MA-VT-NH-ME Girl's Trip: Graffiti Wall, Harvard, Freedom Tour, Chinatown, Cheers and Acorn Street (Day 3)

The next morning, we all got up at different times even though we set Mom's phone alarm for 7:30 a.m.  I didn't have to shower like everyone else because I did it the night before and I was good to sleep in for another few minutes.  Everyone took their time getting ready and then we went downstairs for a hotel breakfast.  It was super busy, but we did manage to find a table to sit at.  I had two sausage biscuits, a banana, peaches and some chocolate milk.  It was good to sit, eat and chat for a bit.

We went back up to the room and grabbed our daypacks, purses, warm clothing and headed out.  We really had no idea what we were going to do up until our Freedom Trail Tour so we just kind of made it up as we went along.  We walked about a half a mile along the sidewalks through Cambridge and north towards Harvard.  Mindy had been here the day before with her friend, so she kinda knew where she was going and what we were going to see. 

There was this large building on the west side of the street, and we wondered what it was.  On the side of the street that we were on, told a story about the Cambridge area and that building, Cambridge Brands Inc.  Boston, could one claim to be the candy capital of America.  In 1950, Boston and Cambridge were home to 140 candy companies. Main Street in Cambridge, known as "Confectioner's Row," as lined with New England candy makers. James O' Welch (Junior Mints), Fox-Cross (Charleston Chew), Jack Smiley (hard candies), Graylock Confection (Tweet) and Dagget (chocolates).  NECCO moved into Cambridge in 1947 and then to nearby Revere in 2003.

It was so cool to learn that Junior Mints were made on the road we were walking down.  I was actually disappointed that there wasn't a cache hidden at this spot.  We continued walking.

Mindy showed us the graffiti wall she visited with her friend the day before.  Mom was really into these hidden gems that you really wouldn't know about unless you stumbled up on them or had someone tell you where it was. We spent about a half hour looking at the art and taking some pictures.  We had to wait for a guy to leave so he wouldn't be in our pictures. 

Mindy asked if we wanted to go up to Harvard and we all said yes so, we hopped on the red line up to Harvard's campus.

We arrived at our stop, got up, went up to ground level, crossed the street and entered through the gates of Harvard's campus.  It was strange to be on an actual Ivy League's campus because this is a university I've only heard of and never thought I would ever visit, let alone walk around and absorb the history that has walked through here.  The ever-popular social media site, Facebook, began here in Zuckerburg's dorm room.

We noticed that there were a lot of people wandering around taking tours.  We weren't sure if it was for future students with their parents or a parent weekend?  We didn't know for sure.  I knew where I wanted to go and followed my phone to the earthcache, Indiana Limestone on Campus (GC6A04T).  

I worked on that while Mindy, Rhonda and Mom caught up to me.  They were busy looking at all the old brick buildings.  I felt like I answered all the questions, jotted them down and took out the cutouts I made of Grammie and Grandpa.  I wanted them to pose with me on Harvard's campus.  I don't think either of them have been to Harvard or Massachusetts before.  Rhonda took a few pictures for me.

We walked around a little bit more and then decided it was time to head towards downtown Boston again for our Freedom Trail tour at 2.  On the way out to the subway, we watched a bicyclist almost get hit by a car, he pounded the car's hood with his fist and left a dent.  I laughed and was really lucky to see that.  We walked down to the subway and took the red line south to Downtown Crossing. Mom mentioned grabbing some drinks and snacks, so we found the closest CVS and picked up a few things.  I grabbed a couple Pepsi Zeros, a Milky Way and a bag of Fritos to much on.  

We noticed that downtown Boston was a little busier than it was the day before and saw they were having a Halloween dog costume parade. We hung out for a little bit watching it.  We saw so many dogs and people wearing costumes.  Mom, Rhonda and Mindy took several dozen photos.  We walked around, went into a couple places just to explore and took more pictures of our experience.  I love learning about new cities. I wish I could do this more often than once or twice a year. 

As it was approaching our tour time, we started making our way back over to the Boston Common area.  Along the way, we saw the souvenir shop we saw yesterday on our way to Fenway and this time we had our daypacks with us.  I bought a few shirts, stickers, postcards and a couple magnets.  It was the perfect place to purchase gifts to bring home for family and friends because it was inexpensive.  We then walked across the street to the park.  The Boston Common was massive!

We went inside the park and because it was a nice day there were lot of people also enjoying the park with their kids, dogs, family and friends.  So far, we've been pretty lucky with the weather we've gotten, and I hope it continues throughout the week.  We saw many other tours were going on and realized we needed to go to the furthest northeast corner of the park to meet up with ours near Beacon Hill.  Meanwhile, Mom and I did the two virtual caches, The Shaw 54th Regiment (GC891J9) and The Massachusetts State House (GC9P5VH).  Rhonda sat down at one of the benches nearby and hung out. 

Our tour guide, Charlie, asked us if we were a part of the Freedom Trail tour at 2 and we said yes.  He briefly checked us in, and we hung out a little while longer until it reached 2.  The Freedom Trail is a 2.5-mile-long path through Boston that passes by 16 locations significant to the history of the United States.  Marked largely with brick, it winds from Boston Common in downtown through the North End to the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown.  We saw the path just about everywhere we went before our tour.  It is really hard to miss it.

As it approached our 2 p.m. tour, more and more people arrived to check in with Charlie.  We stood off to the side waiting for it to start.  Charlie introduced himself, told us a little bit about what we were going to see, hear and experience.  He said it was going to be about a 2.5-hour walking tour around Boston.  At that point, I really should have used the restroom before we walked over here.  That was my bad and I knew I was going to suffer through it.

We started at the Massachusetts State House and the 54th Regiment Statue where Charlie told us the significance of both of these locations.  The state house has a wooden pinecone on top of it to signify Boston's lumber industry and the succession of the State of Maine from Massachusetts.  We even got to see an old tree back from colonial times that has rotted in the middle.  They wanted to preserve the tree, so they added bricks inside of it to keep its integrity, so it lasts for many more decades.

We walked across the street to the Park Street Church.  I did a couple waypoints of the many Adventure Labs sprinkled throughout this tour.  Unfortunately, I didn't get to finish a lot of them but did at least get a few pieces of each.  Charlie took us down the street a little further to check out the Granary Burying Ground.  We entered here and he told us the significance of the skulls you saw on many of the headstones.  It was the representation of the soul flying to heaven after death.  Some notable people buried here are Paul Revere, the victims of the Boston Massacre, Sam Adams, John Hancock and Robert Treat Paine.   

We walked over to the Old Corner Bookstore, the Old South Meeting House and the Boston Latin School/Statue of Benjamin Franklin.  I painstakingly tried to keep up with the Adventure Labs, listening to Charlie and trying to do the virtual caches as well.  It was so cool to actually visit these places I've only learned about through textbooks at school.  I stood there several times throughout the tour just absorbing the information, the surroundings and tried really hard to imagine what these places looked like back then.

Mom and I did the virtual cache, The Great Spring (GC9P8DB) while Charlie talked to the group about the spring in the alley. 

We walked down to the Old State House where we learned that it has a statue of a unicorn on the right-hand side corner of the roof, Queen Elizabeth II visited, stood and delivered an address to a very large audience to celebrate the bicentenary of the US on July 11, 1976, and this is near the site of the Boston Massacre, which took place on March 5, 1770.  Five colonists were killed by nine British soldiers.  I stood there for a few minutes answering the virtual cache, Old State House (GC9P7XY) as Charlie took the group to the next stop. 

We made our way over to Faneuil Hall, where we learned a little bit about it the previous day on our donut tour.  Charlie added a little bit more to it and we stood next to the Samuel Adams statue on the west side of the building while he rattled off more history about the area.  I noticed a tent about 50 feet away while doing parts to an Adventure Lab and it was a Boston firefighter's fill the boot tent.  I donated some money and bought a challenge coin from the guy running the stand.  I told him that my fiancé was a firefighter in Washington State.  He gave me a card and told me if Ben wanted to send him a SE Thurston Fire coin to send it to the address on the card.  I told him I would ask if they had extras when I got home.  He thanked me and I thanked him. 

I rejoined the group as we walked to the North End.  We stopped in front of the Paul Revere House.  Charlie talked about the history of the house and the small Rachel Revere Square that we stood in.  I worked on the Adventure Lab for the North End and the virtual cache, Paul Revere House (GC7B7AZ).  I had to find a date behind the gated off area and it was almost hard to see but I found the piece I needed to claim a find.  By this time, I really needed to use the restroom, but we still had a couple places to go, and public restrooms were not that easy to find.

Our next stop was the Paul Revere Mall, where Charlie talked about the Revere statue and the other plaques and memorials sprinkled throughout the mall.  We walked to the Old North Church, which is the location from which the famous "one if by land, two if by sea" signal is said to have been sent.  We walked down the narrow streets and made our way to the Copps Hill Terrace where Charlie concluded our tour.  He spoke about the Copp's Hill Burying Ground, The USS Constitution, "Old Ironsides" and the Bunker Hill Monument.  The ship and monument we could see in the distance across the harbor from where we were standing.  It looked like a miniature version of the Washington Monument in DC.  According to popular stories, Col. William Prescott, coined the famous Revolutionary War phrase, "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes" during the Battle of Bunker Hill. 

Charlie thanked everyone for attending the tour, who was still there at the end, and we all parted ways after thanking him back. We all speculated what he did for a living, since we didn't ask and he didn't volunteer the information, but he seemed like he was a professor or a historian of some sort.  I asked Mindy, Rhonda and Mom if we could go find a bathroom because I was in serious need of one.  They all agreed, find a bathroom and a place to eat, preferably the same place for both. 

We walked around the North End for a few minutes and found a place called Ciao Roma that wasn't too terribly busy.  We were seated upstairs right away, and we all took turns using the restroom.  I was so thankful for a bathroom.  We all ordered drinks, I just had water, and explored the menu.  Mom has a really hard time expanding her horizon's when we go on vacation to different places when it comes to food. I knew she was going to be picky, so I explained what gnocchi was and she said that doesn't sound too bad.  It sounded really good to me, so I ordered it too. 

Our food came pretty quickly, and it sure hit the spot after walking around all day.  We hadn't eaten since that morning at the hotel.  As we sat there, it started getting dark.  I asked everyone what we were going to do after dinner and they said, we could walk around downtown for a bit.  That sounded good to me.  We paid and headed downstairs.  

We walked down the street back towards the Boston Market and downtown.  We walked through the Holocaust Memorial, where I did the virtual cache, The New England Holocaust Memorial (GC9P896) and then went inside the Boston Market because Rhonda and Mindy wanted some coffee.  Mom and I ended up purchasing a reusable Boston Market bag since her plastic bag was falling apart. 

We wandered around downtown and made our way to Chinatown for a bit.  We wanted to see the Chinese lanterns in the town square.  It was such a nice night to walk around and see things.  Chinatown is similar to all the Chinatown's I've visited in both NYC and Seattle.  The lanterns and the arch were pretty cool to see.  We walked through the rest of Chinatown and back to the Boston Common.  I asked everyone if they were ready to go to Cheers and everyone said, yeah! Let's go!

We walked to Beacon Street from the Boston Common.  We found the famous Cheers sign and took a couple photos with it before we had to dig out our ID to be checked to be let in.  We all went inside and saw there weren't that many places to sit, and everybody didn't know our name.  Luckily, we didn't have to wait that long and had seats right at the bar in front of the bartender.  I looked at the beer choices and saw a blueberry hefeweizen.  I had to try it!  It is a Maine blueberry wheat beer made by UFO Beer.  It is probably the best flavored wheat beer I've ever had!  It was so good, and I should have had two of them.  Rhonda drank a tequila drink; Mom bought a jack and coke and Mindy got one of the other wheat beers on tap. 

We drank our drinks, joked around and talked to the bartender who was dressed up like Thor.  It was a fun atmosphere and we stayed for about an hour or so. We went to the gift shop and upstairs to see the replica of the set but sadly, it was closed for the evening.  Bummer.  Oh well.  We did get to see some of the memorabilia though and took a few pictures.  I bought a magnet from the gift shop and when he handed me my change, part of it fell into the garbage.  I didn't bother digging out like 30 cents because it wasn't worth the time or effort.

We left Cheers and walked over to Acorn Street, one of the most photographed roads in the US.  When we arrived, we were very disappointed that there was a car parked in the middle of the street.  Ugh, lame!  We thought about coming back the next day, but we knew we weren't going to have the time to do so, we had to go with what we had.  It is a private way owned and governed by a neighborhood association, acornstreetassociation.com.  Neighbors retained ownership and control of this private way to prevent the City of Boston from paving it back in the 1980's.  The stones used to cobble Acorn Street, technically called "cobs", are original, making this one of the last remaining authentic cobblestone streets in the nation.  Visitors are asked to move quietly and quickly through the area.  Acorn Street gives visitors a reminiscent view of Colonial Boston.

We walked back to the subway on Park Street and hopped on the red line back to our hotel in Cambridge.

 We got back, I got in a shower and Amy rolled in around 10 p.m. that night.  She had to stop a couple times to sleep along the way because she didn't feel very well.  She thought she was getting better but she wasn't.  She assured us it wasn't Covid. Her daughter Katie and her husband went to Hawaii and Amy went to Washington to be with her grandson and got sick. Amy was supposed to meet us on Friday night but didn't feel well so she drove over Saturday night instead.  She missed all the tours she was going to take part in with us.  We were going to be exposed to her cold after being vulnerable on Thursday-Friday traveling all day with very little sleep.  I haven't been sick since October 2019 and have avoided Covid since the outbreak in 2020. 

We all got situated and visited with Amy as the World Series played in the background.  Astros won 5-2.  We all ate some popcorn and went to bed late again...after midnight. 

Next Adventure:  MA-VT-NH-ME Girl's Trip:  Leaving Boston, Marblehead, Lighthouse, Cemetery, Salem Night Tour (Day 4)

MA-VT-NH-ME Girl's Trip: Boston Logan, 9/11 Memorial, Subway, Donut Tour, Fenway Park and Sam Adams Brewery Tour (Day 2)

I slept for a little bit, but it was really horrible sleep.  I decided to stay up with about an hour left on our flight to Boston.  I had a hard time getting comfortable and kept adjusting my pillow.  I knew I was going to be super tired, and we had a long day ahead of us in another time zone.  It was fun to see the sun rise over the Atlantic Ocean as we got to our destination.

We descended onto the runway, and I told Mom that it seemed like we just left here just a few months ago when we thought we weren't going to make our flight back home.  This time, we actually get to explore Boston, a place that's been on my list for many years.  I was so excited to get our adventure started!  

We grabbed our stuff, got off the plane and made our way to the luggage carousel.  We grabbed our luggage, used the restroom and tried really hard to find out how to get to the virtual cache, Logan Airport's 9/11 Memorial (GC7B93X).  You could find all the answers on the internet except for one and I tried so hard to find it.  I found out it was impossible, and you actually had to visit the place to actually get that last piece to log it.  I underestimated how hard it was to navigate to the virtual cache from our concourse. 

After asking a person in the parking garage and a lot of wrong turns, we finally found the memorial I was looking for.  It seemed like it took forever to get there too.  The silver lining was that we got some exercise in after sitting on the plane for 5+ hours and we got our first Massachusetts cache!  My 26th state geocached!  I am over halfway there!

We answered the questions, took a few pictures and took some time to remember everyone and everything that happened that day.  By the time I was done with this trip, I would have been to every airport that was involved that day, Ground Zero, near the Pentagon, the United 93 crash site and several 9/11 Memorials throughout the United States.

Now we had to figure out how to get back to a concourse so we could get on the silver line (I thought it was a subway line, but it is a bus line) to be bussed to the subway.  We stood outside for a little bit and a bus finally came by to take us to the South Station, where you can connect with the subway and the other bus systems. This service is free, which was nice, and the ride was somewhat quick.  We were tired.

We got to the South Station, grabbed our luggage, got off and found a map to see where we needed to go.  We saw we needed to get onto the red line to make our way northwest to our hotel in Cambridge near MIT.  We were a little weirded out we didn't have to purchase a card, ticket or a pass, but we thought we would have to once we got back onto the subway to our next adventure.

We got up to street level and thought our hotel was right there.  We tried to check in and the lady said she didn't have any reservations with that name in her computer.  She said that our hotel was probably the other one a block and a half north of the hotel we were currently standing in.  We wheeled our bags to the correct hotel and checked in.  Mom got our key cards, and we headed up to room 508.  We went inside and it was very roomy with plenty of places to sleep.  We dropped of our stuff, got a little organized and walked back down to the subway.

This time we had to purchase our Charlie Card to continue riding the subway system while we were here.  We got onto the red line to head to downtown because we had a donut tour through Underground Donuts to get to by 10 a.m.  This was going to be a long day and I was hungry since we hadn't eaten since we were at SeaTac.  These donuts better be good.  

We got off at Downtown Crossing and I tried to figure out a quick way to get to Oliver St.  We were late and we were even later when we turned left instead of right.  We called our guide, to tell her we were on our way and that we went down the wrong side of the road.  She said it was okay and that they will wait for us.  We hurried. 

We finally got to the meeting spot at Kane's and there were four ladies including our tour guide waiting for us.  Three women from Wisconsin (one of them lived in Boston) and a lady from Ohio whose husband was in town for business, and she needed something to occupy her time.  Our guide's name was Sabrina.  We chatted, got to know each other and Sabrina told us what to expect on our tour...history and donuts.

At Kane's we ate our first donut, an award-winning honey dipped curler.  It was probably the best donut I had on the tour after everything was said and done.  Sabrina told us that we would be consuming roughly two and a half donuts when we were finished on the tour.  We walked up the street towards the harbor while listening to her talk about the history of the donut and the harbor.  Donuts were actually created in Quincy, Massachusetts, roughly 12 miles south of where we were standing, because they were easy to make and could produce mass quantities of them for the military.  As for the history of the harbor, we learned that a lot of it was filled in to build the city that we see today. 

We moved on to the next section of town, along the Freedom Trail, Faneuil Hall, and the oldest bar, The Bell in Hand Tavern, while Sabrina shared tidbits here and there.  Mom and I did the Cradle of Liberty (GC9P4P7) virtual cache while we listened to our history lesson.  She walked us over to the Boston Market for our next three donuts.  I was excited to see what kind they would be.

We walked through the Boston Market, some purchased coffee, some used the restroom (while we were near a restroom), and others just followed Sabrina.  She took us to the Red Apple Farm stand, and we got to see the donuts being made on the conveyor belt.  This donut shop was famously known for their apple cider and apple cider cinnamon donuts.  Sabrina picked up a box of donuts and a container of apple cider from them.  She told us to follow her outside so we could sit together as a group at the picnic tables.   

She handed us each a glass of cider if we wanted one and an apple cider cinnamon donut--right out of the fryer so they were still warm.  Both were delicious.  There were a couple extras, so I had another one.  She went inside to grab our second box from the Union Square shop.  This time they were maple bacon and pumpkin spice.  I did not partake in the pumpkin spice.

We chatted with the group of women who were on the tour with us while we ate donuts and drank cider.  We talked about our hometowns, what we did for a living, sports, what we were going to do while we were on vacation, some of the places we've been on vacation and where we would like to go someday.  It was a fun conversation. 

Mike's Pastries was the last stop on our donut tour.  It was located in the North End part of town, where a lot of Italian American culture was apparent.  There were many Italian restaurants, businesses and flags waving their Italian heritage with pride.  Sabrina told us that our final donut was the most famous, the Boston Cream Pie donut.  I was not a huge fan of custard filled donuts or cream filled donuts for that matter, but we were on vacation, in a new city and that I should at least try it.

She walked us down the street to Polcari Park so we could sit, eat and visit.  This was also the end of the tour.  She said she brings everyone here when she takes people on tours.  This time, since it was a weekday, the children attending the school nearby were on recess.  We had to dodge basketballs and children for about fifteen minutes. I ate my Boston Cream Pie donut, we chatted with our group of ladies and Sabrina told us a little bit more about Underground Donut Tour, thanked us for attending, handed each of us a gift and we took a group photo.  We thanked Sabrina for a good time!

We sat there for a few minutes to decide what we wanted to do next.  I asked if we could go back towards Faneuil Hall and that shopping area to waste some time before we had to hop onto the subway to do our next tour.  Mom and Rhonda said sure, and we walked back over towards that area.  We took a bunch of pictures, went into a few stores to browse and get ideas of what we wanted to bring home for everyone and went into the Hall.  We really couldn't purchase anything right away because we had the Fenway Park Tour and couldn't have bags with us.  We knew we would have some time later and the next day to do some shopping. 

I looked at the time again and told Mom and Rhonda that we better start headed over to the subway just to allow ourselves some extra time just in case we got turned around or did the subway wrong.  I saw we needed to be on the green line and get off at the Kenmore stop.  We walked down the stairs, onto the correct platform and our train arrived a few minutes later.  We hopped on and a few stops later we were almost to Fenway Park.  I was getting excited! 

We got off the subway and followed the stairs up to ground level.  We saw the Fenway Park art plastered all over the subway interior.  We reached the sidewalk and had no idea where to go.  There weren't any signs that pointed you in the correct direction.  We definitely got turned around.  We finally asked someone, figured it out and walked over I-90 on the bridge and over to the street we were supposed to check in on.  I could not believe I was finally here.  It is not how I imagined it because it is so different on television than in real life.  I had no idea it was that close to I-90.  It was so weird seeing the different landmarks, bars and streets that I've seen on movies, ESPN and in articles. As a sports fan this was a dream come true.  It's too bad it was the wrong time of year, and we couldn't go watch an actual game inside Fenway Park.  Maybe another time.

We checked in with the ticket people, got physical tickets because Mom's phone died, and she didn't send me the new tour time (we had changed our tour time to 3 p.m. because we knew we wouldn't be able to make it at the original 9 a.m. time) and we went inside the team store to wait for our tour to begin.  I looked over some stuff to see what I wanted to take home after our tour was done.

Our tour guide Dave, let us know what we were going to do and walked to one of the entrances to Fenway Park.  We went through security, he introduced himself, told us the rules and had us follow him.  Right away, one thing I wasn't a big fan of was the size of the crowd.  There were way too many people for a tour like this one. There had to be at least 50-75 people on this tour.  It was hard to maneuver around to all the hotspots Dave took us too.  I had to be patient.

We went inside and I was in awe as the field and Green Monster came into view.  I could not believe I was inside Fenway Park!  Part of the experience of most tours is that you could purchase group pictures at the end of the tour.  We got ours taken but chose not to buy when we got to that point.  Dave rattled off tons of information, some of it I knew and some of it I didn't know.  It would have been awesome to go out on the field and into the dugouts but that, unfortunately, wasn't a part of this tour.  We did walk past home plate in the stands and sat in the section of the original 1912 seats while he told us more of the history. 

Fenway Park is a registered historical place and the oldest ballpark still in existence in the United States, which means, if the Red Sox ceased to exist, Fenway Park would still be there.  Wrigley Field in Chicago is the next oldest ballpark still being used today.  Obviously, over the years they have renovated and added seats and levels to the field as the population and popularity of baseball grew.  They had to keep up with the times. It was amazing to me how much history happened at Fenway.  Oh, what it has seen over the decades.

Our next stop was the visitor's club house.  We followed Dave into the club house, and it was pretty cool to see where the visiting team got ready before the game.  Thousands of players have been in this locker room over the many decades.  Every single athlete that's dressed for the Mariner's has been in this room.  Of course, Dave had to tell us which locker Derek Jeter used when the Yankee's came into town. 

We moved over to the Green Monster seats.  I made sure to be one of the first ones down so I could see the view of the field from the Green Monster.  I also leaned over and touched the face of the Green Monster.  I went full on sport geek mode.  

It was so awesome it's so hard to explain through words.  Dave rambled off some information on the Green Monster as everyone had a chance to sit in the highly coveted seats.  We moved onto the next section, the press box.

We followed Dave up the stairs to the press box.  I've always wondered what kind of vantage point the press had and how much room they had to do their work during a game.  It was so fascinating being up there.  There were several photographs of huge historical baseball moments, articles and other memorabilia to look at while we shuffled through.

We went back outside and learned about Pesky Pole, the lone red seat in right field and some other random Red Sox and Fenway Park trivia.  He said the tour was officially done and he would be available for questions while we got some more pictures in of us at the Sam Adams deck in right field.  I just stood there taking it all in just in case I was not able to come back for a game.  

We exited through another room full of memorabilia and a chance to purchase our professional picture we took earlier.  Again, we decided not to.  

We left Fenway and I immediately went to the statue outside the stadium that I needed to do for a virtual cache I had on my list. I found the correct statue and got my selfie with The Kid at Fenway Park (GC9P7XX).  

I also did part of the Adventure Lab that was nearby.  I couldn't finish it because we had to go into the team store before it closed.  We had about a half hour to browse and purchase what we wanted so we hustled.  I ended up with a sweatshirt, a magnet and a postcard.

I took a couple more pictures of the stadium as we walked back over I-90 and to the subway.  We got back on the green line, got off at Park Ave and then went to the red line platform to back to Cambridge and the hotel to meet with Mindy at 5.  We were a smidge late, but it was alright.  This was my first-time meeting Mindy in person, and she was hilarious and full of energy.  We went up to the room to get more settled in and called Amy to see how she was doing.  She told us she wasn't going to leave until Saturday because she got sick and didn't feel good.  She said she wasn't going to make it to the Sam Adams Brewery tour later that night and to go without her.  Bummer, Amy caught a cold from visiting Katie and her grandchild earlier that week when she was in Washington.

We got ready to go and made our way to the subway again to take the red line to Downtown Crossing and then walked to the platform for the orange line to Stony Brook. Once we got to Stony Brook we relied on Mindy's directions to the brewery. Those directions led us astray. We walked the wrong way for like a half a mile the opposite way of the brewery.  We were going to be super late to our 6:00 p.m. tour time.  We turned around and walked back.  We figured out what we did wrong and finally got to the brewery.  We walked inside explained our situation and the guy was able to give us all a 7:30 p.m. time slot instead.  We thanked him, took a seat after getting our tickets, stamp and wrist band.

  

The tour wasn't what we thought it was going to be, but it was an experience.  We had a pint of Oktoberfest while we did the short half hour "spooky" tour.  They basically took us from room to room sharing stories with us about the creepy stuff that has happened in the brewery since 1984.  One, Ben and I tried Sam Adams beer years ago and were not fans (I drank mine and Mom's beer), two, I thought this brewery was way older than 1984 and three, the tour guide could have been better.  Oh well.

We finished our beer, went through the gift shop, I got some stickers, and we walked back to the subway to head back to our hotel.  We got back on the orange line and transferred to the red line at Downtown Crossing.  

We got off at MIT/Kendall stop.  It was getting late, and we were hungry so we all collectively decided to get some food.  We went to a place nearby called The Shy Bird.  I had a Caeser salad and some chicken nubs.  While we ate, the fire alarm went off in the upstairs of the building.  The staff told us it was okay and that we didn't need to evacuate.  I used the restroom and then paid for my food.  We walked back to our hotel.

I got cleaned up and we watched the Phillies beat the Astros 6-5 (10 innings) in Game 2.  Sports are on so late on the east coast!  I worked on my blog for a little bit, and we went to bed just before midnight.  I was so tired.  I basically was up since Thursday morning at 6:45 a.m. Pacific Time.  I sure hope I don't get sick because of that.  We will see.  It did feel good to finally sleep after a very long day of traveling and sightseeing.

Next Adventure:  MA-VT-NH-ME Girl's Trip:  Graffiti Wall, Harvard, Freedom Tour, Chinatown, Cheers and Acorn Street (Day 3)