Traveling North

FRIDAY - DAY 1

Wow, I haven't written in this for a few days now and I have a lot to cover.  I haven't kept up because the past 4 or 5 days have been super fun and busy.  I'll try to pick up where I left off from my last entry.

I just picked up my tent and was on my way to meet my old buddy Gags.  Of course I stopped several times along the way to snap pictures of things that interested me, and I would want record of later.  Most were the country side, and some building I thought were cool, but then when I was passing through some smaller towns when getting close to Boston, I came across this little gem…a 1965 Shelby Cobra!!!  The owner Pat and her husband were really nice and let me take some pics.  I have always dreamed of owning this very car.  Someday I will, but I'm sure it will be a kit car much like Pat and her Husbands. 

Ok, so then I called Gags and found out he was at his Girlfriends place.  She was going on a trip with her family and he was going to take her to the airport.  I got the address and headed over there.  The drive was nice, but Boston is much like other BIG cities I've visited and live…you leave the city, and enter another city and don't even know it because it all looks the same. 

I got to the house, and it was great seeing Gags again.  We picked up right where we left off, joking and laughing.  I had forgotten how funny he was, and  how much I like having him as a friend.  I met his girlfriend and then went with him to drop her off at the airport.  We dropped her off and headed back to her place so I could shower and clean up, because the past two days were spent sleeping were there was no shower for travelers.

Gags took me to see Boston, the real Boston.  We started at Quincy Market (he said that if you don't go to Quincy Market, you never really visited Boston.)  It was great, food of ever kind like German, Mexican, sea food, Italian ice cream, and on and on.  We sampled some stuff, then I decided to get authentic clam chowder, and a lobster roll.  The chowder was great, the lobster roll seemed flavorless…maybe it was just me.

Then we went to the real "Cheers", from the show on TV.  It doesn't look like it does on tv, but still very cool.  I kept noticing that there seemed to be way more women around then men…and after a quick google search we discovered why.  Boston is ranked the 3 in the united states for women vs. men ratio.  Way more here than anywhere but two other cities, and this was their day to be out and about….WOW

Ok, so we stopped and had a beer on the peer, and just talked about old times.  Then we walked around and found Paul Reveres house, and hand some Italian ice cream.  Then it was off to see the USS Constitution, a.k.a. Old Ironsides the ship.  It was in dry dock for restoration, and we went on board to have a look.  We couldn’t look inside, but the outside was very impressive.  After we went to the museum, and there we were invited to sign our names with a little engraver on a piece of copper plating that was going to replace the old copper plating that was worn on the ship.  3400 pieces were going on it, and we signed one of them…history!

Ok, then we were getting worn down, but that’s when we decided to have dinner.  Gags wanted to take me to a really cool restaurant, and he did.  The 52 floor of a skyscraper was a restaurant called "The Hub".  We were both dressed in shorts, but we got in anyway.  Most the people up there were really dressed up, and looked like something you would see in a movie.  The view was amazing, and people were friendly for the most part.  I orders a 10 oz. steak, and Gags got a fish dish.  We also got a appetizer that was tuna, and it was garnish with some stuff the cleanse your pallet between bites.  Weird, but I told him I wanted to try new foods.  The tuna was nothing like a tuna sandwich, but ok.  Well, I can say I tried something new…lol

Well, the meal was a big surprise to me.  The steak was small, and I mean I don't think it was 10 oz., but whatever.  Then he handed me the side that came with it….tater tots in a small bucket…..LOL  I couldn’t believe my eyes.  This fancy place and they served tater tots as a side, and Sonic's tater tots are way better!  Well, the steak was chewy and tough.  I would not suggest it to anyone, especially for the price it was.  After finishing my second Mojito, we paid and left.  On my way out, I told the waitress how bad my steak was.  She was sorry, but we were leaving. So I just wrote a bad review on google for the food, the service and view were great!

Ok, so now it's about 10pm, but we don’t want to stop cuz we having hung out for so long. He brain stormed and thought of a place we should go.  We took the subway (which was a learning experience for both of us, so funny) and went to a German restaurant, in celebration of where we became good friends.  There we talked for ever, had some German beers, and some German sausage appetizers, it was awesome.  We were remembering funny things that we went through, and old friends we don't know where they are now. We even called his old boss, that were both friends with on facebook, SGT Hall…LOL

After all that, we decided it was time to call it a night, and walked back to the parking garage and got his car.  We were going to go to his place, but he lives about an hour away, so we went back to his girlfriends and crashed there.  Fun night.

SATURDAY - DAY 2

So, I woke up about 7am, a little later than I normally wake up, but I usually don't drink and stay up that late either.  So we got up, brushed our teeth and headed to his house.  On the way, we decided to get some breakfast, and so he took me to this place near his house that was Mexican, and the breakfast was good. After breakfast, we went to his house. He lives in a huge house that was converted into three apartments.  It's a three bedroom, two bath apartment, so it was huge to begin with.  I noticed that almost all the houses here are huge, and three stories!

Anyway, we realized we were both tired, so he went upstairs to sleep, and I played on my computer downstairs and nodded off I think.  About 5 or 6pm, we got up and went to get some dinner. We went to two places. First, we went to this bar to have a drink.  The cool thing about this bar, it was in a building that has been around sense the time of Paul Revere, history!  That was cool, then we went to a fancy restaurant that was a barn converted into a upscale place.  It was really nice, but I wasn't all that hungry, so I just had a beer and Gags had a beer and some slider burgers. 

Then it was back to his place and he broke out a box that had stuff from Bosnia.  He had old pics of the guys we worked with, and Bosnian patches and Bosnia money.  Man, we talked for hours about our times together, and what has happened sense.  It was so great to get caught up.  Gags pulled out his guitar and played some songs he learned, and he is really good.  He got paid to play at a restaurant once, and I told him he should keep that up…he was always so talented. 

He said I could stay as long as I wanted, but I always worry about wearing out my welcome, so I try not to impose on anyone's space.  

What a great visit, I got up the next morning and headed out as he left for work.    Well, I drove from Boston to where I am now about 500 miles south west in Stephenson, VA.  I'll try to find a McDonalds tomorrow and upload the pics for this and post it.  What a great visit!

I know I promised to add more pics, but the interent connection here is really bad, so I;ll have to do it another time.