In-town Touring

Bart was working this weekend, so it could have been lonely and pathetic. Happily, my dad was in town and so it was anything but.

On Friday afternoon, I drove north of Boston to meet up with him and we had a delightful evening, part of which involved a ridiculously tasty dinner at an Italian restaurant.

It was a well-timed visit, because Saturday was beautiful – seventy degrees and sunny – and we got up fairly early and headed to Lexington and Concord. We saw the movie “Road to Revolution” at Minute Man National Park (we were the very first people to see it this season, since we hit the first showing and Saturday was the first day the park was reopened), stopped by Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, walked across the Old North Bridge (nearly flooded due to the recent rain), and went to the Village Green in Lexington (proceeded by my humiliating exhibit of how not to parallel park, while my dad probably internally sighed and wondered how I had forgotten all the skills he’d carefully taught me nine years ago when I was getting ready to take my driving test (answer: because I’ve never really lived anywhere that required any significant amount of parallel parking. And also because I make Bart do it if the need arises)).

Afterward, we drove down in to Boston (one of those moments where you realize a real map is much better than a Blackberry one because the digital ones do NOT LOAD FAST ENOUGH and also, streets are never well marked in Boston) and met up with one of my dad’s best friends from elementary and middle school, along with his wife and son, and had a nice lunch at Durgin Park (established before you were born).

And then, on to the Freedom Trail. Because, when it’s seventy degrees outside in Boston, well, you get outside. And I think all of Boston was out there. We toured Paul Revere’s house, visited the Old North Church, and went aboard the U.S.S. Constitution, and then up to Bunker Hill.

My dad asked what sounded good for dinner, and I said “a chair,” which is how we ended up in a little Tex-Mex (don’t worry, Texas, I didn’t believe for a minute that it was REAL Tex-Mex) restaurant, downing fruit smoothies and chips and salsa as if we might never eat again. Also some coconut shrimp which is, at this moment, waiting for me in the fridge.

And then, after a nice breakfast the following morning and a few hours of church, we discovered that my dad’s flight was cancelled, which required him to go the aiport a few hours early to try and get on another flight.

But the fun was not over. . . oh, not even close. RA was in town for the weekend, visiting NPW, and the two of them came over for dinner. We made some incredible cookies (most of which those two unkind women saddled me with) and then had chicken gyros and had some excellent fruit, courtsey of NPW, for dinner. Not to mention the talk, talk, talking that went on.

And, I promised not to tell, but RA did all the dishes afterwards, and then, while I was showering this morning, I could hear her putting them all away. You want her to come visit you, don’t you? You do.

If THAT wasn’t enough, RA brought each of us some lovely hostess gifts, which you can see in all their glory on her blog.

Today it’s cold again, and threatening three days of rain, but I have coconut shrimp and chicken gyros and Italian pizza in my fridge, plus a month’s supply of cookies, so I really can’t complain at all.

Especially not after I found out this morning that after NPW left last night, her battery was dead and she stood out in the cold for thirty minutes waiting for it to be towed.