Author Archives: Nik Bronder

New England: Boston, MA.

We ended our trip with three days in Boston, Massachusetts. In addition to the Red Sox game we met up with a couple of Julie’s friends for one evening and then basically hit the Freedom Trail parts of the other two days. On Friday we walked about half of the trail starting in Boston Common and ending up at the Old State House and site of the Boston Massacre. The walk is pretty easy to do (probably much easier when it’s not in the upper 90’s). I managed to find 2 minute podcasts for each of the stops on the tour via AudioViator.

On our last day we soldiered on and rather than sitting around in our hotel until our afternoon flight we decided to take a cab out to see the USS Constitution and then hit one last lobster place for lunch. Both were well worth it. USS Constitution is basically the end of the Freedom Trail at the Boston Navy Yard and in addition the USS Cassin Young was also on display.

Neptune Oyster

Wow. Neptune Oyster. One of the best meals this vacation. Steamers and a warm butter lobster roll.

We hopped a cab from the Boston Navy Yard and headed over to Neptune Oyster for lunch. Neptune Oyster was recommended by one of Julie’s friends and we planned on going for dinner one night but it just didn’t fit. We pretty much gave up on the idea until Sunday morning and figured if we got there when they opened it would leave just enough time to get to the airport. This is one of the better choices I’ve ever been a part of. This was by far the best meal of our trip. The place is really small so it fills up quick but there is bar seating as well as tables. Julie ordered the Little Neck clams which were cooked in a white wine garlic sauce (right up my alley). I actually had about four of these bizarre creatures and I survived. Then we both ordered the warm buttered lobster roll. This was my first lobster roll and it was unreal. I really can’t stress this enough: This was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten anywhere. And it was huge. In the future I will never visit Boston without eating here.

Neptune Oyster is located in Boston’s Little Italy neighborhood. The place gets real busy at night and was packed when we were there at 11:30am on Sunday morning. They don’t do reservations but you can put your name in and they’ll call you when your table is ready. Considering there are many other places in the area I would recommend finding a place for a drink and then waiting for your call.

It’s not often that the highlight of a seven day trip occurs three hours before your flight leaves for home. It happened this time.

Fenway Park: Red Sox – Mariners.

While in Boston we made the effort to see a game at Fenway Park. In a stifling 100 degree heat the Red Sox beat the Mariners 7-2. We took our time to check out the area around the park before settling into our seats for the game. The heat was nearly unbearable and it didn’t really let up when the sun went down. We got to see Suzuki Ichiro steal two bases to start the first inning and get the first run but it was downhill from there for the Mariners.

By far my favorite part about Fenway was the signage. All throughout the park the signs for concessions, sections and restrooms were a really cool font.

* The View From My Seat.

** Structural beams seem to be an issue that people didn’t care about 100 years ago.

*** Year of Baseball Stats:
Game No. 13
Stadium Opened: April 20, 1912
Capacity: 37,493
Attendance: 38,048
Food: 1 Hot Dog
Beer: 1 Green Monsta IPA
Opponent: Seattle Mariners
Pitchers: W: Lackey, L: Hernandez
Miles From Home: 848.9
Ticket Face Value: $60.55
Seat Location: Section Outfield Grandstand 9, Row 15, Seat 11

New England: Bar Harbor, ME

After leaving Portland we headed about three hours north to Bar Harbor, Maine to catch our ride on the Margret Todd in the early afternoon. The ship is one of the largest wind powered vessels operating in New England. Shortly after setting sail we had issues with one of the sails so we were down to three instead of the normal four. The ship basically sails out into Frenchman Bay for an hour and then heads back into Bar Harbor. There’s a morning cruise, afternoon cruise which we took and a sunset cruise as far as I can tell all of them were BYOB. To me the coolest thing about the trip was seeing all the lobster boats out in the bay.

Thurston’s Lobster Pound

After our cruise we headed about an to the other side of Bar Harbor (about an hour car drive) to Thurston’s Lobster Pound. Which unlike the other lobster shacks we visited had parking issues and about a 30 minute wait. As usual though it was worth it. Thurston’s is right on the water and unlike the other places we’ve been you paid by the pound not the lobster. So each lobster was measured as you ordered and that was what you paid. As you can see in the photograph above they use one giant steamer to cook all the seafood on the back of the porch. Basically everything you order is thrown into a bag (lobster, corn, clams etc.) and each bag has a number that corresponds to your table. This way all your food is cooked together and is done at the same time.

Side Note:

* Originally we didn’t plan on going to Bar Harbor but on Thursday before we left town the New York Times had an article in the travel section titled ‘36 Hours in Bar Harbor, Me.’ so we decided to skip the second night in Portland and head a little farther north. This of course made our drive the next day twice as far but it was worth hitting another town. All four of our stops in Bar Harbor were from the article.

* On our way out of town we stopped at Cafe This Way for breakfast and Julie found a way to get Lobster in her eggs benedict.

Black Hand Productions

By Nik Bronder

Author Archives: Nik Bronder

New England: Boston, MA.

Fenway Park: Red Sox – Mariners.

New England: Bar Harbor, ME