Boston. .Beaches. .and Bucket Lists!

Are you ready for some more of our adventures?

We did a LOT of extracurriculars while we were gone!!

Things that we likely won't do anytime again soon. .

And maybe never!!

So the splurge was TOTALLY worth it!

We do love boating and being on the water. .

So we knew that we would enjoy a sunset dinner cruise.

Doesn't it look like he is enjoying it??

The Spirit of Boston tour was excellent. .

We enjoyed a GREAT buffet of fancy food (my favorites!)

And. .

since it was our anniversary. .

They even gave us a glass of Champagne and an extra dessert!

I know that my photo doesn't so the city justice. .

But I am a "night sky" lover. .

And I am always enthralled by night skylines of big cities!

One of the days. .

we took an all day bus tour. .

North out of Boston. .

Stopping for a short break on Hampton Beach, New Hampshire. .

So I could say that I have dipped my feet in all three oceans that border the US. .

It was drizzly outside. .

And COLD. .

In the 60's but TOO cold to interest this girl in playing in the water!!

Next stop netted some selfies in front of the Nubble Light House in York, Maine.

It's one of the most photographed light houses in America. .

You can see why, right?

My souvenir came from an artist who painted lots of pictures of this lighthouse. .

And he was even on hand selling the replicas!

We were amazed at these HUGE chunks of granite bordering the ocean!

Seeing the rocky coast was a mark-off from my proverbial bucket list.

These lighthouse operators sure worked hard before the invention of electricity!

 

The end of the the Seacoast tour took us by George and Barbara Bushs' summer home. .

Near Kennebunkport, Maine!

There we had a couple hours to eat some MORE seafood and wander in and out of all the little shops there. Jeremy tolerated all that shopping well. .

and rewarded us with another helping of Fried Dough before we left to travel back to Boston. .

Fried Dough. .if you haven't tried it. .

You need to!! Especially if you have a can of blueberry pie filling to smear on the top of it!

We got home in time to wander around some more. .

One afternoon we saw these HUGE farmer's market stands set up for blocks and blocks!! The guy was showing Jeremy how to judge which fig would be worth eating. .

I don't do figs. .

But apparently both of them were delicious!!

I will attest. .

that the fresh raspberries were worth eating though!!

Another check off my bucket list came when Jeremy noticed a Gelateria in Little Italy. .

pointing it out saying. .

Isn't that the crap you've been wanting to try??

And we did!

YUM!!

Italian Gelato. .tasted like homemade ice cream. .

But way better than what I could have done!

And less calories than Freddie's Frozen Custard!

Win-Win in my book! 

Our last day found us wandering through the Boston Common. .

and Boston Gardens; the oldest public garden in the USA. .

I had enough garden type pictures though. .

That I will post those later.

The morning was cool again. .

And Jeremy finally bought himself a sweatshirt to keep warm.

The brownstones are just amazing to me. .

I still wonder exactly how the housing within them works. .

Whether one family gets 3 or 4 stories that are about 1 room wide. .

or whether multiple families occupy the different levels.

The old, OLD structures intrigued me. .

And gave me lots of fuel for my photography itch!

We ended up back in Little Italy because we wanted to eat lunch there. .

The streets were packed because of a weekend celebration that they were having. .

And I just got tickled to see them serving raw seafood from a street tent!

They also had bagpipe playing firefighters. .

In a mini-parade!

We walked back down to the ocean. .

To hit the huge aquarium. .

That experience. .

was. .

HANDS DOWN. .

the worst!!

The aquarium WOULD have been incredible. .

But. .

it was Sunday. .

And the line outside was probably 2 hours long. .

Thankfully we had tickets already. .

But once we navigated our short line into the aquarium. .

You could barely get close enough to ANYTHING to see it!!

It didn't take us long to head back out of aquarium to have a cocktail while watching the people and the boats.

The real highlight of our last day was this. .

WHALE WATCHING!

Despite a 45 minute delay caused by turning the ship around to let off a retching customer who couldn't move off of the floor within minutes of leaving the dock. .

We enjoyed the cruise out to a natural whale feeding ground. .

And were excited to see two whales several times while we were there.

It was probably my favorite thing. .

or at least at the top of the "favorite thing" list!!

Another check on my bucket list too!

This whale was super close. .

Since I never use the video part of my regular camera. .

It never even dawned on me to video the whales for my kids to watch.

Though I did get the "tail" end of the last whale sighting on video. .

My kids just weren't that impressed!

We had a TRULY great time. .

And I would go back in a heartbeat. .

Jeremy??

He's ready for the next "new" location to check out. .

But I believe he suggested that it better have access to fresh and abundant supplies of seafood too!

Garden lovers. .

Come back soon to check out the Flora of Boston!