Northeast travels 2023 – Quincy and Boston
Hey all!
So we are kicking off a week of me sharing some highlights from our trip to the East Coast. First off, let me tell you. Those Northeasterners LOVE their Dunkin’ Donuts. If you think Starbucks plants a shop every couple of blocks, you have not seen a saturated market like this one.
Last week I told you all about the arrival day and little side trip in the late afternoon and evening to Cape Cod/Hyannis Port to explore a bit of that area.
We had stayed in the Braintree/Boston Hampton Inn, because we wanted to explore Quincy and, of course, free breakfast.
Russ and I had both read a couple of books on the Adams Family (the presidential version, not the Gomez and Mortitia Addams) and two other books about the politics around their time in history so we were interested to see the historical sites in Quincy.
The homes of both John and John Quincy are still standing, but they occupy a small slice of corner property that is surrounded now by homes and businesses. We could only walk around them and read a few signs with information.
Unfortunately the historical sites in Quincy are only open Wednesday through Saturday. Still it was fascinating to see the actual buildings still standing and admire the craftsmanship of the builders.
From Siri, I determined that more of the historical sites were just a half mile away so I suggested we leave the car parked where it was and not worry about finding another spot.
We all know Siri doesn’t like me, right? She must not have picked up on the fact that Russ was with me. She likes him. The “half mile” turned into a rather lengthy trek and not through some of the more picturesque parts of the city.
But we made it to a Welcome Center that was open and two very nice and enthusiastic Quincy fans filled us in on a lot of the history of the area. They gave us some pointers on how to find the other places of interest and a lunch stop idea, bottles of water and a little bag of printed materials.
We did look at a few more of the points of interest but decided to head back to the car and drive to the remaining sites that were further on down the pike.
After we had our fill of American History, we headed to the Boardwalk and found a nice place for lunch. We enjoyed walking the Boardwalk and looking at all the various boats as well as viewing Boston across the bay.
From there we drove to the Hilton Back Bay/Boston and checked in. Russ selected this hotel as it was within walking distance to Fenway. And since Russ was doing the planning, it actually was within walking distance.
When we checked in at the desk, we had a pleasant surprise. They had upgraded us to a great room with a gorgeous view and no extra charge. We like surprises like that.
There was rain in the forecast, and the prediction was fulfilled. A steady rain started in the afternoon and continued to early evening. We waited out the worst of it and then joined others who were walking to the ball park in a slight sprinkle.
Of course we had Red Sox shirts, because you know us. We always get the tshirt.
Actually, Zach had a jersey he let Russ borrow…since he is “Big Papi” to all of us.
We ended up sitting in a sea of Braves fans, but were very thankful we were under the canopy and our seats were still dry and we remained dry as the 7:00 game was delayed until 8:50. And we were blessed with very nice Brave backers so it was a fun evening. Actually…we have Braves shirts, too, so we could have joined in that noise if we had only known.
Our plan had been to enjoy a “Fenway Frank” and we certainly did enjoy them! Along with a pretzel, and chicken strips with fries. It was a loooonnnng game.
It was a good game and one of the highlights was seeing the first 8-3-5 triple play since 1884. If you don’t know what that is, it is center field threw to first who made the out and fired it to the third baseman completing the triple play.
It was more impacting historically to me than seeing the Quincy area, because I actually SAW it.
Rarely am I looking at the right place on the field for big events. I typically miss the guy at bat who hits the game winning home run. I miss the ball that was caught to end the game.
But I actually saw the whole thing and it was amazing. Sadly it was made by the Braves against the Red Sox, but we ended up winning. Not to brag, but I also saw the Sox home run that was driven down the first base line and into the stands.
There may be hope for me yet.
We left at the bottom of the 8th at around 11:30. Of course we couldn’t leave until they played Sweet Caroline…which they finally did.
A late night and long day for LolaPapi but so fun.