Boston - Saturday

Saturday morning we slept in (and I felt good about Erika not having to get up at 5am, even though she gets to wake up to this adorable mug every day) and while we were getting ready, I flipped on some HGTV show about house buying. It was pretty funny because the girl wanting to buy a house was like 20 years old, barely made any money, had none saved but wanted a big house with a pool and a 4-car garage (about $500k out of her price range) and the girl was a complete airhead. The second show was an episode about a lesbian couple whose dream was to live in a log cabin. In Reno. So... yeah. I guess HGTV realizes that drama is needed in these shows. It was entertaining.

After some coffee (her) and leg stretches (me), we grabbed the T to Park Street to begin the adventure. We started at Finagle a Bagel, which uses a conveyor belt and SAW BLADE to cut the bagels (my video here). I loved it. I also had a little friend watching me through the window who was so cute, I couldn't stop smiling.

We decided to walk the Freedom Trail, which is easier than it sounds. The trail is marked right on the street as either a red painted line or a double brick path, so you can follow it from one place to the next. We saw all kinds of neat historical landmarks and other interesting tidbits along the way.





The trail leads to Faneuil Hall and the adjacent marketplace. We stopped to watch a street performer, an escape artist, and we were too close to the action and Erika got picked to assist him during the show. He was a great comedian and was really adept at pulling an audience. He probably had 300 people watching him (and Erika!) do his show. I have a video that I need to format and post, so you can see Erika in action.

After that, we walked along the bay and then back to the marketplace to have lunch in a tourist trap. We picked Cheers, so that at least we can say that we have been there. It was ok food, just barely ok service, but it was neat to see the memorabilia. And also now I can say that I have been to Cheers!

After some more shopping and sight seeing, we had to head back to get our bags from the hotel and head home. I decided to take the T to the airport, since the T is so easy to navigate and so I rode with Erika to her exit, then changed trains to the airport. Only, the Blue Line wasn't running so they had shuttle buses doing the routes. The bus was fine and I actually got a bit of a tour of the city from a small boy (maybe 4 years old) who was riding with his dad and obviously a City Kid. He recognized that I wasn't a local (suitcase gave me away) so he'd point out various points of interest, like other buses and red cars and also informed me that usually there is a train that goes underground really fast, but this bus was ok too. I made it to the airport well-informed and a little hot from dragging my bags around so I decided to check my luggage and lighten the load. As soon as I got through security, I found out that my flight was delayed, which meant that I wouldn't make it into Orange County Airport before the cut-off time. I was fine with that, but it happened - of course - the ONE TIME that I checked my bag. After waiting about an hour, we got clearance to get into Chicago and then in Chicago I was re-routed to LAX. It wasn't really a big deal, and Ryan came to get me in LA. The only bummer was that we missed our chance for dinner at Lala's because my flight came in so late (dammit! I have been like 150 hours without chimmichurri!).

On Sunday, I went to the beach with my mom and aunt and sat in the blazing heat and burned my nose. It was perfect. I decided to take PCH back home (a beautiful drive along the coast) and got notice that my bag was now at the OC Airport ready for pick-up, so I swung by there and got it on my way home. I hear that it rained in Boston on Sunday, and it nearly snowed in Chicago. Apparently, I took home every single ray of sunshine in the country. It was 97 in Southern California.