I could live in Boston!

We’re on the move again. Tonight we are camped at the tip of Cape Cod in Provincetown; the trees are still green and the temperature is 63 degrees Fahrenheit at 7:45 pm. We’ve just come from supper (Lobster Rolls) at the Mayflower Restaurant in the shadow of the Pilgrim Monument. Sandra is sitting in the back of the van watching TV while I write this. It can be very civilized in this little van.

We spent the last three nights in Boston at the home of Mike MacMann and Pat Randall. When we arrived on Sunday night, they fed us a winderful meal and sent us off to bed to sleep off our Freeport shopping spree.

Pat and Mike were peerless hosts and acted as our personal travel guides around the city. We took in the sights at Back Bay, checked out the “mother church” of Mary Baker Eddy (it was closed but we walked the "campus"), walked through the public gardens and the Boston Common. We stopped for lunch at a café in Beacon Hill and, sufficiently fortified, we headed up the one of the lovely historic streets and took a look at some of the most expensive real estate in the city. Then it was on to the Capital Building to check out the architecture and to see where the laws of Massachusetts get made.

And still we didn’t stop. We walked downtown to Quincy Market on the harbor front. By this time I had to call for a time out so we stopped for tea at a little restaurant before heading along the greenway at the harbour’s edge. Pat had left us at the restaurant to head back to Beacon Hill and pick up the car. She picked us up and we headed home for wine, conversation and a delicious meal. It didn’t take me long to fall asleep when I went to bed!

Pat was busy with work on Tuesday but Mike gamely took us out again. It was mostly a car tour this time but we did get out at Harvard and walk around the campus. We also stopped at Longfellow House and walked around the grounds as the building itself was closed. Mike took us to a couple of his and Pat’s favourite shops where we picked up steak, veggies and baguette for dinner. Pat was home in time to eat with us and, after dinner, we moved into the living room to watch the end of the presidential debate.

It would have been easy to extend our stay but alas Florida awaits. As we left Boston, Sandra commented that these last few days just might be the highlight of this trip.

Thank you Pat and Mike for your hospitality and your friendship.

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Despite Mike’s excellent directions and Bossy adding her GPS instructions, we got lost leaving Boston and travelled too far down the Massachusetts turnpike. However, a pleasant man at the toll booth got us straightened around and we were finally headed to Cape Cod. We pulled into a visitor centre and made some lunch and took advantage of their free WiFi to check email. We’ll stop there again tomorrow to upload this blog entry.

Tomorrow it’s on to Newport , Rhode Island and points beyond…