Hello Boston

We have spent a grand total of 36 hours in Boston and I can say wholeheartedly that it is one of my favorite cities in the world. Everyone is friendly, everything has this amazing, historical charm, and everywhere is walkable. The Freedom Trail is so cool. You follow this red bricked path all over the place to see all of the oldest treasures in our country. I'm totally slacking on organizing pictures, but just know that I've taken over 800 in the day and a half that we have been here. There is SO MUCH to see!

We arrived on Wednesday evening after a whirlwind travel day starting at 3 am... we dropped Maddie off at the pet hotel (tear), drove to Austin to catch a flight to Dallas, and finally arrived in Boston at 4 pm. Then we met up with Andrew's lifelong friend, Brad, who moved to Boston 10 years ago for undergrad at Gordon College. Brad and Mary, his fiance (congrats!), walked with us along the freedom trail to take in all the historical landmarks, took us to dinner at Regina's Pizzeria, dessert at Mike's pastries for the best cannolis, and an evening stroll along the North End. So fun to meet up with old friends!

Thursday we got up early for Andrew to present a paper for the ALA (American literature Association) on Spanish translation of Jack London at the Westin Hotel in Copley Square. We walked by Trinity Church and a whole bunch of other beautiful churches. Everything in Boston is beautiful!

The Westin Hotel was across the street from the Boston Marathon Memorial. Several of the windows in the surrounding buildings were still shattered. Just being in that place was so emotional and made it so much more real to me. I am heartbroken for the families that are still dealing with aftermath of this tragedy.

After Andrew's presentation we went to the Boston Public Library with his professor, Dr. Reesman and his colleague, Connor.  The library was magical. They literally had an entire section devoted to King Arthur. Amazing!

After the Library we walked through Boston Common to take in more of the sights. We saw Ben Franklin's tombstone, and some fun costumed lads.

Thursday evening Dr. Reesman took us out to dinner at this great Indian restaurant in Back Bay. We then went back to the Westin to meet some well known professors at the conference. Afterwards we took the T to Harvard Square to meet up with our fellow former San Diegan friend, Drew and his girlfriend Tori. We walked through Harvard and hung out at a couple bars... Charlie's and Grendel's.

It has been non-stop fun, friends, food, and photos since we got here and it's not letting up. This afternoon (after we check out Fenway Park and a couple other highlights) we are renting a car and driving up through New Hampshire to Maine. For those of you keeping track, that's 2 more states off the 30|30 list. Woot! We will stop to take in the sights and light houses and lobster along the way. Then Saturday we're driving down to Connecticut (I lived there when I was a baby and my dad was in the Navy so I want to revisit it). Sunday it's Rhode Island and Newport Beach, then back to Boston Sunday night to catch the Arrested Development Premiere with our friends. We fly back to Texas early Monday morning. I'm telling you, non-stop fun this week!

 I'm sad we don't get to spend more time in Boston because it is such an amazing place. 

We will definitely be coming back here again!