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!