Nelson Family Blog: Boston 2024

We just got back from an amazing trip to Boston. John had an Inbound Marketing Conference in Boston, so he left on Tuesday after dropping the kids off at school. I held the fort down on Tuesday and Wednesday, before flying out on Thursday, after dropping off the kids at school.

The kids had a great weekend with their grandparents. Emma had a volleyball game while we were gone, and they ended up winning their first match, so that was exciting. They spent Saturday at the farm, playing with their bunnies and just being farm kids. They also helped with the Touchmark pots in town. And then on Sunday, Elliott had a soccer game (they lost by 1) and then they all picked us up from the airport.

Anyway, back to Boston. I flew out on Thursday, at around noon. Katie was nice enough to pick me up and bring me to the airport. I was literally the only person going through security, so it took all of 5 minutes to get through, then I got a coffee and waited around. I had to fly to Chicago first, had a 2 hours layover, and then onward to Boston. I landed in Boston around 8:00pm, and then had to get my bag from baggage claim and then a Lyft ride to our hotel. This was my first official time flying by myself. I was a little nervous about it, but it all went really, really well. I had a couple delays along the way, but overall, it was great.

I met John at our hotel (The Omni Parker House), dropped off my luggage, and then went in search of food. We ended up at an Irish Pub. I got a New England Clam Chowder, which was amazing, and John got a dish which had Shepherd's Pie, beef stew, and and chicken pot pie, it was also good. Then, we headed out to walk through Boston Commons, the public park, and then we even saw the outside of the Cheers Bar. It was a great first evening in Boston. At around 11:00pm, we called it a night.

On Friday, John had a pretty full day of sessions at his conference, so I was left on my own. We stopped at Dunkin Donuts for some breakfast, and then parted ways. I ended up downloading a Freedom Trail tour on my phone, and spent the next 4 hours doing the Freedom Trail walk. It was really amazing, and full of history. I saw State House, Park Street Church, the headstones of John Hancock, Paul Revere, Sam Adams, and more, the old State House, USS Constitution, Paul Revere's House, and Bunker Hill. I also made a few more stops along the way, including Mike's Pastry's and I got a mint chocolate chip cannoli, which was amazing.

I ended up with 30,000 steps, but I had such a fun time exploring. I learned a lot of new fact about our American History, and Boston is just a fun, beautiful city to explore. It was kind of weird to explore on my own, but I still enjoyed it.

John met up with me around 3:00pm. We ended up walking to the Sam Adams tap house and having some beers on the patio. This place had a fun vibe and the beers were really good. Then, we walked through Quincy Market and got some pizza for supper and just had fun exploring.

At 6:15pm, we got an Uber ride to Fenway Park. We were lucky enough to have the Twins in town to play against the Red Sox. We arrived a little early to look around, snap some selfies, and take in the sights. Fenway Park is really cool, and full of history, but overall it's an old, kinda dumpy park. But, I loved seeing a Twin's Game there. We had really good seats in the outfield, and then we watched the boring-est baseball game ever. Each at bat was like 8 pitches long, we saw a ton of foul balls, and not much action. It was tied 1-1, and then went into extra innings. We watched one extra inning, and then we decided to leave, since the game was at like 3 hours and 25 minutes at that point. So, we ubered back to the hotel and called it a night. But, what a cool experience. We also were surrounded by Boston fans, who are known for getting rowdy, so that was entertaining.

On Saturday, it was rainy, windy, and cool the entire day. We had plans to go see the USS Constitution and climb Bunker Hill, but those things were not an option with the weather, so we had to pivot a little. We ended up going to the JFK Library and Museum. This was a cool experience, and really have a good picture of JFK and his life and becoming President of the United States. And then of course it was sad when we walked through the halls about his assassination. We spent a solid 2 hours there, and then it was time for lunch.

We took some advice from a local Bostonian, and went to Lolita's for lunch. It was really, really good Mexican food. I got steak tacos, and John got fish tacos, and then we shared them. We also got some chips and guacamole, which was also fabulous.

After lunch, we walked to our boat tour around the harbor. We booked a boat tour before coming to Boston. We had a nice, large boat and took a great 90 minute tour around the Boston Harbor. We took in some great sites, and got some great views. We also learned a few more facts about Boston. It was still chilly, rainy and windy, but we made the best of it. After the tour, the rain let up a little, so we walked to Harpoon Brewery. We got a couple beers and a pretzel, and just enjoyed ourselves.

Then, we had a 7:30pm reservation at Legal Seafood, which was also a recommendation. We knew this was our last decent meal in Boston, so we got a nice spread to try some different things. We ordered New England Clam Chowder, Lobster Bisque, Crab Cake, and then a Lobster Roll. It was amazing. Like really amazing. The crab cake was one of the best things I had ever eaten, and then the Lobster Roll was also amazing. We couldn't stop talking about how good the food was. It makes the seafood around here pure garbage. It was definitely a top 10 meal ever, and that's saying something. It was a great supper.

We ended up walking toward our hotel, we needed a walk after all that food. We walked through the park a little again, and then we went to Beantown Pub for a couple drinks to end the night. We tried to soak everything in, because we knew we were leaving the next day.

Sunday was a long day, full of travel. We started our day with a coffee and a walk, and then we decided to attend the 8:30 am church service at Park Street Church. It was really interesting to attend church in such an old, historic building so far from home. It was a good service, but the sermon went on and on for 45 minutes. so we left after the sermon. We walked through the historic cemetary again, and then we had to head to the hotel to pack and get ready to leave.

We ordered out last Lyft ride, and then headed to the airport. We ended up with some time to kill, and there was a North End restaurant in the airport, so we got to enjoy some really good pasta before we got on our plane.

Then, we traveled. We had a layover in Chicago again, and then on to Sioux Falls. The kids and Jim and Barb picked us up at the airport, and then we went to Dairy Queen for supper and stories, before heading home to do a lot of unpacking and laundry.

John and I actually had Monday and Tuesday off as well, since we didn't know what exact days to take off 6 months ago. So, we have had plenty of time to catch up, clean, and get some errands done around the house.

We had a really fun trip in Boston. I really enjoyed visiting, but would not want to live there. We did see some rats at times, and the traffic and crowds were a little much at times. But, the history and the big beautiful trees changing colors were pretty amazing to see. And traveling is just always fun. And the food was amazing.