Boston Tea Party for Three

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My love for Boston started when some family friends, Brandon and Julie, were living outside of the city after medical school. We were invited to visit one fall and I’ve been in love ever since. I’m not sure if it was the crisp breeze, autumn colors, or the amazing company that fascinated me, but regardless, I’m in love.

Last October, a few girlfriends and I were itching to take a trip when it hit us: Let’s go to Boston! I was thrilled to nominate myself as the tour guide (history is kind of my thing).

We dropped off our luggage in our Beacon Hill apartment and began our adventure in the North End.

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Naturally, we couldn’t say no to Mike’s Pastry, either. Calories DON’T count on vacation. It’s a scientific fact.

The next morning, Emily and I made it a point to find the Boston Marathon finish line on our morning run.

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Soon after, we began adventure on the Freedom Trail. I had created a “Skimm’d” version that included trivia questions of the historical sites to keep my friends entertained. For example:

At King’s Chapel and Burying ground

Why is Mary Clinton (buried here) famous?

  • She is related to Bill Clinton
  • She is related to Donald Trump
  • She was the first woman to step off the Mayflower
  • She was the first woman to make the chocolate chip cookie

How many kids did Paul Revere have?

  • 4
  • 8
  • 12
  • 16 There wasn’t much to do back then. 

Below: (The State House, Kristen and Em being dramatic outside of the Boston Latin School Site, Benjamin Franklin Statue, Old South Meeting House, The Green Dragon TAvern (our lunch stop), Paul Revere Statue, view from the Bunker Hill Monument, and Boston Harbor)

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We ended the day by visiting Harpoon Brewery and then grabbing drinks at the Top of the Hub. Newsflash: When it’s rainy/foggy, you can’t see anything at the top of the Prudential Center.

On our third day, we headed to Cambridge to walk through Harvard and then Fenway.

We ended the day by watching the Aggie football game with the local A&M club.

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Then enjoying a beer at Cheers. Because how can you not?

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Our final full day was spent driving up the coast to Portland, Maine. We visited the Shipyard Brewery (yes, breweries are a theme), ate a lobster roll, and shopped around town. We visited in October so pumpkin beers were running rampant. Shipyard starting serving their pumpkin ale with a sugar/cinnamon rim and it was actually delicious.

We could leave Maine without visiting a lighthouse.

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As we left Maine, we stopped by Smuttynose Brewery in New Hampshire because, why not?

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We ended the evening in Salem, Massachusettes. We were visiting close to Halloween so we had no choice but to go on a ghost tour. We saw a jail where Harry Houdini escape, the location of the first long-distance phone call a la Alexander Graham Bell, a few locations where Hocus Pocus was filmed, and even saw a ghost! Ok, maybe we didn’t see a ghost, but I had to throw that in there.

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Overall, the trip was successful but way too short. Our next adventure will be in Florida and Georgia in the fall so stay tuned.

Boston during the Revolutionary War: The quick and dirty

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This is for my two dear friends who hate museums and boring history. We’re heading to Boston ( my favorite city) soon and  I wanted hit the highlights without boring them to tears:

Key Players:

Revolutionary War: America’s Fight for freedom vs. Britain.

King George: King of England. Never set foot on American soil. Punk.

Paul Revere: All-around bad ass.

George Washington: Virginian-born (not ‘Virgin’), general of the rebel army, 1st US president.

Rebels: Today’s average American.

Redcoats: British peeps with bayonets.

Underlined words: Locations we’ll see. SO MEMORIZE IT. Or I will push you into the cranberry bogs.

America…it’s been around forever, right?

  • No. Lots of peeps were here before us, but we act like that never happened
  • Columbus found this place when he sailed the ocean blue in 1492 (ie Florida)
  • Then the English set-up shop via the Mayflower in 1620 (re: the Plymouth Rock south of Boston)
  • Who? Mostly, English Settlers that were adventurous or looking to find religious freedom made their way to America–BYE, Church of England

Everything was gravy untilll….

  • Stuff went down. Re: The Stamp Act (1765). So, Britain said, “Hey, we want your money and you can’t say anything about it so suck it.” Colonists were like, “WTF?”
  • Enter no taxation without representation (ie Colonists had NO say in what money Britain took from them)
  • 1770–Colonists are pissed. Britain sends soldiers to get the colonists in line and it gets out of hand when British soldiers kill five colonists for NO DANG REASON (Boston Massacre at the Old State House)
  • Paul Revere gets SUPER patriotic and starts getting rebels (colonists/Americans) super pumped about hating the British

Can you pass the sugar?

  • Fanueuil Hall–A place where all sorts of town meetings happened. It’s also where they talked a lot about taxes, because Britain was greedy
  • 1773–Britain sends tea (per usual) to America and rebels say, “Screw you.” Tea, meet the ocean. Enter: Boston Tea Party
  • “Oh snap. It’s on,” says Britain
  • 1775–Americans readied themselves for the British to crash the party
  • Lanterns were to be hung in the North Church  to let citizens know if/how the British were arriving. “One if by land, two if by sea.” PS: They hung two lanterns
  • Battle at Bunker Hill: The British won this early battle in the war but Fun Fact: it was actually mostly fought on Breed’s Hill

Seventeen. Se.. se.. Seventeen. Se..se.. Seventeen Seventy Six.

  • Our Founding Fathers created the Declaration of Independence (re: 1776…July 4th-ish)
  • America says, “Bring it on, Britain pansies”
  • And it’s on. George Washington begins the fight in Boston and tried to hold down the fort with a bunch of stinky Americans (men didn’t like showers or laundry…that was women’s work). He set up shop at the Wadsworth House near Cambridge

October 1781

  • Battle of Yorktown: Defining moment because we crushed the British. The war was pretty much over after this point. Yay! This happened in Virginia, so yeah. We won’t see that

I know I didn’t catch everything so comment on any history highlights I missed. Get ready, Boston-Here we come.

60 Minutes with Doyle

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I have an old-man friend, a “College Station Grandpa,” if you will. Doyle is a Texas A&M graduate (Class of ’42) and is one of my favorite people on the planet.

He watched me grow up because our families shared the same hunting lease for more than 20 years of my life. It’s important to mention that I adored his wife, Tillie, and she truly molded many of my childhood memories–cooking breakfast, playing cards, and taking long walks on the ranch.

When I was in college, I visited Doyle and Tillie as often as I could. Since I’ve returned to College Station, Tillie has passed on and I try to visit Doyle at least once a month.

When Doyle was a student at Texas A&M, he worked at the Dairy.

 “Cows didn’t milk themselves, Megan, we didn’t have all those machines back then. Holidays. Snow. Ice. You name it, I was there.”

Additionally, he served our country in World War II. He worked for Texas A&M Extension for most of his life and has the very best stories.

I could listen to Doyle’s stories for hours (and I have). Often, after minutes into telling a story, he says,

“Well, to make a long story short…”

I always smile after he says this because I know it means at least ten more minutes.

Today, Doyle lives in College Station at a very nice retirement home. I visit Doyle on Tuesdays because, after dinner, we play “Ninety-Nine” with his friends. I won’t waste words here explaining it–just click the link to learn), but I will tell you that it’s so much fun and kind of hard to keep up with his 80 and 90 year-old friends. Fortunately, I got lucky last time we played and won quite a bit. Don’t worry–we only play with nickels, so I’m not cheating anyone out of their retirement.

After playing Ninety-Nine, Doyle and I always go back to his apartment and talk about life for a few hours. And by “talk about life” I mean, he tells me wonderful stories and teaches me more about life than many ever have.

Doyle is my constant reminder that:

  1. A full life is spent doing what you love with the people who make you happy.
  2. There are no hand-outs in life–and there shouldn’t be. Work hard, always.
  3. Kindness is an invaluable quality.

I know our talks won’t last forever–he even jokes about it…he can be kind of morbid like that, but he’s had such a full life that he’s able to laugh about it.

But until that time comes (which I hope is far, far away), I will still spend my Tuesdays with Doyle and his friends–beating them in Ninety-Nine and soaking up every moment with my dearest, old-man friend.