Boston and Vermont

So Iff left off with us arriving in Boston to stay with Jen. We had a great time hanging out with her and really appreciate her hospitality. Thanks, Jen!

When we planned our wee tour of the US, we figured five days in Boston would be plenty. The time flew by, though! Our first full day there we mostly caught up on sleep and email, although we did fit in a few hours of walking around the city. It's a great place to wander around; it's so pedestrian-friendly and full of cafes, little shops, squares and parks. There were so many people walking their dogs, so we got in plenty of dog stalking.

The second day we were more touristy, walking along the Freedom Trail to see the historical sites (and managing not to buy donuts from the Dunkin Donuts store on very corner). That night we met up with my old friend Jill and her partner Neal. We hadn't seen Jill since 1998, so it was great to catch up (and stuff our faces with pizza).

Our third day was spent with Lisa, a Bostonian we met in Australia. She took us to Salem, the site of the infamous 17th century witch trials and a safe community for many Wiccans now. Because it was only a few days before Halloween, there was a lot going on. All good fun. We went to the Witch Trial Museum for a rather funny, hoaky exhibit summarizing the trial proceedings and events surrounding them; the hoakiness is actually a shame because the events themselves are no laughing matter. It did end with an exhibit on witches (ancient to modern) which thankfully wasn't so hoaky. The whole thing made me want to read further about it all, which I intend to do. After Salem, Lisa took us along the coast through Gloucester and Rockport. Such lovely scenery. It was quite cold, but we saw some people kite surfing...mental! That night, we watched the third game of the World Series. Lisa is a Red Sox fanatic, so it was great fun to experience this with her. We watched the beginning of the game at a nearby pub, joined by Jen and one of Lisa's friends. When it got too crowded (and difficult to see the tv screen), we all went to Lisa's apartment and joined her flatmate and another friend. The Red Sox were in no danger of losing it seemed, and we all wound up talking about politics more than baseball. The highlight for me was eating some of the chocolate cookies Lisa's flatmate had made. Heaven!

The fourth day we got up bright and early to catch a bus to Burlington, Vermont. My cousin Sid and his family live in Vergennes, Vermont, and we'd never been to see them there. So luckily it worked out to visit them now. We got to meet his wife Janice and two youngest sons Tim and Keegan as well as their two dogs. We had such a great time with them! They showed us around Burlington and then took us on a lovely hike near their home. At the top of Buck Mountain, we saw the most beautiful views. They fed us the most gorgeous homemade food, and we had a blast playing sports games on their Wii. It was a lovely time that I was sad to see end.

The fifth day we'd intended to spend 12 hours on the train in transit back to Boston. When we heard an announcement on the train that it was going to arrive hours late, we got out at White River Junction, Vermont to get a bus back instead. It wasn't free, but it took about 10 hours off our travel time! Strange. So we got back to Boston earlier than expected and got to walk around the city a bit more on our last night there. We also got to see Jen for longer than expected that night, so we were really happy we got the bus.

The next morning we were up bright and early to catch the train to Philadelphia. Our next post will be about that!