Yesterday's photo might be a little hard to read. It says: Susannah Martin*, Hanged, July 10, 1692.
My dad has done a lot of genealogical research into both sides of our family--his and my mom's side. It used to be a hobby of his, and I see myself getting involved in the research once I have more time in my life (retirement years, perhaps??). History fascinates me, and I actually love doing interesting research. Plus, with so much information on the internet now, tracking down this type of information is much easier than when my dad started researching. I remember him exchanging letters with people all over the country when I was a kid, and he and one of his sisters would always talk about making side trips to courthouses to look through old records on vacation.
Learning stories about my own history makes the idea of genealogical research even more tempting. My dad has tells stories about my great-great-grandmother Agnes Daly*, who came from County Cork Ireland to American with her teenage brother. She was only in her early 20s, but she left the rest of the family behind. . .and brought that part of our family tree to America.
When we studied the Salem Witch Trials in school, my dad had another story of family history to share. He'd determined that our family is related to Susannah Martin, who was part of the group found guilty of witchcraft at one of the earliest trials. She, along with 4 other people, were hung on July 10, 1692, and their bodies were dumped into a mass grave. The photo in the post below is a marker at the site where she and others were hung in Salem.
I'm not exactly sure how we are related to her--I did some quick googling for her family trees and found both my mother's maiden name and my dad's last name (which is a very common name) in different places, so I am not sure which branch of her family ours came from. (I am certain, however, that my mother's side of the family and my dad's side of the family are NOT both related to Susannah Martin!) I did find out that one of Susannah's daughters (Jane) is a distant relation to President Chester A. Arthur*. I should be expecting my invitation to overnight in the Lincoln Bedroom any day now, right?
Anyway, we didn't make it to Salem on our most recent Boston trip, though we did see plenty of burial grounds and other spooky sites on our Ghosts and Gravestones tour. We took that tour our first night in Boston, and it was a neat way to see a lot of the city--even though places look pretty different the the light of day. The tour was fun (I'd taken the tour on my last trip to Boston with girlfriends in 2000), and informative. Our guide was (possibly unintentially) funny, but that helped make it a good experience for us. K is usually pretty grumbly when it comes to things like ghost tours, but he was a good sport and enjoyed it even though I think he initially agreed to the tour just to humor me. He's a keeper, that guy.
*Note: None of the names in this post are even close to my current last name, my maiden name, or even my mom's maiden name, so I felt comfortable posting them while still maintaining a necessary degree of anonimity.
Showing posts with label boston vacation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label boston vacation. Show all posts
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Thoughts for Thursday
So I had some issues with Wordless Wednesday yesterday.
First, my brother had sent me a pic of the back of my two cutie-pie nephews walking down the street. The older of the two was in the lead, and the little fella was hurrying to catch up. He called the photo "Where one goes. . ." Adorable! So I posted the pic, looked to make sure it was up, and went about my business. Later, I had a little blog-reading time, so I came back to go through my sidebar list of blog pals. Except, my pic was gone and a red "X" was in its place! Naturally, I filled in with my first thought--"Doh!" Somehow the original pic was a fail on my part.
Later last night, I finally loaded my pics from our Boston vacation off my camera and into my computer. I found the "world's softest magical unicorn" pic, and couldn't resist. I thin
k that was one of the first photos I took on vacation. Our first full day there, we decided to walk around our "neighborhood." As it turned out, our neighborhood included most of the places I wanted to shop. Coincidence? (mwahaha!) We'd already hit Zara, where I'd found a jacket (like a casual suit coat), and two sweaters. K bought a shirt, I think. We were walking down Newbury Street, when I saw the store window packed with yard gnomes. I couldn't help but laugh and laugh (and take photos). Yard gnomes--in fact, gnomes in general--are hilarious to me, but that's a story for another time. The store looked closed, and we didn't make it back by until our last day. I told K that if they had a gnome giving finger guns, I was going to have to buy it and hold it on my lap all the way home like a baby. I had a mental image of a gnome version of Buddy Christ, which perhaps only exists in my head. Turns out there were no finger gun gnomes in the store, although I did buy a couple of small things. (Including a "hanging with my gnomies" magnet.)
We also shopped that day at H&M, which was a little disappointing. Like our last visit to an H&M, I was overwhelmed with a feeling of being old and uncool. Last time (in NYC, August 2007), I couldn't find any tops that didn't look like maternity tops. This time, I couldn't tell if most of the tops were supposed to be shirts or dresses. I did find my way to their accessory section, though, and found a cute necklace, fun cocktail ring, and a pair of earrings. I think my total bill was around $15.
Our third main shopping stop for the day was Filene's Basement. Apparently, I need to really be in a shopping mood for Filene's, because the aisles and aisles of clothes were totally overwhelming for me. I didn't feel like digging around, so I made a beeline for the shoe department. Hello lovelies! I only bought two pairs--a pair of brown pumps and a pair of black mules. Love my new shoes. I think K bought a couple of shirts there, too. The best way to get him to agree to spend time shopping on vacation is to a) suggest stores that aren't available in Austin, especially if he's already been there and now knows he likes them (see above three examples) b) make sure that the stores have a women's and men's section. He's fairly willing to spend some time just hanging around if I'm in a women's store, but then he ends up pestering me so no one really has fun.
Our last day in town, we wandered around the neighborhood again, and stopped in at Lord & Taylor (just down the street from our hotel). It was too much like any regular department store for me. I entertained myself in the purse section (and admired a gorgeous clutch that was both super expensive and totally impractical for my life, so my credit card breathed a sigh of relief there) while K looked around. I mainly included this store on my shopping recap list because it was K's idea to go there. (!?!)
One of my favorite things to do on vacation is spend time walking around in different neighborhoods, exploring and wondering what it would be like to live there. Newbury Street is different than most shopping areas--much of the street looks like brownstone apartments, except that instead of a tenant's living room, there are boutiques with alluring window displays. There we also visited an olive store (I hope their card is somewhere in my purse), a little kitchen gadget store, and a music/comic book store that reminded me a lot of Waterloo Records. On this trip, I wish we'd spent more time walking around the North End (Little Italy). I hadn't done enough research to know whether any of the shops there would be open on a Sunday, which was our last day in town and our last opening for a walk-about. Exploring that area will be near the top of the list for next time!
First, my brother had sent me a pic of the back of my two cutie-pie nephews walking down the street. The older of the two was in the lead, and the little fella was hurrying to catch up. He called the photo "Where one goes. . ." Adorable! So I posted the pic, looked to make sure it was up, and went about my business. Later, I had a little blog-reading time, so I came back to go through my sidebar list of blog pals. Except, my pic was gone and a red "X" was in its place! Naturally, I filled in with my first thought--"Doh!" Somehow the original pic was a fail on my part.
Later last night, I finally loaded my pics from our Boston vacation off my camera and into my computer. I found the "world's softest magical unicorn" pic, and couldn't resist. I thin
k that was one of the first photos I took on vacation. Our first full day there, we decided to walk around our "neighborhood." As it turned out, our neighborhood included most of the places I wanted to shop. Coincidence? (mwahaha!) We'd already hit Zara, where I'd found a jacket (like a casual suit coat), and two sweaters. K bought a shirt, I think. We were walking down Newbury Street, when I saw the store window packed with yard gnomes. I couldn't help but laugh and laugh (and take photos). Yard gnomes--in fact, gnomes in general--are hilarious to me, but that's a story for another time. The store looked closed, and we didn't make it back by until our last day. I told K that if they had a gnome giving finger guns, I was going to have to buy it and hold it on my lap all the way home like a baby. I had a mental image of a gnome version of Buddy Christ, which perhaps only exists in my head. Turns out there were no finger gun gnomes in the store, although I did buy a couple of small things. (Including a "hanging with my gnomies" magnet.)We also shopped that day at H&M, which was a little disappointing. Like our last visit to an H&M, I was overwhelmed with a feeling of being old and uncool. Last time (in NYC, August 2007), I couldn't find any tops that didn't look like maternity tops. This time, I couldn't tell if most of the tops were supposed to be shirts or dresses. I did find my way to their accessory section, though, and found a cute necklace, fun cocktail ring, and a pair of earrings. I think my total bill was around $15.
Our third main shopping stop for the day was Filene's Basement. Apparently, I need to really be in a shopping mood for Filene's, because the aisles and aisles of clothes were totally overwhelming for me. I didn't feel like digging around, so I made a beeline for the shoe department. Hello lovelies! I only bought two pairs--a pair of brown pumps and a pair of black mules. Love my new shoes. I think K bought a couple of shirts there, too. The best way to get him to agree to spend time shopping on vacation is to a) suggest stores that aren't available in Austin, especially if he's already been there and now knows he likes them (see above three examples) b) make sure that the stores have a women's and men's section. He's fairly willing to spend some time just hanging around if I'm in a women's store, but then he ends up pestering me so no one really has fun.
Our last day in town, we wandered around the neighborhood again, and stopped in at Lord & Taylor (just down the street from our hotel). It was too much like any regular department store for me. I entertained myself in the purse section (and admired a gorgeous clutch that was both super expensive and totally impractical for my life, so my credit card breathed a sigh of relief there) while K looked around. I mainly included this store on my shopping recap list because it was K's idea to go there. (!?!)
One of my favorite things to do on vacation is spend time walking around in different neighborhoods, exploring and wondering what it would be like to live there. Newbury Street is different than most shopping areas--much of the street looks like brownstone apartments, except that instead of a tenant's living room, there are boutiques with alluring window displays. There we also visited an olive store (I hope their card is somewhere in my purse), a little kitchen gadget store, and a music/comic book store that reminded me a lot of Waterloo Records. On this trip, I wish we'd spent more time walking around the North End (Little Italy). I hadn't done enough research to know whether any of the shops there would be open on a Sunday, which was our last day in town and our last opening for a walk-about. Exploring that area will be near the top of the list for next time!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Home Again
Boston was awesome. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that it's actually giving NYC a run for its money as my Favorite U.S. Vacation City. Who would've thought?
To help me remember some of the things I loved/could've lived without about our trip, I wanted to list them here (and in the next few posts) for future reference:
Loved: Our hotel. I really could not have found a better location or price--I found the deal on orbitz and found an internet coupon to give us $20 extra off per night. We paid about half the rate the hotel is charging on their website. We were a block from a subway ("T") entrance, across the street from the Boston Public Library and Trinity Church, and could see the finish line for the Boston Marathon (painted across the street) from our room window.
I knew it would be a nice hotel, but I wasn't expecting a luxury hotel. Seriously, the Lenox pampered us. I knew we were in for a treat when we pulled up to the hotel in our taxi and our bags were immediately whisked away by a bellman. He met us at our room, gave us his little spiel about the hotel & ammenities and disappeared. Later, when we walked out through the lobby, he remembered our names and said hello. And he continued to remember our names throughout the rest of the trip, greeting us every time we saw him.
In fact, every hotel employee we saw was pleasant and helpful. On Saturday night, the concierge hooked us up with a popular nearby seafood restaurant with 30 minutes notice--we were a little behind our schedule and he helped us out quickly. I think we managed to even impress him a little when we got back down to the lobby 20 minutes later, changed out of our grubby day clothes into nicer clothes for dinner & a comedy show. (At least, he acted surprised when we walked past him, haha!)
Every night when we returned to our room, the bed had been turned down and there were cookies on our pillow. Our hotel robes were laid out at the end of the bed. Our mini fridge always had two bottles of cold water waiting for us. If we moved one of the little bottles of Aveda lotion/body wash/shampoo/conditioner out of the bathroom (on to the dresser, into the shower, into my purse) there were more the next morning. K was using a little bottle of Scope that he'd brought in his travel kit. He was close to running out about halfway through our trip, and a new little bottle of Scope appeared on our bathroom counter. Nice!
When we were ready to take a cab to the airport, the bellman who'd been holding our bags mentioned that they had a hotel car that could take us for $35--only $5 more than a cab ride. We quickly agreed and were driven to the airport in the Lenox Lexus SUV. And I wasn't afraid we were about to crash even once. . .unlike our cab ride from the airport to the hotel upon our arrival.
If/when we return to Boston, I definitely plan to try to get us booked at The Lenox again. Highly recommended!
To help me remember some of the things I loved/could've lived without about our trip, I wanted to list them here (and in the next few posts) for future reference:
Loved: Our hotel. I really could not have found a better location or price--I found the deal on orbitz and found an internet coupon to give us $20 extra off per night. We paid about half the rate the hotel is charging on their website. We were a block from a subway ("T") entrance, across the street from the Boston Public Library and Trinity Church, and could see the finish line for the Boston Marathon (painted across the street) from our room window.
I knew it would be a nice hotel, but I wasn't expecting a luxury hotel. Seriously, the Lenox pampered us. I knew we were in for a treat when we pulled up to the hotel in our taxi and our bags were immediately whisked away by a bellman. He met us at our room, gave us his little spiel about the hotel & ammenities and disappeared. Later, when we walked out through the lobby, he remembered our names and said hello. And he continued to remember our names throughout the rest of the trip, greeting us every time we saw him.
In fact, every hotel employee we saw was pleasant and helpful. On Saturday night, the concierge hooked us up with a popular nearby seafood restaurant with 30 minutes notice--we were a little behind our schedule and he helped us out quickly. I think we managed to even impress him a little when we got back down to the lobby 20 minutes later, changed out of our grubby day clothes into nicer clothes for dinner & a comedy show. (At least, he acted surprised when we walked past him, haha!)
Every night when we returned to our room, the bed had been turned down and there were cookies on our pillow. Our hotel robes were laid out at the end of the bed. Our mini fridge always had two bottles of cold water waiting for us. If we moved one of the little bottles of Aveda lotion/body wash/shampoo/conditioner out of the bathroom (on to the dresser, into the shower, into my purse) there were more the next morning. K was using a little bottle of Scope that he'd brought in his travel kit. He was close to running out about halfway through our trip, and a new little bottle of Scope appeared on our bathroom counter. Nice!
When we were ready to take a cab to the airport, the bellman who'd been holding our bags mentioned that they had a hotel car that could take us for $35--only $5 more than a cab ride. We quickly agreed and were driven to the airport in the Lenox Lexus SUV. And I wasn't afraid we were about to crash even once. . .unlike our cab ride from the airport to the hotel upon our arrival.
If/when we return to Boston, I definitely plan to try to get us booked at The Lenox again. Highly recommended!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Trip Planning: Yes/No/Maybe
I am such a travel planning nerd! I put together "presentations" to help us decide where we're going. (Or, ahem, to sway K towards where *I* want to go, hee!) I also put together activity lists before we go so we can narrow down what we want to do most. These are the infamous "Yes/No/Maybe" lists. Making a big list of things we might want to do helps us figure out how to plan for activities in similar areas of town, and also helps us manage our time more efficiently. Plus, who doesn't love a list? K and I were once watching some DVD behind the scenes footage about the press tour the movie stars did for the movie, and K mentioned that he'd love to just visit places without having to worry about planning what to do there. I pointed out that the way we travel now is pretty much just like that--I do all the planning, he shows up and votes yes/no/maybe. We're living like movie stars now! (ha!)
Since I've got some time this afternoon (and we're leaving early tomorrow, yikes!) I'm going to be working on my Yes/No/Maybe list in this space the rest of the afternoon. Fun for everyone, right?
Shopping: (hello no sales tax on clothing less than $175!)
H&M Downtown Crossing (350 Washington Street)
H&M Newbury Street (100 Newbury Street)
Filene's Basement Back Bay (497 Boylston Street)
Zara Newbury Street (211-214 Newbury Street)
Tours:
Duck Tour
Ghost Tour (too bad we won't have time for a day trip to Salem to visit my ancestor's grave)
Walking Around: (boo to 40% chance of rain each day we're there!)
North End (Little Italy) Markets, etc.
Freedom Trail
Boston Commom (PhotoWalk might be interesting)
Museums:
Museum of Fine Arts
Museum of Science
Museum of Natural History
Fogg Art Museum
Gardner Museum
Evening Activities:
Comedy Connection (245 Faneuil Hall Market Pl # 2)--website down, not very helpful
Improv Asylum
Hatch Shell Movie/Music
Live Music at Wally's Cafe
Live Music at Regattabar
Live Music at Sculler's Jazz Club
Live Music at Ryles
Blues Barge
Food:
Legal Seafood
Mr. Bartley's Burger Cottage
Mamma Maria (may be too $$$$ for us, need to look closer)
S&S Restaurant (brunch)
Since I've got some time this afternoon (and we're leaving early tomorrow, yikes!) I'm going to be working on my Yes/No/Maybe list in this space the rest of the afternoon. Fun for everyone, right?
Shopping: (hello no sales tax on clothing less than $175!)
H&M Downtown Crossing (350 Washington Street)
H&M Newbury Street (100 Newbury Street)
Filene's Basement Back Bay (497 Boylston Street)
Zara Newbury Street (211-214 Newbury Street)
Tours:
Duck Tour
Ghost Tour (too bad we won't have time for a day trip to Salem to visit my ancestor's grave)
Walking Around: (boo to 40% chance of rain each day we're there!)
North End (Little Italy) Markets, etc.
Freedom Trail
Boston Commom (PhotoWalk might be interesting)
Museums:
Museum of Fine Arts
Museum of Science
Museum of Natural History
Fogg Art Museum
Gardner Museum
Evening Activities:
Comedy Connection (245 Faneuil Hall Market Pl # 2)--website down, not very helpful
Improv Asylum
Hatch Shell Movie/Music
Live Music at Wally's Cafe
Live Music at Regattabar
Live Music at Sculler's Jazz Club
Live Music at Ryles
Blues Barge
Food:
Legal Seafood
Mr. Bartley's Burger Cottage
Mamma Maria (may be too $$$$ for us, need to look closer)
S&S Restaurant (brunch)
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Thoughts for Thursday
We're going on vacation! K and I have been talking about planning an August vacation for weeks, but this past weekend we finally settled on Boston. (Pictured below. . .some historic building on the Freedom Trail.) I'm really excited about our trip--I haven't been there in 5+ years, and he's never been.
I may love planning vacation as much as actually going. Lately all my spare time has been spent chasing travel deals to find inexpensive but nice hotels in good locations. I like to compare all the prices I can find from every discount travel site out there, plus the hotel website rates, and then search for online coupons. Last night I booked our hotel for $20 cheaper/night than the lowest discount travel site price, thanks to a random coupon code I found. Whooo! Next I'll be figuring out options for what to do, where to go and what's going on in the evenings.
Possibly best of all? Right now, the high temperature in Boston is about 82 degrees. I bet it's even cooler in two weeks.
I may love planning vacation as much as actually going. Lately all my spare time has been spent chasing travel deals to find inexpensive but nice hotels in good locations. I like to compare all the prices I can find from every discount travel site out there, plus the hotel website rates, and then search for online coupons. Last night I booked our hotel for $20 cheaper/night than the lowest discount travel site price, thanks to a random coupon code I found. Whooo! Next I'll be figuring out options for what to do, where to go and what's going on in the evenings.
Possibly best of all? Right now, the high temperature in Boston is about 82 degrees. I bet it's even cooler in two weeks.
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