Boston - What To Do

I was going to write about food and drink as the follow up to my Boston hotel entry and the next installment for Demonic Blonde (and Alex), but DB has requested places to go. Again, no Boston expert or anything, but here are some places I've been and things I've done while there, and some more I'm wanting to go and do!

Have done:

Boston Duck Tours: Totally touristy, and also a total blast! We did the Duck Tour once when we were there in September, and it was so fun! Silly, yes. And it's hard to avoid the "Look at us tourists" deal when you're in a giant, "World War II amphibious landing vehicle." But yeah, completely worth it, especially at the beginning of a trip to get a feel for the layout of the city, and to note things you'd like to visit a bit more.

Boston Common: Boston Common was great to just wander around and chill out in. We spent hours here, just enjoying the feel of the area and hanging out.

Newbury & Boylston Streets: We walked along the posh shopping streets, and though we couldn't afford much, it was lots of fun to people watch and check out the awesome buildings along these two streets. We also went to Trinity Church and the Boston Public Library (AMAZING architecture) off of Boylston.

Trinity Church

The Freedom Trail: 2.5 mile walk led by a red brick (or red paint) trail. It's a fantastic way to explore the history of Boston, plus it takes you through many of the places you would've wanted to see anyway: the USS Constitution, the Old North Church, Faneuil Hall, etc.

Paul Revere House: We visited the Paul Revere house when we did a self tour of the Freedom Trail. It was pretty cool for people who are into history!

Fenway Park: We were lucky enough to get tickets to a game at Fenway in 2005. I don't think we'll be able to do this on our next trip, but we will probably still do the Fenway tour!

Miss M and me at Fenway Park, 2005

Am planning:

The Boston Harborwalk
Sam Adams Brewery Tour
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Something we looked into for our upcoming trip is the Boston Explorer Pass. You choose three attractions (one "premiere" and two "signature"), and then use the pass to save some time and money on the things you want to do. If we were to get one today, we'd get it with the following items: New England Aquarium, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and Boston Harbor Cruises' USS Constitution Cruise. I doubt that we'll get them for this trip, since we'll only be in Boston for two days, but for a longer trip they would definitely be worth it.

Boston - Where To Stay

Recently, my friend Demonic Blonde requested a travel post about Boston, since she and some friends will be traveling there in November. Now, I am no expert on Boston by any means. But, I have been there several times and it's my favorite East Coast city by far.

I love Boston. I love the feel of the city, the people, the transportation, pretty much everything except for the fact that my delicate California-born-and-raised self cannot survive in cold weather. In fact, I would love to live there at some point, if it weren't for said issue. Anyway. I'll be traveling there again next month for my own trip, but I figured I'd post a few blogs with some of the places I've been and will be planning to go. Here is the first, about hotels.

I've only stayed in two hotels in Boston on my trips thus far. The first time I went, my friend Miss M and I were a little late in reserving a hotel room (we were traveling at the same time as Harvard's graduation, oops), and the best we could find was the Holiday Inn Express. This hotel? Not recommended. The hotel itself is fine, exactly what you'd expect from a Holiday Inn Express. There's a Target within walking distance and a little diner next door that has good pie. But the neighborhood is hardly ideal for tourists. The T stop is a 5-10 minute walk, and not particularly appealing to two young women after dark.

Every time since then, I've stayed at the Boston Marriott Cambridge. Which rocks as a hotel as well as a location. It's on the pricier side, but if you get it at the right time of year you can get good deals. Basically, it's a dream come true - soft, heavenly beds, comfortable rooms, and the Kendall Square T stop is literally steps from the hotel. A close T stop is my biggest "pro" for a hotel in Boston - because with that, you can get anywhere around the city with ease (and a few minutes walk).

For this upcoming trip, we're staying at a new hotel that I've not been to. Again, we waited far too long to book our hotel, and my favorite was over $300/night, well out of my price range for this trip. If we were only going to Boston, I may have sprung for it (it's THAT good of a hotel), but since we'll have an additional 7 nights in hotels after Boston, we had to stick with our budget of under $200/night. So, with very little available and our departure looming, we turned to Priceline. We named the hotel we wanted (four stars), our location (Downtown, Waterfront, etc) and our price ($175/night). And then we rolled the dice. We are booked at the Seaport Hotel on the waterfront, and from the looks of the reviews on tripadvisor, I am super excited about our good fortune.

Style

Coming home from our road trip to San Francisco, I couldn't help but think about how much our trip demonstrated how different BF's and my "travel styles" are.

I like to plan. (Like that's a surprise.) Hotels, activities, places to eat, etc. I like having the details worked out, often months ahead of time, before I go somewhere. It's less stressful for me, and it makes traveling more enjoyable, plus, I love to do it.

BF likes to fly by the seat of his pants. He doesn't like having anything planned - he wants to be completely flexible with everything. And he's totally last minute.

I'll admit it. Most of the time, I "win" when it comes to travel. Because if I don't? I drive him crazy being all stressed out and wondering where I'm going to sleep.

Take, for example, our road trip. We'd been sort of planning on this trip for a while. BF had two classes he wanted to take, and we'd planned on going from Fri-Mon. Then, about six weeks ago, we re-visited. Yes, we still want to go. He signed up for his classes, but didn't tell me. And then we moved, and I sort of forgot about it. And a week and a half ago, I started to wonder. I asked him if we were going, and if I needed to take the time off. Yes. Hmm, ok. Where were we going to stay? How were we going to get there? Which car were we going to take?

I went and found a hotel. Talked to BF. And basically told him, with little room for argument, that I was going to book it. Because I SO did not want to get up to San Francisco at 10pm at night and not have a nice, comfy bed in a warm, safe hotel.

That experience? Total example of compromise. If it were me planning it from the get go, we'd have had a hotel room from the moment he'd booked his classes. And if it were up to him? We'd be taking the scenic route, getting into town late, and landing where ever we could find parking and a bed. For three nights, and likely, a lot more money.

But see, BF was so low key about booking a hotel that I started to get suspicious. Then, the day before we were scheduled to leave, he hit me with it. He wanted to leave that night, instead of Friday morning. Stay in Santa Cruz, which I negotiated down to San Luis Obispo, because, oh, I didn't get out of work till 4pm. And I hadn't packed. Then when I asked him if I should book a hotel? The answer was a very firm "NO."

So, I planned as much as possible. I knew where some hotels in San Luis Obispo were. I knew what I needed to pack, and I spent my lunch getting an oil change for my car so it too was ready to go. And I tried hard not to worry, because worst case scenario? We had some friends that live up there, and I wasn't opposed to imposing on them. Plus, it was only one night, right? It was fine, and it made BF happy to wander aimlessly.

And you know what? We ended up having a great trip. We meandered. We took our time. We got in late and found a place to stay last minute. And then we got up to San Francisco when we needed to for his classes, and had a great time on the way.

But it definitely got me thinking. What's your travel style? If you have a significant other, do you have similar styles? Or do you sometimes clash, like us?

California Road Trip: Monterey Bay & Santa Cruz

Hmmm... where did I leave off? Oh yes, it was still Saturday and we were still driving. We drove for a LONG TIME on Saturday. After Cambria, we drove all through Big Sur on Highway 1, enjoying the spectacular views and the windy roads until we got to Monterey. Our main goal? The Monterey Bay Aquarium! We love the Monterey Bay Aquarium. And Monterey is a super cute place. Too many tourists in spring and summer, but what can you do?

Outer Bay exhibit - do you see the size of that tuna???

We also discovered the coolest thing ever - mini golf with BLACK LIGHTS! We didn't have time to play, but next time I'm up there? It's on. After a quick drive through Pacific Grove (and a stop to see a cute little deer in a cemetery by a golf course), we were on our way to Santa Cruz.


We had a really great dinner in Santa Cruz at this place called Caffe Lucio. It was awesome. Lucio is this wiry little Italian guy (that's him on their logo) who is just bursting with energy and so awesome to everyone who walks in. He greets everyone in Italian, and I automatically responded in Italian. He then seemed to take a liking to us, rambling on in Italian while putting his arm around my shoulder and proving that he is a real Italian (and smelled like one too!)

We sat at the bar and shared Bruschetta di Caprino (bruschetta with goat cheese and grilled marinated veggies), home made gnocchi with tomato sauce, and a thin crust pizza. It was amazing. If you are ever in Santa Cruz, you MUST go there. Everyone working there just seemed to be having a fantastic time. The pizza cook was wearing this hilarious shirt that said "Free Chorizo" and had an arrow pointing down, and the couple next to us at the bar commented on it. The woman was all "Has your mother seen that shirt??" And the cook just laughed and motioned Lucio over, pointing to his shirt. It said "Half Man," pointing up, and "Half Horse," pointing down. Ha - what a fun place to work!

California Road Trip: Morro Bay

Our road trip to San Francisco had lots of little stops and side trips - so I'm going to break up the blog about it a little into smaller, easier to digest blogs. Cause I love you people, and don't want your eyes to start to bleed!

We left our place super early - 6:40am early - and headed up the 101. None of this "5 freeway" deal for us - what's the point of taking a road trip if you're going to be bored out of your mind and see nothing but cows the entire drive? You can see cows on the 101, too, and horses, and sheep, and even ostriches!

We stopped in Santa Maria for breakfast around 8am and then called our buddy in Morro Bay - we hadn't seen him since Christmas, so we couldn't pass up an opportunity to hang out with him! Got to Morro Bay around 10am and he took us to Montana de Oro State Park for a very awesome nature walk.

I love eucalyptus trees.

Hazards Beach

Seeing our buddy was awesome - and it's sort of nice to know that we can see him with a quick 2.5 hour drive instead of having to fly to Seattle. :-) We grabbed coffee in Baywood, a little town between the state park and Morro Bay.

Baywood has this little harbor that allows people to get around the area during high tide, but then drains out to be a mucky wetland during low tide. We were there at low tide, but it was still pretty cool!

Boardwalk in Baywood

When we left Morro Bay, we made the decision to take Highway 1 to Monterey, our next stop... We meandered up the coast, stopping in Cambria for some Ollaliberry pie at Linn's and to pick up more tea! While we were there, we found these really yummy tea candies. We got the Classic Iced Tea ones and enjoyed them for the rest of our trip!

Next up: Monterey Bay and Santa Cruz!

CA 101 Road Trip to San Francisco

BF and I recently went on a trip to San Francisco, and it was awesome. We had such a nice time, and it was so great to hang out, spend time together, and be super goofy. We left on Thursday night, stayed in Pismo Beach, then leisurely finished the drive on Friday. Here are some of the highlights to our trip!

- The GIANT artichoke in Castroville, CA. It's the world's largest, and I had no idea it even existed prior to this trip, so it was awesome to stumble upon! I wanted to eat at the Giant Artichoke Restaurant, but we'd just had breakfast. Next time, maybe.
- Stopping at Pizza My Heart and the Pacific Cookie Company in Santa Cruz! The PCC had a lemon drop sugar cookie that was soooooo good.

This was the chocolate dipped chocolate chip macadamia nut cookie! Delicious!

- Beer & clams. We had them every day on our trip, and it was glorious. We have a new favorite restaurant in North Beach that has the absolute best steamed clam appetizer I've ever had! And I don't even like seafood most of the time!
- Volare Restaurant in North Beach. As mentioned above: Best. Clams. Ever.
- Driving across the Golden Gate Bridge. I'm sure I've done this before, but I certainly don't remember it, so it was rad.

Sunset from Sausalito

- H&M & Zara. H&M is my favorite store, and I swear that the different geographical locations carry different things in their stores. I found a couple cute tops, and am better prepared for our trip to the East coast next month!
- Riding the cable cars. I could probably just ride those things back and forth for hours. They're so much fun, and the perfect place to people watch!
- Seeing our friend Cristina on the way home, then seeing horses and dolphins on the rest of the drive. We stopped to check the surf North of Ventura and there was a guy who was giving his horses a break from their long drive. They were just there, chillin out on the grass by the ocean. They were so sweet, and let me pet them while they chowed down on grass.

I highly recommend taking the 101 when driving north to San Francisco. Yes, it takes a bit longer than the more direct 5. But the extra time is worth it for all of the fantastic things you see on the way!