Mom's Visit Day 1

One of my favorite things is playing tourist in my own city. I love when people visit from out of state because it gives me an excuse to go to the attractions and show off my knowledge of Boston. Plus, I didn't grow up here, so I am particularly proud of being able to navigate the subways, how to drive on the roadways, and how to walk from place to place. As much as my New York family may tease, I really don't have an accent though!

For the third summer in a row, my mom has taken a trip up from Florida and stayed with me. This year we crammed in a bunch of of sight seeing, visits with friends and family, some quality talk time by the beach and even a Red Sox game. 

We started the week with one of my more crazy ideas. I would have never followed through with it on my own, so I was happy to share the experience with my mom!
Here was the crazy idea: Our local independent record shop, Newbury Comics, was hosting a free performance by Frank Turner. I actually won tickets to his show at the Museum of Fine Arts the last time he was here, but I couldn't go (because it was during the school day). So I really wanted to go to this one. In order to go, you needed a wristband. The store opened at 10 am. Mom and I were on the train around 8 in the morning and were in line for wristbands, eating our bagels from home, by 9 am.

Check out the line!
Only 100 wristbands were given out and Mom and I were #56 and #57.
Only slight problem was that the show didn't start until about 5:30 and we were expected to line up, back in number order, around 5pm.
We knew this, so we had planned to walk around and my goodness, we were all over Boston.

The Newbury Comics we were at was in Faneuil Hall. There are shops on both sides of Quincy Market, so we started there.

Who knew there was so much Ben Franklin beer paraphernalia! Upon further research, Ben Franklin did not say that quote, but that's your tourist store for you.

Outside the Marriot on Rowes Warf

The Courthouse from the water. The side the news usually casts from is not as pretty.

After shopping, we ventured to Harborwalk. I had heard of it, from having been in the area, but had never taken it before. The walk way literally goes around the harbor. We were later in other areas of the city and could pick up the trail. It was a beautiful day, with gorgeous views. And at the end, there was beer.

A mile and a half into the walk, past the Institute of Contemporary Art, the fish piers and the Bank of America Pavilion, was the Boston location of the Harpoon Brewery. They must have become really popular because since the last time I was there, maybe a year ago, there is now a new entrance and contemporary beer hall (which I was too distracted to remember to take a picture of, but you can see it here). Mom and I had pretzels made with spent grain from the beer brewing process and an amazing, spicy mustard also made from beer. Mom had her first flight of beer too, tasting a variety of IPAs. The tour wasn't as awesome as it was in the past, but still great to have the freedom to try as many of their beers as you can in about fifteen minutes, in what is now the old tasting room.

The mile and a half walk back was not going to happen! We boarded the bus that stops right outside the brewery, and although we got off onc stop too early initially, we had a nice walk from Downtown Crossing, through Government Center, back to Faneuil Hall. As we walked out of the subway, we were confronted with the demolition of Filene's Basement which was a Boston landmark.

We were in line for the show in time, but the weather decided not to cooperate with us. A little after 5, it didn't just rain, the heavens opened up and pour on us. I was so thankful to have bought a raincoat the week before and stayed dry expect for my feet. Mom had her umbrella so I passed mine to the poor folks in front of us with nothing.

Thankfully, the store took pity on us and started to load us into this small section of the store. 100 wet, smelly people, packed in by number order! I thought Frank would be done after four songs tops, but he kept on playing. I loved every second.

This is one of the first songs he played that day, and one of my favorites off the new record.
The rain had stopped after the show and Mom and I walked back to the train, exhausted. We had a very full first day!