Megan has graced Boston with her presence twice before (both memorable: the first coincided with Hurricane Earl, and the second involved stealing a homeless man's vodka). This time, she brought Phil, a good friend from our K-State days. We spent four days walking all over Boston (55,965 steps according to Breeze), packing in as much as we possibly could before their Monday afternoon return to Kansas.
We started at the office. Phil, as a planner involved with public transportation, was excited to navigate the MBTA to Watertown and also tour Sasaki. Megan was excited to eat at Roxy's on the way home (one of the many reasons why we're friends).
The next day we were up bright and early. We took the T to the Innovation District, and meandered over to the harbor to get in line for the Harpoon Brewery tour. Our last attempt at this particular tour (which also happened to be with Megan) was cut short as they sold the last tour tickets to the people in front of us in line. We were determined this wouldn't happen again. We shouldn't have worried. Harpoon had recently opened a new beer hall, which also exponentially increased their tour capacity. We purchased our tickets, learned all about Harpoon's brewing process, then hung around the beer hall for pretzels. (Forget the alcohol; I could eat those pretzels all day.) Post-pretzels, we headed straight to Yankee Lobster for our next meal, then walked it off by exploring more of the Innovation District and playing bocce at Sasaki-designed Lawn on D. And we kept on walking. We strolled the Greenway so Phil could experience the Big Dig, and we ended up in the North End for cannoli and lots of history (and inadvertently the Saint Anthony's Feast celebration).
Sunday, after a great morning at REUNION, we headed to Fenway for a ballpark tour followed by Sweet Cheeks biscuits. We enjoyed learning more about the history of Fenway and the Sox, and exploring the places most fans don't get to experience on a typical game day: the visitor's locker room, the Green Monster seats, the press box, and more.
On Monday, we had some time to kill before Megan and Phil's flight home, so we rented a ZipCar and headed to a place Ian has wanted to visit since we moved to Boston five years ago: World's End. In the late 1800s, Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of landscape architecture, designed it to be a residential subdivision. The carriage paths were created and trees were planted, but the houses were never built. The peninsula was eventually shortlisted to be the UN headquarters, and later considered for a nuclear power plant site, but the community worked hard to raise funds to protect the land. Now, it's a beautiful park with tree-lined walking paths and stunning views of Boston and the harbor. We walked around the entire peninsula, and even managed to dip our toes in the Atlantic.
Megan and Phil, thanks for spending your vacations with us! We had so much fun wandering around the city, eating good food, and nerding out about city planning and landscapes. Come back soon! (And Phil, congratulations on your engagement! Next time, bring Ashley too!)
Visit Flickr for more photos of our weekend!
