Our First Visitor! Part II

See Part I for Friday's drama and Saturday's tourist traps.

Sunday, we went to our church in the morning, and then made our way to Karl's Sausage Kitchen for dinner. It's a butchery/cafe with a little German grocery store inside. Since Dad spent so much time in Germany, I thought he'd enjoy some familiar tastes and exports. Just being inside that place makes me crave The Sound of Music...

That night we drove out to Gloucester, the seaport where The Perfect Storm story comes from. We walked along the boardwalk for a while, then settled in at a little seafood restaurant, Latitude 43*, for dinner. The food was pretty good, but didn't knock our socks off. We really drove out to Gloucester to enjoy beer at Cape Ann Brewing Company. We walked over to the Brewery and chatted over a couple of beers.

Will and me at the memorial for all of the fishermen lost at sea.

Then came Monday... BOSTON DAY! We planned a trip doing a few of our favorite and most-anticipated activities. We took the T into the city and started off with a brewery tour at the Sam Adams brewery. I'd heard great things about this tour, and it lived up to every expectation. The tour guides were knowledgeable and hilarious. Will and I have done several brewery tours, and this was probably the most entertaining. And the tour is free!

Will pouring the first tasting... get that 45* angle, babe!

After the tour, they recommend heading over to Doyle's Pub for lunch and drinks. Doyle's was the first bar to sell Sam Adams when they were getting started in the 1980s, so they get a special shout out from the brewery. There is a free trolley that takes you from Sam Adams to Doyle's, and the trolley driver was out of control. He was hysterical. He decked out this old trolley with disco balls and flashing lights, blasted "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)", and made the trolley bounce down the road as we headed to Doyle's. He was full of knowledge about Sam Adams and Doyle's, such as citing several movies with scenes in Doyle's, and entertained us as we took a 7 minute ride over to lunch. Good food, good beer, and it put us all in a very good mood. I highly recommend this if you're in the Boston area-- a free brewery tour and a cheap lunch is one of my favorite parts of this weekend. 

DOYLE'S 

After Doyle's, we headed over to the waterfront to see the New England Aquarium. Will and I went to the aquarium last year when I came to visit and it was phenomenal. I loved it so much that Will scheduled an aquarium trip for us on our honeymoon in Denver (although that aquarium wasn't nearly as impressive as this NE's Aquarium.) Unfortunately, the massive 200,000 gallon tank in the center was under construction, and all of the penguins had been moved to another facility during the construction, so the aquarium was much less impressive than our last visit. They included free IMAX tickets with the admission ticket because of the construction, so we enjoyed the fish and jellies and headed over to watch a movie about the Arctic and polar bears. Will took a nap during the movie. Dad seemed reasonably entertained. I was stressed out for much of the movie (the polar bear mama and her 2 cubs are being pursued for a good portion of this movie... spoiler alert: they make it out alive, but my anxiety for them didn't subside when the credits started rolling...)

We headed back home and ate some take out Thai while watching Sons of Anarchy on TV. It was a restful ending to a jam-packed weekend!

We did a little Facetime action with John & Rylie on Dad's iPad. She wasn't really sure what was happening, but we were thoroughly entertained by her questioning eyes.

Dad flew back this morning and made it home safe. Such a fun time with family!

Next up: Will's family joins us for Thanksgiving. Can't wait to see what Hotel Killmer serves up for the holiday!

Our First Visitor! Part I

Look who came to visit!

Apparently Will and I tend to just look at ourselves in the camera instead of the camera lens. Oops.

My dad flew into Boston to visit us this past weekend. It was a great time for a visitor-- I had 3 scheduled days off in a row (a rarity), the weather had warmed up from the Nor'easter so walking around was pleasant, and Will's reading break is this week, so his school work could take a little vacation for a few days. 

The plan was for Will to pick up my dad from the airport on Friday while I was at work, and I would just join everyone after I got home. At 5:00 A.M., the hospital called & said they were overstaffed and would  I like to stay home. Usually I would say no to this incredibly tempting offer (so I don't use up my vacation time), but this just seemed like the perfect time to take it. Best 5 A.M. call ever! So now, I had four glorious days off. Such a gift!

We picked up dad from the airport and headed out to lunch near our home. And that brings me to a very strange story I would like to share with you.

Dad and I at a beach near my home. 

 I wanted to take Dad for a walk around our little town for 2 reasons: to show him our area, and to give Will some time to work on school before the fun weekend began. We reached the crosswalk near our home that would take us across the busy street and over into the neighborhoods. I inched out and was looking both ways for cars before crossing... and then I was hit by a car. Or rather, I was run over by a car. There was an Audi parked along the street, and she started to reverse without looking behind her. The back tires on this car are so close to the bumper that by the time I felt the bumper hit my thigh, my foot was already under the tire and I was being pulled under the car. She ran over my foot, ankle and knee before realizing what was going on. She stopped (thereby saving my hips and important organs...), and I just kinda sat there stunned. My dad had a few choice words for her (although, to his credit, I was impressed by his restraint with this girl who just ran over his daughter...), and then I stood up to see how my leg was. It was fine. I could move just fine, no broken bones (that I could notice), and no odd feelings or nerve damage. So... I said we should just keep on with our plans for our walk! We crossed the road, she drove away, and we made it to the beach in the above picture. You'd hardly know I was just the victim of a vehicular assault by my cheese grin above.

My knee did start hurting & swelling a while later, so we made a quick-ish trip to the ER for xrays, which confirmed no broken bones, and then we went on our merry way.

Dad has friends in Boston, so we took the T into the city and had dinner with them at Nico's in the North End. Excellent food! My only complaint is that there was a massive flat screen TV in the dining room that was playing an old mob movie. I understand the idea, but eating a nice meal and sipping a smooth wine while seeing a sex scene and mass murder in the background didn't really "set the tone" for my meal.

When asked if we wanted to get any dessert, I said, "I was run over by a car today. I want a cannoli." So we walked down to Modern Pastry for a sweet end to our trip into the city.

Dad and his friends in front of the store.

 With full bellies, we waddled back to the T and headed home.

On Saturday, we headed up to Marblehead for brunch. When Will's family came up last year to drop him off at school, we ate brunch at The Landing and it was phenomenal! It is still our favorite bowl of clam chowder (and we order that soup everywhere so that's a big compliment... we've tasted many bowls!) Well, the brunch is only served on Sundays. Whomp whomp. So we ate our lunch and headed over to Salem for some tourist time.

Will and me at The Landing. 

Look behind Will and you'll see a massive crane that

 takes ships in and out of that warehouse!

 We walked all around Salem. There's a harbor side with a lot of historical displays explaining the evolution of Salem as a seaport.

Here I am reading about using the angles of the shadows created by the Sun to decipher the time of day. I look confused because Will is standing directly where the Sun should have been creating my shadows...

Salem is most known for the Salem Witch Trials back in the 1600s. Interestingly, the first Witch Trial took place in Danvers, not in Salem. A servant woman was accused of being a witch by two young sisters, and she was told if she confessed, she would be released from her job with the family. Instead, they executed her. She confirmed the names of a few other "witches" (other women these two sisters were accusing), and they were also executed. Those executions all took place in Salem, but it all started in Danvers. There is a beautiful memorial for the 20 or so executed.

Salem uses this little bit of history to really attract tourists. There are legitimate historical sites (like the memorial and museums), but there is a hefty amount of cheesey, shameless tourist attractions based on witches. Think... Harry Potter stores, wax museums with witches and wizards, and large plywood witches with holes cut out for faces... like so...

The Bearded Witch

The Distressed/Windblown Witch

The Jolly/Can't-Contain-My-Height Witch

Boo!

We spent the rest of the time walking around Salem's pedestrian mall, all around the harbor, and through the stores and alleys of the city.

We ended Saturday with going to see 007: Skyfall at our local theater. Classic entertainment.

Part II will tell of Sunday and Monday's adventures...