Catch Up Time!

Blogging is turning out to be harder than I thought!  I keep thinking of things to post, but I never seem to get around to writing them. Hopefully I will get better at keeping this up to date!  In the meantime, here is a catch-up post on our latest adventures.

March 11: Doug's 26th Birthday!  We celebrated by going out for a wonderful dinner at The Canfield House, a restaurant in what was a "world-renowned gambling casino at the turn of the century", according to their website.  (It just looked like a beautiful old house to me, but I'm not very learned when it comes to gambling establishments.) I picked this restaurant because they served prime rib, which is one of Doug's favorite dishes and somewhat hard to find in an ocean-side city full of amazing seafood. He loved his dinner, and I enjoyed a wonderful sampler dish that included lamb and venison. After that we came back and Doug opened a bevy of cards and packages from family and friends, then sampled different cupcakes I had picked up from a recommended bakery. Again, so delicious. We also had a belated birthday celebration with some of Doug's classmates later the next week; we all squished into our small room and had shared a yummy cake.        

Enjoying his birthday meal

 

Cupcakes!

March 12: Doug and I ventured to Boston for a quick day trip. We toured the Sam Adams Brewery, which is a free and fun if short tour where they give you free beer at the end. Neither of us knew before the tour that most of the Sam Adams beer is brewed outside of Boston and that the Boston brewery is mainly their testing and experimenting brewery. This is why the tour is short; not much to see! It was still a fun and informational experience, though.

One of the four ingredients for beer

Brewing tanks

Free tasting; we got to taste three different beers, and we got to keep the glasses!

Enjoying the "chocolate cherry" - a mix of their chocolate beer and cherry wheat beer. Delicious, and unfortunately not made outside of this brewery :(

After the brewery we headed to a bar in South Boston to watch Doug's soccer team, Arsenal, play in some kind of championship game (You can tell how much I pay attention). The bar was an official Arsenal Supporter's Club meeting location, so there were lots of fellow fans to hang out with, and for Doug to commiserate with when Arsenal lost big time.

We left South Boston after the loss and headed towards the site of the USS Constitution, the oldest commissioned war ship in the US Navy. Our friend Ann met up with us there. We got to tour the ship and learn about it's role in the war of 1812, which was where it got the nickname "Old Ironsides" because cannonballs couldn't seem to penetrate its sides. Overall a good tour, but again shorter than we expected.

On the deck of the ship

Inside the ship; lots of cannons!

Where the sailors slept

Sailors aren't meant to be 6'7"...it was a bit dangerous for Doug!

Us in front of the USS Constitution

After the Constitution we walked around Harvard and Harvard Square for a while, then grabbed some food. I got to pet and visit with a beautiful golden retriever while we were there, and we also got to meet Ann's cat Flora, so I was able to get some much needed pet therapy during our time in Boston.

March 25-26: I left Doug behind to work on his mock trial and headed to Boston again. This time I went with one of my new friends, Pilar, who is also a military wife. We drove up to hang out with Ann (same Ann as previous Boston trip), one of my oldest and closest friends. When we got there Ann took us on a walking tour of the city. We followed the Freedom Trail, which leads tourists to some of the historical places around the city. We stopped by the Granary Burying Ground where some famous Bostonians are buried, including John Hancock, Paul Revere, and Samuel Adams. While there, I found a gravestone with the name Nathaniel Shannon on it; I will have to do some research to see if we are related! We also saw the Old South Meeting House, where revolutionary speeches were given, and the church where lanterns were lit to give the signal to Paul Revere that started his famous ride to warn that the British were on their way. We also saw the nation's first public school and the Irish Famine Memorial. Here is a sampling of the pictures I took:

Riding the 1st subway in America

A look at the very old gravestones in the Burying Ground - so intricate!

Burying Grounds. The tall monument in the middle stands over the tomb of Benjamin Franklin's parents.

Paul Revere's grave (original gravestone on right)

Shannon!

Irish famine memorial. There were also statues showing the emaciated state of immigrants when they got here, and how much better they looked after they were in America. Plaques at the memorial explained how angry Bostonians were when the Irish started arriving; one states that they wanted to help them, but didn't want them here. My poor ancestors!

Old South Meeting House

Inventive anti-littering campaign :)

Church where lanterns signaled Paul Revere's ride

Statue commemorating said ride

After our walk we re-energized with delicious desserts from Mike's Pastries, a bakery that was spoken very highly of and that lived up to all the hype. Then we hopped on the T and headed to the Museum of Fine Arts. It is a huge museum, and we only made it through two sections before we were exhausted, but we saw a lot of interesting pieces. There were actually quite a few Herman Miller pieces in one exhibit, as well as pieces from artists in Grand Rapids. I felt a lot of West Michigan pride when I saw those.

Herman Miller representing at the Museum of Fine Arts!

Amazing glass installation - this picture was taken from the 3rd floor!  Artist is Chihuly, for those of you in the know.

 We left the museum and headed back to Ann's house, where Pilar left to head back to Newport. Ann and I went and had dinner at a great Indian restaurant. I had never had Indian food before, and Ann wanted to introduce me. It made a good first impression on me, I must say. Very yummy. Then we headed back to Ann's and got some rest.

The next day Ann and I headed for Newport. I gave her a driving tour of Ocean Drive, which is part of the beautiful coastline with larger homes and mansions. Then we went to the Breakers, one of the famous Newport mansions. It was built by the Vanderbilt family and used as their summer home. The place has 47 bedrooms, if that gives you an idea of how big it is. (only 14 were used for family and guests, however - the rest were for the house staff!) We took a guided tour and got to hear about the extravagance of the place; imported marble from all different parts of the world just to decorate the walls, 22 carat gold paint on the ceilings, precious stones inlaid in the fireplace mantels, intricate mosaics on some of the ceilings, and so on. Every inch of the mansion is covered in opulence. Really, it was kind of ridiculous. But a very interesting sight to see nonetheless. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, so these outdoor ones will have to satisfy your curiosity for now:

The gate at the entrance to the Breakers. Ann is standing in front of it for scale purposes.

View of the mansion from the coastline

View of the mansion from the driveway

There are 10 mansions to tour in Newport, but only 3 are open in the winter, and we were only able to make it to the Breakers anyway. If you are ever in this part of the country, I think they are worth taking a look!

I think that's it for now; Doug only has a few days of school left, and we will be heading out of here next Friday!  We are making a very brief stop at home in West Michigan to get my car and our cat and to visit with our families, and then we are starting our journey to the west. We will be driving across the country to San Diego, and once we get there we will begin our search for a house to rent! With all of that craziness I might not be able to post for a while, but I promise a good long post detailing our adventure to the west coast when we get settled in. Lots of love to you all - thanks for reading!