Independence Day

Before the show

My alarm rang at 5:00 this morning. After my usual 20 minutes of snoozing, I rolled my lazy ass out of bed, made some desperately-needed coffee, and hopped in the shower. The gates to the Hatch Shell were to open at 9:00 and with a good hour-long commute there I had better hurry if I had any chance of beating the crowds.

Subbposedly the Boston Pops concert on Independence Day is one of the biggest in the country, so naturally I was concerned that I'd miss out. Fortunately, this was not the case, although there were 500 people acamped outside the gates by the tiem I stepped of f the red line at the Mass General Station at 7am.

The plan was to get in, find a spot on the lawn and, well, try to find entertainment for the day. I had packed a lunch (two turkey sandwiches, juice, and iced coffee), sunblock, a towel, folding chair, iPod, camera, pen & paper.

This paled in comparison to the sheer volume of equipment other people lugged with them.


Tents, canopies, tarps, umbrellas, coolers, inflatable mattresses, blankets, paper lanterns... and endless, endless flags. Giant flags, small plastic ones, falg canopies, flag shirts, flag towels, and my personal favorite: flag speedos worn by a rather patriotic gengleman.

After the show

The rain didn't seem to hold off all day, but we got off easy with just a few showers (I sought shelter in a nearby tarp... you'd be surprised with whom you'll make friends to say out of the rain). On the program, besides the Boston Pops conducted by Keith Lockhart, were Stephen Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Rockapella, Renese King, and Dr. Phil McGraw. I met Tiffany there with some of her friends from Salem State. There was an F-16 flyover after the Star-Spangled Banner, but I couldn't get a good picture. Hey, they were going 1,500mph! What did you expect?

The orchestra was fantastic; it was worth waiting all day for.


We left near the end of the show to try to find a place to stand on the island next to the Hatch where you can see the fireworks over the Charles. I didn't get any pictures of fireworks, but I did capture the last 30 seconds of the 1812 Overture on video: 1812_Overture_Finale.AVI [21.3MB]

I'd even consider going again. There's nothing like you and 500,000 of your closest friends.

Weekend warriors (Part II)

Saturday

A quick stop in Jamaica Plain to the Sam Adam's brewery is a great way to spend the morning, especially if there's a tasting involved. So that's exactly what we did. The brewery itself is hard enough to find, but well worth the trip. The suggested donation of $1 gets you into the building (which is mostly used for experimentation with recipes) and a tasting of three beers in a 5-oz glass, yours to keep.


We tried the summer ale, their flagship beer (the Boston Lager), and due to them running out of porter, an experimental number that tasted like (I kid you not) barbeque sauce.

After that we walked around the city for a bit, mostly on the Freedom Trail because I it's easy to navigate. We ventured North towards Hannover St. where we tried some cannolis at Mike's Pasteries. They're to die for, really (but only because they're rich enough to give you a heart attack).

On our way back South towards the car, we stopped by the Granary Burying Ground which houses the bones of such noblemen as John Hancock, Paul Revere, and (of course)


From there we had to book it back to the car, for we had to drive nearly two hours to get to the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut to see a free They Might Be Giants show. I'm not a gambler (aside from the occasional $5 poker night), so I didn't put any money down, but Nick won $22 at slots. Score.


Considering we didn't pay for parking, we saw a free show, and even came out ahead it was a pretty good evening.

Sunday

What better way to end the weekend than driving up to see the beautiful coastline of Maine? Well, maybe that, mini golf, and batting cages. Swish!


We ate lunch at this restaurant in York that claimed to be the best in town. The dead mosquito in my fries begged to differ. Still, it's only 2 miles from the coast, which is a good excuse to get your feet wet.




The best part is that I have Monday off (July 3) so this 4-day weekend is far from over!

Weekend warriors (Part I)

Thursday

This weekend was pretty spectacular. Like I said before, my friends Nick and Ben flew up to Boston for the weekend. Their plane touched down an hour before Kurt Schilling threw the first pitch. If you've never been to Boston, you might not know how long it can take to get from Logan to Fenway on a game day. The record, though, has to be when the Sox retraded for Doug Mirabelli hours before gametime. He made it in just 12 minutes.

We weren't fortunate enough to have a police escort like he did, but we made pretty good time on the T, and only missed the national anthem and a few pitches. Ben enjoyed not one but two Fenway Footlong Franks:


and I can only imagine he paid for them later dearly. The Sox won the game 4-2, sweeping the Mets spectacularly.

Friday

The next day was definitely more laid back as I had to work a full day. Nick and Ben slept in and hung around my apartment until my lunch break when I dropped them off in Lowell. After work we all headed to Boston to walk the Freedom Trail (at least the southern leg of it, anyway). Because it was later in the day, most of the points of interest were closed, but we were content with going to Bell in Hand which claims to be the oldest tavern in America.


After that it was half a dozen raw oysters at the Union Oyster House, Boston's oldest restaurant, literally 15 feet away from Bell in Hand. Nick abstained from eating any oysters, but Ben and I enjoyed them heartily.

After a brisk walk through Boston Common we arrived at Cheers


Originally the Bull and Finch pub, this is probably the smallest bar I've ever seen. Aside from being the inspiration for the television show, there is nothing really special about the bar itself... although I can say they do mix a good manhattan.