Hello again! How have you been enjoying these last lazy hazy days of summer? So I’ve been home for a few days from my trip, largely staggering around in a jet lagged haze, sloooowly unpacking and catching up on Made in Chelsea, (all the important stuff!). It was a fun, jam packed holiday of catching up with friends and family I hadn’t seen in far too long. I will probably write a couple of more in depth posts but right now I’m still processing it. I don’t know how people return from holiday and segue straight into travel blogger mode. I did find myself taking loads of pictures though, so do expect a pic heavy Boston post at some point, including my first ever visit to the gorgeous Isabella Stewart Gardner museum! Anyway I thought it would be fun to do a round up of some of my favorite (U.S. spelling, back to being American for awhile, natch!) trip moments.
10 Things That Happened on My 10 Day Trip to Massachusetts!
1. I got to drink the nectar of the gods known as Dunkin’
Donuts iced coffee…there may have been an old fashioned donut involved too (I
know, so boring, but I like plain or blueberry cake donuts the best, which they
didn’t have, wah).
2. My Mom and I got mani pedi’s the day of my cousin’s wedding
– it was her first, and she giggled every time they exfoliated her feet, which
I found hilarious! For whatever reason we never find time to do this sort of
pampering thing together normally so it was a nice treat, thanks Mom, I'll get the next one!
3. I went swimming in a lake. It was so warm and nice! The only drawback being since they had swimming lessons for kids (we were with three little learner swimmers, my second cousins), they had roped off a small-ish section and even adults weren’t allowed to swim in the non-roped off section, which was kinda silly. Plus the lifeguard was older than all of us combined, it was a bit comical! I get that safety comes first, but it did make me want to find a non-roped off lake in the middle of nowhere to swim in next time I am in New England! It was very pretty and tranquil though, and I had fun playing in the water with my second cousins, who feel more like my nieces - it's weird because the only second cousins I ever had were on my Dad's side growing up, and we weren't that far apart in age (Southern families y'all!) :-)
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| Ok this is an old pic I found at my Aunt's house, forgot to take a pic of us on mani pedi day |
3. I went swimming in a lake. It was so warm and nice! The only drawback being since they had swimming lessons for kids (we were with three little learner swimmers, my second cousins), they had roped off a small-ish section and even adults weren’t allowed to swim in the non-roped off section, which was kinda silly. Plus the lifeguard was older than all of us combined, it was a bit comical! I get that safety comes first, but it did make me want to find a non-roped off lake in the middle of nowhere to swim in next time I am in New England! It was very pretty and tranquil though, and I had fun playing in the water with my second cousins, who feel more like my nieces - it's weird because the only second cousins I ever had were on my Dad's side growing up, and we weren't that far apart in age (Southern families y'all!) :-)
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| As a mediocre high school swim team member the modest length of this lake (we kept joking it was a pond but it is technically a lake!) is one that screamed "Swim across me, you know you can!" |
4. I spent a day all by my lonesome in Boston, and it was
really fun to just be a tourist, if swelteringly hot (it felt super
muggy to me, it was probably around 90 but in a city that’s
basically 100 degrees am I right?). Of course I went into Boston for many a concert/day
out with friends when I lived in Mass., but it was the first time I had ever
spent a whole day there by myself -ok so I got the train in with my friend
Autumn and we had lunch at Pho and I (delicious Thai near Symphomy Hall/Northeastern area!), but other than that it
was just me, having a wander.
The
vacationing alone lark is not something I ever quite got the knack of, and I
was a little but dubious about how I would handle it, Boston is not a grid like N.Y. and I have always found it a bit head scratchy to navigate. I made a couple of rookie
errors – putting a $20 note in the “T” (that’s what Bostonians call their
subway) ticket machine, getting $15 in silver (though they are gold now!)
dollars, getting on a tour bus I only had time to do half the route of, etc. But largely it felt exciting and I
really would have loved another (less hot and humid!) day to do the Freedom
trail and a harbour cruise: Boston is full of so many fun things I haven’t yet
seen! I think next time I will bring David as he hasn’t experienced a lot of
Boston either, the time I brought him in it was St.Patrick’s Day which as
anyone from the area knows is utter madness in Beantown!
5. I got to spend lots of time with my extended family. And as
an only child, married but childless person I forgot what it feels like to be
part of (my own) big family. I really enjoyed the time spent with aunts and uncles and cousins,
and now their adorable sprogs (continuing the theme of three generations of
mostly girls, this one is so far ALL girls, 7 with another on the way, because
the x chromosome is a superheroine charged one in my Mom’s family!).
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| Beautiful bride Anna and her husband J.T. |
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| Only girls aloud (ok we have a boy cousin but he wasn't there! ;-) |
7. Went to the mall where I had my first job, which is sort of overgrown along the highway and feels a bit ghost town-y which is sad....when I started working there it was shiny and brand new and the place to be for teenagers, obviously. But on the plus side I got a cute top in Anne Taylor Loft for pennies and bumped into an old friend....
8. Had lunch/ a good old catch up with my old friend Amy (my former co-worker in Mass. and roommate in NY) who I hadn’t expected to see, she is hard to keep in touch with online because she doesn’t do Facebook or any social media really. I realized after she left we didn't take pictures, :-( ! (Basically she is Kaiser Sose!) We had brunch (well breakfast at lunchtime, this old diner in a train car was distinctively un-“Brunchy”!), I got my blueberry pancake and crispy bacon fix (no I didn’t take a picture, because when I dine with non-bloggers I feel a bit ludicrous doing this!), but trust it was old school yummy – the orange juice was only 75 cents! Highly recommend Joe’s Diner if you are ever in Taunton Mass for some reason!
9. Had dinner with my friend Autumn
and her family and our old friend Tristan and his g.f.. It was as if no time at all
had passed once we got chatting about old times, having a good gossip/catch up,
hopefully the rest of our dining companions weren’t too bored! It felt like a
mini reunion of sorts, with the timing of my trip I wasn’t able to see some old
friends sadly (Ironically one of them was in Ireland!) but we had such a fun night.
10. Went for a winding back roads drive through my Mom’s home
town, where we also lived for a while. Our old house has had a really nice fix
up by our former landlords’daughter, and while Norfolk is un-questionably even
more pricy now, I did see some lovely homes for sale that had me New England dreaming for a minute or three. Usually if I am having a daydreaming look at
real estate it’s in Florida, simply because (before the pound tanked anyway!)
we could get a lot more for our money there. But the dream of New England clapboard houses is still a pleasant one.
I do love the back roads of New England, they are so full of hidden treasures, like this old cemetary we drove past on one quiet lane, I must have driven around this town hundreds of times yet I had never seen it before!
Anyway how was YOUR August? Something about going away in August, coming home in September makes me feel as though I have missed a lot/haven't got my back to school supplies sort of feeling if you know what I mean! Where has the summer gone?!
* Hands up I just realized this post only had nine things not ten - so I added number seven! Someday I will learn to count to 10! ;-0
Anyway how was YOUR August? Something about going away in August, coming home in September makes me feel as though I have missed a lot/haven't got my back to school supplies sort of feeling if you know what I mean! Where has the summer gone?!
* Hands up I just realized this post only had nine things not ten - so I added number seven! Someday I will learn to count to 10! ;-0
Looks like a great trip!
ReplyDeleteThanks, it was! Next time be home!! ;-)
DeleteI have never been on the east coast, so love seeing posts like this!
ReplyDeleteSeafood + Butter = win in my book ;)
All those little girls in their swimsuits! Adorable!
I never feel comfortable wandering around alone in places I know let alone being a tourist somewhere else! Way to go on being so brave.
Ha, thanks, expect a few more pic heavy ones! It was a bit more daunting traversing the big city by myself than I would have anticipated if I am honest. I like to think of myself as independent/someone who could totally do a solo trip anywhere, but the reality of doing a museum/bus tour/other tourist stuff alone is a different feeling than how you imagine it to be - it's fine, once you settle into it, but it is an adjustment if you are used to doing stuff as a couple/with other people.
DeleteSounds like you had an amazing time! Loving the family pics, sad not to see the 80's version of you though ;). Also how alike do you and your mum look :)! Do clams taste like mussels? I've heard of clam chowder heaps of times but have never tasted it, not sure if it's something that I'd like.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing more pics/reading about the rest of your trip xx
Oh there are some pretty priceless awkward pre-teen pics, don't you worry! ;-) Yes, clams are basically just big mussels! :-) x
DeleteOh this post just made me crave a New England summer! I have an uncle & aunt in Mass. and have spent some very happy times at their place in the country (just realised that sounds like they have a country place and a city place - they don't!). I'm so glad you were able to go, we have 'talked' before about having far away family so I was really hoping you would as I know how precious these events are.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, that sounds amazing, hope you get to visit again someday! I am so glad I went, thanks for encouraging me as well, it was definitely worth it to reconnect with so many friends and family! xo
DeleteI would love to have a more girly time with my mum! Unfortunately she is not into other people touching her so I could not even convince her to have a massage with me. Such a shame, I love massages! Iga http://igaberry.com
ReplyDeleteTo be honest with you Iga my Mom isn't really big on pampering either, it was a real treat/very amusing! ;-) xx
DeleteOh wow! Lots of cool stuff! I bet exploring Boston in more of an autumn setting might be a bit more fun...just cooler/more comfortable. But it looks like it was tons of fun and really beautiful!!!
ReplyDeleteYeah autumn in New England is my favourite, hopefully next time! It was nice to get a taste of summer too though! :-)
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