#escapingthebubble

About two months ago Dad discussed with the me possibility of him going to Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire for a long weekend. He was up there visiting relatives for an extended period. This worked out quite nicely for me. I usually get a three day weekend, so taking off one more day is not a big deal for me. 

My day started far too early after going to bed far too late. I had just done a park opening to park close day with some Brits and Aussies (more on that later I hope) and had gotten roughly 8 hours of sleep in the past two nights. Keith, bless him, drove me to the airport at 6am stopping first at Wawa to secure a Sizzis and coffee. 

Security at MCO was less painful than it normally is. I had a relaxing morning reading "Swim to Me" and playing Plants vs. Zombies. I fell asleep before the plane took off. I woke up just groggy enough for another round of killing zombies with plants before landing in Boston.

Dad greeted me at baggage claim. When I told him I would be bringing a carry-on he assumed I meant backpack. He wasn't expecting a full on rolling suitcase. Now we didn't have a car for the day, nor did we have a hotel for the night, or a plan for the next four days. A lot of balls were in the air when juggling relatives. So the two of us had lunch as Dad made phone calls to heaps of relatives. I texted my friend at UMASS to find out what his availability was. Eventually we got it all figured out. We took a bus to a depot in the middle of Boston only to find the Freedom Trail. 

Dad showed me a couple of the historical sites coupled along with an awesome cemetery that housed both Benjamin Franklin and Mother Goose. "We used to skip school to come down here," Dad told me. I think it's so cool and nerdy that that's what my Dad did when he skipped. I was intrigued by the elaborately carved headstones. A fair few of them where adorned with a skull with wings. A sign informed me that that carving was to symbolize how time flies. 

We headed over to the National Park Service visitor center. I didn't see any of my rangers there unfortunately. Dad bought a knock-off "Boston Strong," baseball cap which replaced his Red Sox cap for the trip. 

"Have you ever had steamers?" Dad asked.

"No. What?"

"Steamed clams."

"No that seems gross, but I'll try them." 

We sat at an outside restaurant with a beer and steamers. The steamers weren't bad... they just tasted like the butter I had dipped them in. The sand added an extra crunch. 

And that ended our tour of Boston, short as it was.

We hopped a taxi back to the airport where we JUST caught the bus that would take us to the rental car in Portsmouth, NH. Dad and I napped the whole way back. From Portsmouth we drove up to Maine where we had dinner with some relatives at a BBQ joint. Dinner just happened to be next to THE L.L. Bean store. The L.L. Bean store is open 24 hours a day, so Dad and I thought we would go and see what they had in store for us.