Well, it had been a long time coming for this Boston trip. Cynthia bought tickets as a Christmas present way back in 2022! It seemed like it was never going to get here. But it did! Above, is the logo for the Wahlburger's Restaurant (explained below) and the Cruise ship we boarded for Whale Watching while we were there!


So the 6 of us were off in our direct JetBlue flight to my hometown! The picture on the right shows the Boston Skyline with the tall Hancock Building on the left and the Prudential Building on the right looking over the Charles River! Gotta' love that Dirty Water!

We actually took the subway to our Apartment which was a furnished B&B in Cambridge, Mass. It was the very first subway ride for James and Kevin!

It didn't take us long to get to Davis Square to seek out our first meal in Boston at Mike's Food and Spirits!
We got into our place about 8:00 pm and only had an hour before closing. Fortunately, it was only a 15 minute walk (30 minutes for George & Sylvia) away!

But it was clearly a residential area. On the way back, we stopped to look at a number of Halloween displays in neighboring yards! Also, the picture in the middle, below, shows us at the Pemberton Grocery Supermarket where we did most of our shopping during our stay there.

Being close to this area, we had more chances to visit Davis Square during our stay. These additional pictures show other sites that we visited during the week. There was a number of things going on in the bustling square. The last picture shows Jordan candlepin bowling -- it is a different type of bowling specific to the east coast and I had actually bowled at this particular place over 55 years ago. Amazing that it is still open and funcioning! They served great pizza, too! We even took home a pie a couple of times while we were there!

Jordan had a request from a co-worker to bring a shirt back from Cheers! When she told me this, I mentioned to her that I loved the TV show! I was shocked when she said, "It was a TV show, too?" It was on for 10 years, but went off the air in 1994 TEN YEARS before she was even born! No wonder she didn't know it was a TV show! Now I'm really starting to feel old!

But being right next to the Boston Common, we took the opportunity to walk through Boston's famous public park! Some of the sites included the famous George Washington statue which has been there for decades as well as a new statue called "Embrace". Of course, there are food stands and souvenir shirts available everywhere.

One funny incident that occurred, shaped the rest of the trip. We were on the subway headed home when the train stopped for a medical emergency -- a person on the train fainted. She was brought out to the platform and we all got off to see if we could help. Just then, the "all aboard" was given and we piled back onto the train as it was taking off -- at least we thought -- until I turned around and said, "Where's Sylvia?" As it turned out, she didn't get back on the train with us. We all had a good laugh. That's when I noticed the 2 missed calls and told her to catch the next train and get off at Davis Square where we waited for her. We took two pictures. On the left is the group asking, "Where's Sylvia?" The picture on the right is her coming towards us from the next train. She was not laughing as much as we were. But for the rest of the trip, every time we got on and off a train, someone shouted, "Where's Sylvia?" (Yes, the joke got old very fast!)

Well, one of the big days that we planned was our outing to Salem, Mass! Last year, Sylvia and I had such fun and bragged about it so much that Jordan really wanted to visit this trip. Of course, we had fun. Salem is a blast in October!

Although there were plenty of spooky and fun things to see and do in the city during the day, including the WitchBoard Museum and the Salem Witch Museum, perhaps the most fun was the Gallows Hill Show and Trolley Ghost and Legends Tour! The show itself is quite theatrical and had Kevin fairly scared. The Trolley was a 45-minute bus ride by an entertaining moderator who called herself Black Widow Mary (pictured with Sylvia, below). It was the last thing we did before our relatively quick 35-minute train ride back home to Boston.


That Saturday, we sort of split up since Sylvia and I had plans to attend a folk club in Harvard Square. There is a famous club called Club Passim (previously Club 47) that was the start for many folk acts in the 60's including Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. Plus Sylvia wanted to see Harvard Square. Cynthia and her brood went to visit other sights including the Boston Zoo which had their annual light show. In the third picture in the bottom row, she and James are seen with Robert Wahlberg, the actor and brother of Mark and Donnie Wahlberg, when they went to Wahlburger's to eat and buy a tee shirt for Jeannette (Sylvia's daughter). It was a complete surprise to run into him and he was the nicest person to take a photo with them. The whole experience was great!!

Sunday was another big day for us! We initially were planning to visit Kim, Debbie, Daryl and Denise separately and trying to figure out how to do it all, when Hope suggested having everyone meet us at Denise's house. It was a fantastic idea! We took the train close to Lunenburg and Denise and Bill picked us up in style in Bill's refurbished 1968 Dodge Dart. We got to Denise's about noon and everyone else including Kim, Kevin, Daryl, Debbie & Bill as well as all of Denise's kids and grandkids came over. It was great seeing everyone all at once. Like a true old, Italian family gathering! Bill did all the grilling -- sausage, hot dogs, hamburgers -- plus plenty of side foods and pastries to go around. A small feast for a small crowd of people. We were there for 6 hours and it was amazing how fast the hours flew by. It really was special, though and great to see everyone. It topped off an already wonderful trip!


Above, Cynthia and Jordan try their pool skills, and Brooklyn displays her artistic talents on Denise's sidewalk!

Well, what's a trip to Boston without at least a short visit to Faneuil Hall. As usual, it was packed. But Sylvia and I were feeling tired by then and split off to go back to the apartment, while Cynthia and family went to seek out the Duck Tour at the Museum of Science!

The final day before our flight home, we signed up for a Whale Watching tour. It was probably a mistake since we were all a little worn out and on top of that, we all seemed to be coming down with the cold/flu that Kevin had! The Cruise was a 4 hour run towards the Cape. We did see a couple of Whales in the distance but the waters were choppy! We lost one member as Cynthia's motion sickness kicked in but the ride back was a little smoother and she felt better but happy that the experience was over.
We got off the boat on the Long Wharf in the North End, and decided to eat at an Italian restaurant in the area. Also, since the two most famous Boston pastry shops are in the North End -- Modern Pastry and Mike's Pastry-- there was no reason to skip these treasures and we hit both of them carting away our macaroon cookies and cannoli. Close to the area was Paul Revere's house, and the last picture below shows James standing outside of it. For only $6 ea. Cynthia, Jordan, James and Kevin went in to explore it as Sylvia and I headed for the subway.

I have to admit that it was a little bit of an exhausting 8 day trip, especially at this age, but boy did we pack a lot of Boston in during our trip. This last picture to the left is us having a drink at the Democracy Brewing restaurant.

Cheers to all!

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