Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day Weekend (the first weekend in September) Ed's parents came for a four day visit. They flew into Logan airport Thursday evening during rush hour and were able to enjoy Boston traffic at its peak. Fortunately, we only had to drive less than four miles home, which took us 20-30 minutes -- Hooray traffic!

Friday, we decided to drag them out of town (seeing that Labor Day weekend was coming and we did not want to stuck in "Cape" traffic -- and yes, people call Cape Cod the "Cape" around here). We took them up to Maine and New Hampshire. I think that his parents really enjoyed the scenery and the various towns. Me focused on Portland and Portsmouth. We also made a quick detour and hit the L.L. Bean flagship store in Freeport, made sure we ate the requisite Maine lobsters and stocked up on seafood at a couple of our favorite fishmongers.

Harbor Fish Market - Portland, Maine

Saturday was one of our many "Boston" days. We started off with stops in Charlestown at Bunker Hill and the USS Constitution. Then we parked at the Coast Guard station in the North End / Little Italy. After wandering through Little Italy to the waterfront, we started off with a ferry trip out to Fort Warren on Georges Island, part of the Boston Harbor Islands National Park. After Fort Warren, we stopped at the New England Aquarium. Ed's father wanted to see sharks, but they only had two on show that day -- it was kind of strange only seeing two sharks considering that the Baltimore Aquarium has a tank full of sharks, but I think that he was content only seeing two for the time-being. And yes, Ed's father looked at the Coast Guard boats -- what trip with the Matthaidess' isn't filled with boats/forts/planes? So much for art and beauty (even though Ed would debate the beauty of a boat, fort, and plane). We finished up our day bumming around some of the Freedom Trail sites and Chinatown. I got tired and Ed carried me around for the end of the afternoon.

Sunday, we took his parents to Cape Ann and showed them the towns of Glouchester, Rockport, and Essex -- all weekend long, Ed's dad kept demanding to have clams. So...we took them to the famous New England "Woodman's" for clams. I think that the trip was well worth the wait - everybody polished off about a pound of deep fried clams. Later, we took them to Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts. We toured around some of the battlefields and monuments. Then we headed to the farmer's market, Wilson's Farm, in Lexington. The selection of produce at Wilson's is wonderful during the summer! They even have some produce during the early winter months, which is great!

Glouchester Harbor - From Rocky Neck Art Colony

Monday, I took the morning off from touring -- I was way too tired and I still had to work the rest of the week. I definitely do not have the energy that the Matthaidess clan has, but Ed is working on it with me. During the morning, Ed took his parents around Harvard University and the surrounding area. They enjoyed the tour, but didn't realize how small Harvard is - maybe they're used to the larger universities that they have out in the mid-west. We ended their tour with a visit to the JFK Presidential Library and checked out the Boston South Shore area around Quincy.


Tuesday morning, I was off to work (tired) and his parents left for the airport around 5am.

This weekend, I was tired (of course Ed wasn't), but it was my weekend and I decided to spend the weekend running our usual errands and relaxing for a change:-)