Boston University
The alarm went off before the dawn broke the day we left for Boston. In the typical “get ready thrash” no one slept well before we took off, but as the alarms sounded, we were off and going. We even skipped brewing our morning coffee to make as much time as possible. On this trip we decided to take the local commuter air to Dallas to make parking and the drive home quicker once we landed. This has pros and cons, pros being free parking and a short drive home. Cons being that there are limited flights and not a lot of room on the plane, which for the three of us, is sometimes an issue.
We strolled in with about 30 minutes to spare, parked the car and headed for the terminal. Once we got checked in, we waited and boarded just as the sun was rising. Luckily we got an exit row so we got a tiny bit more leg room. When we got to DFW, we ended up having time to get a coffee and a breakfast before our plane to Boston.
Once we boarded our next plane, we were all seated when one of our backpacks fell into the aisle. A lemon-puckered lady snarled at Ray about it but otherwise, the flight was uneventlful. It was funny to see how busy the plane bathroom was, and the lemon lady herself got up about six times throughout the four hour flight.
When we landed in Boston, it was time to test out our public transit navigational skills. We found our bus stop in the airport and waited about 30 minutes for it to arrive. When it did, it was cool and comfortable, and we had a nice tour through Boston traffic with someone else driving. We were dropped off at the Back Bay station, and took off, backpacks on, in search of our hotel.
We walked at a leisurly pace and found our super cool, retro rock themed hotel, The Verb. If you are ever around Fenway, I’d highly recommend The Verb. While Con flipped though their vinyl library, and I got a cold brew coffee on tap, Ray got us checked in. We strolled through the halls to drop off our bags in the room so we could go find a late lunch/early dinner. There were concert posters of all the legends – from Led Zepplin to Pearl Jam, Janice Joplin to Mariah Carey!
We decided to try out the Japanese restaurant next to the Verb, Hojoko. We tried a culinary first for us… chicken tails. You know that fatty piece of chicken on the tail end of the spine? Yep. Flash fried and seasoned on a skewer. Very interesting, kind of like fresh cracklins.
That evening, Connor wanted to decompress, and since we were all sharing one room, daddy-o and I decided to take a walk around the neighborhood. We knew we were close to Fenway Park, but until we started walking, we didn’t realize we were literally next door to Fenway! There was a game, so the area was packed but happy and friendly! We found a local(sh) pub and ordered some beer and the best pretzel and beer cheese I’ve ever had! I had a dark chocolate cherry porter and a blueberry wheat, both were delicious.
The day was getting late and our early rise was starting to get to us, so we headed back to the hotel, after a quick stop in to the three-story Target to get Con some razor blades he forgot to pack. Though he was looking at theater schools, I thought the “Wolf Man Jack” look was probably not his best.
The next morning, we enjoyed a complimentary breakfast at the hotel complete with baseball themed waffles and music themed smoothies (Strawberry Fields Forever!) We had an hour before our tour, so we decided to make the most of the walkable neighborhood and walk to the school.
Boston University is a B E A U T I F U L campus. Their mascot is the Terriers. We attended an information session and took a walking tour to get the gist of it, and it’s a contender. There’s a transit system that runs the length of campus and connects the three areas of campus. There’s beautiful parks, historic buildings and lots of public art. While we did not get a school specific tour, we are looking forward to the online workshop they put on in July.
After we finished the tour, we headed back toward the hotel with a quick stop in for some tacos at a reformed depot warehouse. Amazing architecture is all around Boston. After retrieving our luggage, we took off towards the train station, where we boarded the train for Newark, NJ. Until tomorrow… Sarah
