Vacation post for 4-16-03
What an absolutely fantabulous day! Our morning started around 7 a.m. We caught the 8:30 bus from Manchester to Boston. Unfortunately there was an accident on the NH/MA border, so we had to take some back roads and the trip took about 1 hour and 45 minutes. However, we arrived in South Station okay and after a little bit of confused wandering, found our way to the Red Line. Malinda and I had so much fun finding our way around Boston on the T. We only took the wrong train once, and that is just because it was poorly labeled. Malinda attributes our success to my amazing directional skills, but I think it was a team effort. I have decided that my favorite line is the Blue line and I can't stand riding on the Green line. Avoid it if you can!

Our first major stop was to the New England Aquarium. Malinda got to see oodles of penguins and that made her very happy. =) The cool thing about it is that you can see the penguins from almost anywhere in the aquarium. We also saw a 600 lb turtle, icky jellyfish, massive fish, and like 6 million elementary school children! It was just another confirmation that I don't want to be an elementary school teacher and was even enough to make Malinda hesitant about taking field trips with her future students. However, it was a lot of fun and we saw some very interesting creatures.

After that, we caught the T up to North Station and took a ferry boat down to the southern piers. If you have not ridden on a boat in Boston harbor, we highly recommend it. I think it was one of Malinda's favorite parts of the day. We felt like we were in some sort of movie. It wasn't as cool as the Sr. Semi boat, but still a lot of fun and a gorgeous day for it! The southern piers smell very strongly of fish (big surprise, I know). We ate a late lunch at the No Name Restaurant on Fish Pier Street, which is a great place with amazingly cheap prices and a nice atmosphere. Malinda enjoyed shrimp and I had some scrod.

After a great lunch, we walked across the bridges towards South Station (took a couple tries before we found the right building). We took the T over to the Prudential building (or the "Pru"). This was also a lot of fun. We went up to the 50th floor and enjoyed the view of the city from their skywalk. We saw sailboats Charles River, the Hatch Shell on the Esplanade where the Pops play for the 4th of July, Fenway Park, the Harbor, the Commons, and lots of other cool places.

Our last stop for the day was Fanieul Hall & Quincy Market. Here we unexpectedly ran into the GCC Touring Choir. You just can't escape those Grovers! There are lots of little shops in that area, and we had fun looking at the different shirts, gifts, and unusual tourist souvenirs. We made our way back to South Station, where I introduced Malinda to the joy that is Strawberry Creamsicle Coolattas. The bus ride home only took 50 minutes and we spent most of it napping, our feet glad for the rest!

The evening ended with a visit to my dear friend Dani to wish her a happy 19th birthday. We swapped presents and laughs and enjoyed delicious desserts made by Jamie and Dani's mom. Needless to say, Malinda and I both slept well last night!