Travel Blog 1 - Boston

 

Since I enjoy traveling and food, I thought I’d try documenting my experiences and start a blog.  This will be my first recapping a short weekend trip to Boston for a friends birthday.  Later I will recap some of the trips I took earlier in 2024 and ones from 2023, if I can remember enough details!

Off to Boston… While I try and stick with one airline (United) to earn the miles and status, I will also shop around for direct/cheaper flights and see if any others make sense.  Flying out of Pittsburgh can be challenging for direct flights and to Boston, United doesn’t provide that.  I went with Delta for half the price of Untied and it was a direct to/from.  I typically don’t check a bag unless I purchase items that require it.  In this case, on my way home, I had to check my bag and was happy to find out it was free with Delta… Bonus!

I arrived in Boston early Friday morning and met up with a friend from Denver in the airport and headed to the rental car area.  One we got into downtown Boston, there was a lot of parking options and most around $50 for the day (we parked at the Westin Seaport because another friend was staying there).  For a large city, Boston is very walkable, so we headed towards the North End.  I was in Boston I 2023 and did the Freedom Trail, and if you are into history this is AWESOME!  We didn’t follow it this time, but on our walk we did hit a lot of the key spots including Old North Church, Paul Revere’s house, Copp’s Cemetery, and Granary Cemetery where Sam Adams, John Hancock, and Paul Revere are buried… pretty cool.  After that we headed to the location of the Boston Marathon bombing.

Now it’s time to head to lunch!  We went to the Barking Crab which is a water front shack with amazing food and also located near the location of the Boston Tea Party.  There were 5 of us and we chose the Neptue Platter which included lobster, crab legs, and corn on the cob.  It was pricy but definitely worth it!  After lunch we hit a couple of local breweries (I quit drinking in November 2023 so no craft beer reviews from here on out).  Trillium was one and the guys I was with enjoyed the Hazy IPAs.

We are now off to the suburbs… our friend lives in Lowell and we stayed at the Element Chelmsford.  After meeting up at his house we went to Gibbet Hill Grill which is a farm to table restaurant that is known for their steak.  We all got a different cut, New York strip, filet, ribeye, and porterhouse.  All were cooked perfectly and were delicious.  We got the grilled cheese (one cheddar and one goat cheese) and the calamari for appetizers, both very good.  While we really didn’t have room for dessert, we did it anyhow and I’m glad we did.  I went with the Chocolate Pot de Crème Salted Caramel.  Also sampled at the table was the carrot cake, apple crisp with ice cream, and crème brulee.  Nothing left on the plates, they were all delicious!  It’s been a long day since my flight left Pittsburgh at 6am so off to our hotel.

Saturday we started with a free breakfast at the Element which included eggs made to order, pancakes, sausage, home fries, yogurt bar, cereal, toast and bagels then headed to our buddies house.  From there we drove to Portsmouth, NH for the New England Hot Sauce Festival (this is the reason I needed to check a bag on the way home) and sampled many terrific hot sauces.  We also purchased some pickles, caramel sauce, jam, honey, and mustard (all home made).  When we were done there we headed into Hampton for some lobster rolls.  Hamton is a small beach town and is what I picture a New England beach town to be, small and beautiful!  We went to Markey's Lobster Pool and the lobster rolls did not disappoint.  A walk up ordering style with a lot of fresh seafood options including whole lobsters.  We were short on time as we had to get back to Boston (about an hour away) for our Duck Boat tour, so we didn’t get to try as much food as we would have liked.

Now in Boston, we headed to the Central Wharf where the Duck Tours and Aquarium are located.  The tour was very cool with a great tour guide.  We learned a lot about Boston and hit a couple of historic landmarks along the way.  On the water, the crew let the kids on board drive the boat.  The boat tour took about 1.5 hours and was worth the price.  We had about 3 hours until our dinner reservations at Union Oyster House (oldest restaurant in America) so we headed to the North End to walk around and get some dessert before dinner.  There are 3 pastry places that you could argue are the best, but I trust my local buddy that says Mike’s Pastries is the go too.  I had this last time I was in Boston and is now a must stop anytime I visit.  The lines are long to get in (take out only) but they move quickly and it is cash only.  We had the Florentine cannoli ($7 each) and they are huge and delicious.  So many delicious looking pastries to choose from and not enough time to try them all… another reason to come back!  I’ve also tried the cream puffs, Boston Cream, and cookies and would recommend them all.  The North End has around 100 Italian restaurants and while I didn’t dine at one this time, when I was in Boston last year we ate at La Famiglia Giorgio's where they have homemade pasta and it was phenomenal, so much food and so tasty!

We head towards dinner and walk through Quincy Market which has some shopping and a food court near Faneuil Hall (also on the Freedom Trail and you can tour it for free).  Before dinner we stop in Bell In Hand (oldest continuing operating bar in America) for a beverage and to take in some more history.  At Union Oyster House for dinner, we all got the award winning chowdah (clam chowder) and it lived up to the hype.  The rest of the food was good, but nothing to write much about.

That about wraps up the trip as we head back to the hotel and get ready to head out early Sunday morning.  Getting to the airport at 6am Sunday was quick considering where I was staying, no traffic.  Boston traffic is typically very congested and around the airport could take you 30 minutes to go 2 miles.  I quickly checked my bag and TSA PreCheck was about 5 minutes.  As I finish writing this I am about to land back home in Pittsburgh and am already looking forward to my next trip to Vegas at the end of August.  Stay tuned for recaps of my previous trips!