In September 2000, Amy, Taruna, Stephanie, and I decided to spend some time in Maine, at Amy's parents' cabin. Since I had never been to Boston, I decided to fly via that city for a little sight-seeing on my own.

Wednesday, August 30, 2000

Left Seattle around midday and got to Boston around midnight. Caught a taxi (man, I hate taxis) to my B&B in Cambridge. Somehow, my bag got incredibly heavy (might have had something to do with all the hardback library books), so thank god they gave me a room on the first floor. My B&B was a few blocks from Harvard (not that I figured that out that night), and the room was cute and fairly charming. Weather was hot.

Thursday, August 31, 2000

Got up a little later than planned (darn time change!), and walked up towards Harvard and Harvard Square. The kiddies hadn't yet come back to school, so both were (in retrospect) quite empty. I can't understand why Harvard Yard doesn't have any benches in it for sitting. Decided I'd have plenty of time in Cambridge, so took the T to Downtown Crossing. Walked through the wonder that is Filene's Basement on my way up to the street. Managed not to buy anything, though (wasn't too hard). Walked up to Boston Common where I picked up a good walking map and decided to take a nice, touristy trolley tour. I've found that these on & off all day tours are good when you don't have much time in a city and want to get a good overview. You can then go back to places you wanted to see more of. This one went all over Boston and also to Cambridge (near MIT), so I was able to use it to get closer to my B&B (not that it matters, but otherwise I probably wouldn't have had any reason to go to Kendall Square/MIT).

Got off the trolley when it got to the harborfront near the aquarium. Was completely starving, so walked over to Commercial Wharf to eat fish 'n' chips at the Sail Loft. Not bad, although growing up on Pacific seafood will really ruin you. Walked back over to Long Wharf to take my free Harbor Cruise. Had a nice little chat with the girl in the shop where you pick up your tickets about what part of Ireland she was from and stuff like that. Man, there are a lot of Irish-Irish people in Boston! The harbor cruise was quite nice, if only for the pleasant breeze. I'd forgotten how hot and wet it can be out thataway. Stupidly, I was carrying more stuff in my backpack than I needed, so it was heavy and annoying. But when a flock of foreign camp counselors were trying to fix a pair of sunglasses, I was able to impress the hell out of them. "It looks like you need a tiny screw driver. Here, use mine!"

Got back on the trolley in the late afternoon and took it as far as Kendall Square/MIT. Wandered around the MIT co-op (which Harvard and MIT both seem to write "COOP", which drives me nuts) and bought 3 gel pens. Felt all nostalgic about college. Laughed at a few horrible nerds. Took the T back to Harvard Sqare (laughed at a few more horrible nerds on the T). Wandered around Harvard Square, scoping out places to eat dinner. Had a juice and cinnamon roll at Au Bon Pain mainly for the people-watching capabilities. Went back to my B&B to chill out (literally) for a little while, and then walked back for dinner (Thai food). Stuck around listening to one of the many street musicians in the Square for a while, then walked home and collapsed.

Friday, September 1, 2000

Decided that this would be a good day to do the Faneuil Hall & Quincy Market thing. Took the T to the Common and walked down to Faneuil Hall, only then noticing that when they say that you "follow the red line" to walk the "Freedom Trail" they weren't kidding. Browsed and wandered for a while, bought some stamps, mailed some postcards. Had lunch (clam chowder) at Quincy Market, since John had reminded me that I needed to eat clam chowder. It was excellent. The waitress didn't even blink when I asked her if there was any bacon, ham, or other pig in the chowder. Good Caesar salad, too.

Took the T out to the Museum of Fine Arts, where they were having a Van Gogh portrait exhibit. That was pretty neat. Boy oh boy was it hot, though! And the T was even hotter. Bleah. Wandered around the North End for a while, including more of the Freedom Trail in my walk, and then had some lovely gnocchi in some totally random restaurant.

Saturday, September 2, 2000

Got up in the morning at a reasonable hour and took a walk to the Charles River, since I wanted to see people sculling on the Charles. Did that. It was very hot and very wet, once again. In fact, it started pouring just about the second I got back to the B&B. Stopped in at Peet's coffee for a muffin and mocha; once I saw the name, I knew I had to go there. Called for a taxi and flew to Bangor to meet Taruna, Amy, and Stephanie. Amy's luggage had somehow decided to take a later flight than she took, whereas mine had taken an earlier flight than me, so we decided to go have brunch in Bangor. Bangor's downtown area is really tiny and doesn't seem to have that much to offer, so we drove around it for a while trying to find someplace to eat. We had a good time suggesting that the tent revival participants downtown would meet Jesus a whole lot sooner than expected if they didn't quit walking in the middle of the road.

Finally parked and stumbled upon a restaurant that (A) was actually open and (B) looked kind of neat, as if they might have espresso and vegetarian options. It was called the New Moon Cafe, I think. Had a nice brunch, spent some time wondering what the heck the "Clean Clothes Festival" being advertised in the square across the street could possibly be. Tried to call to see if Amy's luggage had arrived, but couldn't reach anyone who knew anything useful. Walked over to the square to learn that a "Clean Clothes Festival" meant clothes that had been made without using exploitative labor practices. Wandered into the "Grasshopper Shop" for the first of what was to be many, many gift shop stops. They had shoes I really want, but not enough to spend 90 bucks on them (at least, not in some state other than my own). Went back to the airport to find that Amy's luggage had decided to arrive after all, and also to discover that the Grand Prix we'd rented had a lot of really annoying quirks, like no trunk latch, and random dinging for no good reason. Drove to Machias in our crabby car, stopped at the LL Bean outlet in Ellsworth on the way. Everyone actually found something to buy (hey, I even needed new pants). Went to the grocery store in Machias before heading down the long dirt road to the Vinroots' cabin and got stuff for individual pizzas (on Boboli crust) and salad and some food for the morning.

The intersection on the way to the Vinroots' cabin.

The cabin is just gorgeous, with some amazing views. It was a lot bigger than I'd expected, with exposed wood walls & ceilings and plywood floors (which I think is a really cool idea for saving some money; looks good and easy to repair/replace). Made dinner, during which Amy learned that there is really no point in trying to make a communal salad for two picky eaters (that would be me and Steph) and two normal eaters. Went to bed and slept a lot. Well, Taruna and I did. Amy is always up early, and Steph never sleeps a lot.

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last modified: November 5, 2002