New England Adventures - Day 4 in Boston :)

It’s no secret for those that know us well, that for the most part, Chad and I are planners. We can take any idea from a tiny seed and just run with it. Most of the time, it’s WAAAAYYY in advance. Sometimes even a few YEARS in advance. We plan. We sort. We work our plan over and over…then start from the beginning and rehash all decisions that have been made to ensure that our plan is where we’d like it to be. Sometimes, it’s just general concepts that will eventually need refinement..(This is usually how our trips go.  We just go with the flow once we get to our destination, having only a general idea of the places we’d like to visit during our time there). Other things… like… CREATING LIFE…and naming said miracle ;) have been written in stone for quite a while now. ;)

So it’s actually quite fitting for us that our very first stop as we drove into Boston on this Saturday afternoon, was a quick visit to our daughter’s future University. Harvard. ;)

For the record, I'm only partially kidding.. we'd never put that kind of pressure on our daughter (before she was even born ;).. but I DID tell Chad that IF (and when ;) our little smarty pants decided she wanted to come to school here, I'd gladly sell a kidney.. eyeball or whatever really, to make this happen for her.  ;) All for the sake of a good education.  ;) 

And since we were in the area... we thought it wouldn't hurt to tour the campus of our next choice in Universities... MIT.  :)

For those with sensitive stomachs... I won't go into great detail about how I got PELTED by the biggest bird poop I've ever felt as we were ending our little tour of the MIT campus.  I SWEAR it felt like a PERSON was knocking on the back of my shoulder!  I even went as far as turning around to see who was trying to get my attention... only to realize there was no one behind me... except for a nice poopy surprise.  YUCK!! I took it as a sign of GREAT luck to be hit with such a whammy.. lol.. Luckily it was just on my sweater and there was a bathroom nearby to clean up.  What a NICE farewell to this tour.. lol..

Crossing over the Longfellow Bridge and the Charles River.  :)

Taking a breather while watching the swan boats float by...

Finding ourselves in the North End, after our fair share of walking on our first day in Boston, we headed to one of our MUST-try-on-this-vacation restaurants... Giacomo's.  We had been warned about the wait at this tiny, itty bitty, italian restaurant... but we were also told by several people that it was completely worth it.  And BOY. WAS. IT. EVER?!?!  After nearly an hour of standing in a line that wrapped around the building, we finally made our way inside.  To our suprise, we got the two best seats in the house...the two only bar seats in the place, over looking all the action in the tiny kitchen!  Chad and I were thrilled.. at not only having a front row seat at all the restaurant chaos, but at the super TASTY dinner we had in store.  YUMMMMM!!! 

Butternut Squash Ravioli - My selection for the evening..

And Chads.. Frutti di mare-shrimp,scallops,calamari,clams and mussels over linguini

Then just down the street...

Mike's Pastry called our name for some of the TASTIEST cannoli's I'd ever had.

Treking our way to this little park.. to enjoy the sunset and our tasty dessert..

SIMPLY AMAZING!! My favorite, BY FAR was the Florentine Cannoli

BEST way to end the evening.. Stay tuned for day 2 in Boston as we hit the Freedom Trail :)

New England Adventures - Day 3

For the longest time, I've always wanted to go to New England.  It's been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember.  Obviously because of its beauty... but also because I happen to know more than a handful of people who live and work in the area.  Friends from long ago, friends who've escaped the scorching heat of the lower Rio Grande Valley and extended family members who came to college on the East coast and never left.  And now I understand why..  It was a gorgeous day with amazing friends.  We couldn't have asked for anything more.  :) 

Before Chad and I were set to meet up with my very sweet friend Mary Cantu-Ramaciotti and her hubby, who were driving up to Portsmouth from their home base in Boston, we took the morning to explore some of the beaches nearby. 

We were only here for about 30 minutes but by the time we left... the tide had come up and all these rocks that Chad had just traversed were covered in water and this incredibly dense fog had rolled in.  

Crazy snails graveyard.. They were EVERYWHERE!!

I'm not sure what I was looking at...but thought this was a funny picture. :)

Here comes the fog.. and the crazy blanket of seaweed over the rocks..

weird... 

Arriving just in time for lunch (and after having some serious trouble finding this little hidden gem of a restaurant) ... Mary, Renato, Chad and I hit up Chauncey Creek Lobster Pier for some grub.  :)  

Chad's lunch!!  Eeeekkkk!! Poor little guy.. :/

Don't mind my swollen, prego face please.  :)

Mary and Renato, having fun with the bib... that quickly became a CAPE!  :)

Beautiful views from the pier :)

Off to our next stop.

As we drove around, with no real place to go, we stumbled upon the Barrell Mill Pond Dam with some pretty amazing views.  

And found ourselves at the York Lighthouse again.... 

Back in Portsmouth for a little exploring on our final day there... 

Church in downtown Portsmouth.. right before dinner :)

Ending our night with some dinner (and ice cream!) before the Ramaciotti's had to go back to Boston (for their long drive to DC the next morning), we hit up the Portsmouth Brewery downtown.  It was almost unfair to take this beer lovin' pregnant girl to this place.  I don't even DRINK that much, but suddenly because I CAN'T, I've been craving beer MORE than EVER!!  They had so many (seemingly) tasty selections on their menu..we must come back one day... lol...