Honeymoon 9: Heading Home

We woke up very slowly, packed our things, and had 3 different hotel employees wanting to do something to the room they thought was vacant. In the desire to save money, we hiked to the subway station with our luggage, and again I was very sweaty. High school kids were taking tours of Boston University as we boarded the crowded train and said goodbye to the Charles River and our home for the past few days.

We lugged our bags up and down steps and found our way to the airport and its chaotic way of running passengers through security. We had some good hot pressed sandwiches, and sat at the terminal reading the USA Today and an older edition of Rolling Stone that I found in the hotel’s gift shop. Eventually our flight got called onto the tarmac, and we were happy to be heading home. We bounced around a nose dived through some storms just north of Nashville, then landed in another steep descent. It felt wonderful to be back home, back in the south, back in my truck, and on roads I didn’t need a map or GPS to navigate my way around. We had a great trip, but it’s so sweet to be back home.

We got an e-mail that Phase 1 of our townhome is complete, and the next step is to pour the foundation. We’re really looking forward to that. Until then, Meg’s waiting in lines at the social security office and the DMV to change her name, and I’m getting together the final bits of paperwork for our mortgage loan application. We leave in 2 days for Georgia and Justin and Lesley’s wedding, and before we know it the summer will be over. It doesn’t feel like there will be any slowing down from here.

Honeymoon 8: Fenway and the Science Museum

We woke fairly early, ate some granola bars, and hopped on the subway for Fenway. We jumped into the end of a tour just as it was getting started. Fenway is surprisingly stark. The player's parking lot isn’t large enough to fit all of their cars. The upper deck walkway is paved with concrete squares sitting on top of the tar that keeps the roof from leaking. Those give way to plywood walkways, more tar, and cheap shower drains to prevent pooling.

That's the beauty of Fenway. You can't look at the field and not picture Carlton Fisk waving his homerun ball fair with both arms. You can't be there and not feel the history of baseball being played there for almost 100 years. The ballpark doesn't have all the extras of modern ones like in Atlanta -- it doesn't need to. It feels so pure, and I wish we'd been able to catch a game there.

We grabbed a hot dog on Yawkey way, then got back on the subway to see the science museum. They have a baseball exhibit, which ended up being the only part of the place we were interested in. Well, that and the “Archimedean Excogitation” kinetic sculpture. We watched for probably about 20 minutes as pool balls traveled around the contraption, mesmerized like kids at how creative and fun the whole thing was.

The baseball exhibit followed baseball from its start, to prominence beginning in the Civil War, to 9-11. They had everything from bats made by POWs in camps to Robert Redford’s Wonderboy in The Natural. There were letters of both appreciation and hate to Hank Aaron, and thankfully no mention of Barry Bonds that I could see.

Today was a baseball day. As we wind down to the end of our honeymoon trip, it feels like we've been gone longer than a week. It feels like Maine was weeks ago, and that I know my way around Boston and have been here for days and days. We're both ready to be back home. All this has been great fun and I'm not looking forward to coming down from this high.

But I am looking forward to being home and comfortable in my predictable surroundings, with a dog, 2 cats, and a wife--a partner who I get to spend the rest of my life with.

Honeymoon 7: The Freedom Trail

The Hyatt’s pillow top mattress hugged me until almost 10 am when Meg finally woke me up with a towel on her head. We had the breakfast buffet and unfortunately couldn't eat $20 apiece worth of food. The concierge working this morning was much more helpful and gave us a map that had all of the subway stops along with the points of interest very clearly marked. We walked to a closer (yet still good distance away) subway station and got to ride for free (it was so crowded the driver just told us to get on the back).

We got off at Boston Common, the country’s oldest public park, and were overwhelmed with tourists, the homeless, and a very conservative (plainly dressed) religious group of singers performing old hymns and passing out literature. We opted to save money and bought a guide book to the Freedom Trail rather than taking a guided tour.

The trail weaves its way through parks, cemeteries, historic sights, and even a street market. Here's a list of things that stood out to me:
1. Old churches didn't allow visitors. Your family had to own a box seat (pew).

2. The tombstones have skulls on them, and literally say things like "Here lies...". They are all crammed so closely together and have been moved so many times that there's no way they know who's buried where.

3. The vendors at the farmers market were very particular about people messing with their stuff, yet I saw their compassionate side too. I watched a couple different people tell them they didn't have money. One vendor gave a man a banana (which he turned in his hand and stared at like it was a crystal vase) and another gave a girl a pear. We lost the trail at the market, but because of the detour experienced a lot. It seemed like most of the patrons were foreign, so I guess this method of shopping was more like home for them.

4. Bunker Hill wasn't Bunker Hill. It was Breeds Hill. The orders were to fortify Bunker Hill, but after thinking about it, the commander chose Breeds Hill instead.

Bunker Hill marked the end of the trail. We were tired and had been standing for a very long time. Boston is gorgeous in the historic parts, and MIT and Hahvahd seem to have beautiful campuses. I can't wait for Fenway tomorrow. I hope we make it on a tour and the weather holds up for us.

We had dinner in the cheapest pub in a string of historic ones built in the 1700s. It was a great way to end the day.

Honeymoon 6: You Said Y'all & Hahvahd Squayah

Neither one of us felt like getting out of bed this morning. The combination of feeling mattress wires and unsupportive feather pillows has gotten the best of us and we're not sleeping well. We moved really slowly and beat our check out time by about 20 minutes.

Once again canoeing got passed over.

In the elevator on the way down I heard a woman say “y'all,” and I couldn't let it go unremarkably. I touched her on the shoulder and excitedly said, "You said y'all!"

"Why yes." she said sounding like a typical old-money southern woman (think Paula Deen). They were from South Carolina, and one of them went to UGA years ago. I said, "Y'all have a safe trip home," emphasizing the y'all.

We grabbed some Dunkin’ Donuts (they have them on every corner up here, even the tiny towns) and continued on to Boston, hoping the GPS wouldn't steer us wrong. The city played a cruel joke on us. Just as we exited I-95 the roads clogged and the bottom dropped out of the black clouds. Visibility was maybe 10 feet, and the windshield wipers of our poorly designed box of a car couldn't keep up. We finally limped into the hotel like wet dogs and checked in. We hurried to haul our bags to the room before the bellmen valet parked the car for a $35 a day fee.

We did better negotiating our way back to the airport than we did leaving it (after looking at a map we saw we had ended up very east in Boston instead of heading north to Maine). After dropping off the car we asked a few people the finally figured out Boston’s mass transportation system. Get it? Mass. transport. It's quite a walk from the nearest subway station, so I was drenched with sweat. We made a few wrong turns and agreed that we'd either take a cab to the airport or at least to the subway station Monday.

Back at the hotel we relaxed and I showered before we headed to dinner. Our concierge was foreign (probably an MIT student) and just showed us a binder of restaurants. We elected to take a cab to Harvard Square and pick a restaurant there. We chose some burger place that was pretty cheap. There was an eclectic mix of patrons varying from students to blue collar workers to families. We walked around, bought a Sox t-shirt and a cap and then went to a newsstand. I bought a USA Today, Spin, and Rolling Stone and plan to read them tonight. It’s funny how I get more into reading when I'm on the road.

Tomorrow looks like the only decent weather, so we're going to walk the Freedom Trail to see famous historical spots like Revere's ride. Meg and I don't do well with big cities, so we'll see if things improve tomorrow.

Honeymoon 5: Lighthouses, rain, and Cabela's

We woke to a weather forecast of afternoon thunderstorms and decided we'd rather not get stuck in a storm in a canoe. Instead we headed back to Portland to see the lighthouses up close. The Portland Head Light (deliberately 3 words, like our boat captain told us) was our first stop and the most impressive. It was very tall, and was commissioned by George Washington. After that we went to find Two Lights, but instead found a seafood restaurant the concierge had recommended to us. This time we got fried shrimp -- something we knew we'd like. We had a view of the lighthouses from there, but they were among the giant homes of the rich and famous down private roads. We went to the Two Lights State Park (where there are no light houses) and walked along the rocky shoreline. The tide was coming in, and we had been warned about rogue waves, so we stayed at the top of the rocks. There were plants growing on the rocks and it was only slippery near the water. The rocks looked like giant petrified trees and it was really pretty.

After the walk through the rain we headed for Cabela’s. First thing we see in the door is a large Columbia tent. It a really good price so we try to think of ways to get one home. As we're walking around the Bass-Pro-Shop-on-steroids, we find a kiosk that allows you to order from their catalog like you would on their website. So we bought a tent and it might beat us home.

Tonight's the last night in Maine, so we watched the wedding video. Mr. Henderson was a hilarious producer, and that more than made up for his lack of cinematographic skills on my Wal-Mart tripod.

We hope to canoe tomorrow on our way out of Maine as we head to Boston.