July Vacation In Boston

[Groo the Wanderer]

Wifey, Babygirl, and I are going on vacation in July to Boston. Those of the pham that live out that way, can I get some advice?

1. what to see/do other than baked beans, cream pies, and Cheers?
2. hotel is 15 miles from Boston downtown. mass transit seems pretty ubiquitous. should we bother with a rental car?
3. Massachusetts seems really small to a Texan family. Driving across it seems to take less time than driving from Arlington to Austin. Gonna be there from Tues-Sat. Should we hit other states as well? If so which ones?
4. where are the best places to eat?

[HisChildForever]

Alright I can't help but say this. The "aw" sound is North Jersey/NYC, the "ah" sound is Boston. So if you are from Boston, you would say "Bahsten."

It drives me crazy when this gets confused.

[IrishSalesian]

Look at the freedom trail. It is pretty awesome! (If you like history)

[Era Might]

[quote name='Groo the Wanderer' post='1872770' date='May 21 2009, 03:10 PM']1. what to see/do other than baked beans, cream pies, and Cheers?[/quote]
You can take a tour of Fenway park. I'm sure there's a lot of things for tourists to do, but people who live here never do those things, so I don't have much advice.

[quote]2. hotel is 15 miles from Boston downtown. mass transit seems pretty ubiquitous. should we bother with a rental car?[/quote]
Is the hotel in Boston? If so it might be near a train station. But if it's in one of the suburbs then it might be harder getting there by train. It would be crazy to rent a car just to drive around the city.

[quote]3. Massachusetts seems really small to a Texan family. Driving across it seems to take less time than driving from Arlington to Austin. Gonna be there from Tues-Sat. Should we hit other states as well? If so which ones?[/quote]
New Hampshire is only an hour away, as is Rhode Island. You can go to the shrine of Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, which is probably about a four hour drive.

[quote]4. where are the best places to eat?[/quote]
I don't know about the best places, but one locally well-known place is Kelly's.

[Groo the Wanderer]

[quote name='HisChildForever' post='1872773' date='May 21 2009, 04:19 PM']Alright I can't help but say this. The "aw" sound is North Jersey/NYC, the "ah" sound is Boston. So if you are from Boston, you would say "Bahsten."

It drives me crazy when this gets confused. [/quote]


My bad. My boss is from NYC so I guess I was hearing his voice while I typed.


bahsten!

[Spence06]

Although I am from Jersey, I've been to Boston a bunch of times when I visit my friend at Boston University.


1. what to see/do other than baked beans, cream pies, and Cheers?
They have some duck boat tours which I think is worth it or you can do a trolley tour. They have a aquarium and a pretty neat science museum. For the most part, things I've done are more toward college age so thats all I can offer.
2. hotel is 15 miles from Boston downtown. mass transit seems pretty ubiquitous. should we bother with a rental car?
Parking and driving in Boston is crazy. I'd look for a shuttle or something. The T is pretty decent and thats I always used. Taxis are very expensive compared to other cities, I took a van taxis and I couldn't believe how much it was.
3. Massachusetts seems really small to a Texan family. Driving across it seems to take less time than driving from Arlington to Austin. Gonna be there from Tues-Sat. Should we hit other states as well? If so which ones?
If you've never been to New York City, that is always nice to see but that is far. Within the state, i've been to Cape Cod, Martha's vineyard area and it is beautiful. Really nice houses and beaches. I think that is a great place to see in the summer.
4. where are the best places to eat?
The North End is out of this world. It is the "little Italy" of Boston and I've never had bad food there.

Hope you have a great time! I'll be up there in a few weeks to see a Red Sox game since my friend is in doing an internship and wont be home!

[Dan]

Actually, Stockbridge is essentially at the end of the Mass Pike which is approximately 130 miles from Boston. While there, you can also see a Norman Rockwell Museum, and if you are really interested in obscure things, you can see Alice's Restaurant.

If you are going to stay anywhere along the "T", do not rent a car. In a newer city ( by that I mean cities founded after about 1700 ), the streets are aligned in a nearly square grid. In Bahstahn, the streets go from north-south, east-west to diagonal to starting no where and ending no where else.

The Cape ( Cape Cod ) is about 2 hours away from Boston and is filled with quaint little villages and towns. Lots of history, lots of cute parks, etc. In Texas, it would be much like the town of Spring, but with a coastline.

On the border of Mass and R.I. ( Town of Attleboro ) there is a glorious Shrine to OUr Lady of LaSalette.

New Hampshire has 13.1 miles of coastline ( unlike Texas' 613 miles ) with lots of towns and small farms.

About 12 miles ( not on the T ) outside of Boston, along Rte 128 towards rte 1 there is the Hilltop Steakhouse. This is a good "little" steak joint ( seats a few hundred in a variety of smaller themed rooms ).

On the Freedom Trail, as often as my wife and I walked the trail ( when we lived in New England ), we never made it beyond Faneul Hall ( lots of food joints, shopping and history ).

There is time between now and the vacation to request the tourist info from the Mass board of tourism.

[Groo the Wanderer]

ooh! lots of good stuffs so far - keep it coming! I got all the tourism stuff from Boston, but I wanted to hear from peeps that have actually been there and didn;t pay to advertise in the tourism guides.


The hotel is in Wakefield. Don;t suppose anyone knows if the T goes out that far?

[Era Might]

[quote name='Groo the Wanderer' post='1873210' date='May 22 2009, 09:52 AM']The hotel is in Wakefield. Don;t suppose anyone knows if the T goes out that far?[/quote]
The regular trains probably don't go to Wakefield, but there's a commuter line that goes to the suburbs, so it may stop in Wakefield. But it won't necessarily be near the hotel.

Also, I highly recommend the Madonna Queen shrine in East Boston. It's not far from the airport:

[url="http://www.donorioneusa.org/madonna/index.htm"]http://www.donorioneusa.org/madonna/index.htm[/url]

[Era Might]

[quote name='Dan' post='1873208' date='May 22 2009, 09:33 AM']About 12 miles ( not on the T ) outside of Boston, along Rte 128 towards rte 1 there is the Hilltop Steakhouse. This is a good "little" steak joint ( seats a few hundred in a variety of smaller themed rooms ).[/quote]
Have you ever been to the Border Cafe? It's right next to the Hilltop (actually they just moved to the other side of the highway). It's my favorite restaurant, good Tex-Mex food.

[Dan]

You may want to check our the various airport limos. The blue line goes out to the airport and then C&J or similar bus service may go to Wakefield.

If not, you can get a rental car and drive to the nearest T station. Take the T in from there, and you will save a billion dollars an hour by not having to park intown.

The Northshore ( North Shore of the Massachusetts Bay ) is rich in history, the House of Sevn Gables, Salem ( witch trials ), Glouster, etc., would be wonderful for at least a day trip.

The South Shore is the home of the Plymouth Plantation and is filled with cranberry bogs and processing plants.


My wife and I lived in a little town north northwest of Boston for a bunch of years. Then we moved to Madbury, NH, followed by Dover, NH. As the firm I worked for no longer wanted to be in business, we moved back to the MetroWest area ( Natick / Framingham / Hudson ) for a few years before we moved to Sioux City, Iowa. We have now been in Central Texas about 12 years. Yup, we still miss New England and we visit our daughter there once or twice per year.

Edited May 22, 2009 by Dan

[Era Might]

If you want to go to the beach, you can take the Blue Line to Revere Beach. That's where the original Kelly's is.

[scardella]

And I've never been to Boston in the fall...

I hear they have great tea parties there!

Edited May 22, 2009 by scardella

[Dan]

Memories keep coming back to that which represents itself as my mind....

Near Stockbridge, there is Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony. If they are in town, there can be great fun to be had on the lawn at the concert hall. People with cardboard boxes to be used as tables to hold wine and food up to formal table settings on tables, etc.

Southwest of Boston is Great Woods, the summer home of the Pittsburg (?) Symphony and during the summer there are a large number of diverse concerts ( rock, fok, classical, etc ) by a variety of stars.

In Boston, along the Charles River, there is the Hatch Memorial Shell, which is where the various Boston Pops concerts are held over the summer.

In Boston Common, the is the Boston Garden with swan boatrides. South of the Common is the theatre distirct on Washington Street ( stay north of the Wang Center as South Washington Street is the "Adult Education" center ).

Off of Boston Commons is the State House, the North Church and other items on the Freedom Trail. Lots of shoping one or two streets behind Tremont ( in front of the State House ). Cheers is on the other side of the Commons near the Gardens.

Hey, I thnk I could get a job with the tourism people...

[Vin]

The Common and Gardens

Newberry St.

Fenway Park

St. Clement's eucharistic Shrine on Boylston St.

The North End for Italian food, Dessert, and St. Leonard's Church

Fanuel Hall, Old North Church, Paul Revere's House

Charles River

Museum of Fine Art

Fogg Art Museum at Harvard

Commonwealth Ave, Back Bay