag of Cabot cheese we had bought to bring to people in New Hampshire.  We had talked about it the night before and still, nobody remembered it was in the refrigerator.  Michael's Uncle Ruggie actually chased us down and finally caught up to us after 30 minutes when we stopped for gas.  Can you even believe he did something so nice?

With the cheese back in our hands, we pressed on through the fog.  Yes, fog!  It was a foggy, dreary, drizzly and totally lovely morning in Northern Vermont.

After about 90 minutes we stopped at the Cold Hollow Apple Cider Mill, specifically to buy cider donuts and coffee for breakfast.  We bought some Vermont souvenirs too. I got a maple chapstick that's kind-of lovely.

We ended up with two dozen donuts- a dozen to eat in the car and a dozen for people in NH.  Now, a dozen donuts does sound like too much for two people to eat, but they are small and can be consumed in about 3 bites.  Don't judge.

We finally arrived in Nashua, at Cathy's house, right around noon.  It is slow going with that 65 mph speed limit in VT.

One of the first things I saw when we walked in was the wedding anniversary memory book I gave to Cathy and Mike for their wedding last year.

Awe!  Look.

She also had the photo book her photographer made for them.  I took pictures of the pages I am on.

Oh, and a picture with Cathy too!

Soon after our arrival Megan arrived with her son, Nicholas.  It was our first time meeting him.  He was born in October.

He was so cute I kind-of neglected to get a picture with Megan.  

Cathy made a delicious lunch for us.  Even after the dozen cider donuts, we were really hungry.

And thirsty for sangria.

After lunch there was more looking at pictures.

And more taking of pictures.  Nicholas and I did a selfie,

before I remembered there were 3 adults present to take our picture.

Just to review, in case you are wondering why the heck I was visiting these people......I spent one semester attending the University of New Hampshire as an undergraduate as part of the National Student Exchange program.  Megan was my roommate and Cathy lived down the hall. That was 16 years ago and we have remained friends all this time.

One more adorable picture of Nicholas, and then it was time for dessert.

Megan brought this cake.  It says "I'd rather be in Claremont".  Here's the story behind that.  

Michael and I were in Vermont in August, 2001 for his cousin Amy's wedding.  I wanted to see my friends, but we didn't have time to drive to anywhere that any of them lived.  We were all also driving from all over- Western Massachusetts, Southern Maine, Southern New Hampshire and Northern Vermont.  So, we met in Claremont, NH at the only McDonald's in town because it was the close to half-way point for all of us.  This was before there were apps and websites dedicated to things like this and it took a lot of googling (right when googling was brand new) to figure out where to go and to get all of us there.  We still marvel that we all made it and found each other.  It was me, Michael, Megan, Cathy, Jess and Dave.  We went to eat at a Chinese buffet, walked around a huge antique store (where I actually bought something that I still have in the living room) and went to Walmart. 

It was a Boston Cream Pie Cake.

Cathy also made Chocolate Crunch Bars, because there weren't enough calories in the cake and the extra donuts we brought for everyone.

By the way, before we move on, I promise that Michael was there.  We just somehow managed to not ever take a picture of him.  I didn't even notice until right now.  Poor Michael.

We hung out at Cathy's house until about 4:00 and then made the quick 20 minute drive to my cousin's house in Manchester.

And guess what we did?  Ate again!  This time, a lobster dinner.

My cousin, Alex.

See, he exists.

Poor, live lobsters about to be thrown into a pot of boiling water.

Alex's wife, Tionna, and their daughter, Eliana. Not to be confused with the daughter of Michael's cousin Pat, Aliana. Because, yes, I have to silently think their names each time I say something about them.

And then Tionna broke out a bottle of wine and I ceased to take any more pictures for the night.

Up next: my sad last day.  Not sad because it was a bad day, but sad because it was my last day.