More Coming Soon!

I promise to update soon. I have been absolutely drained from full, full days of fun in DC and attempting to go to bed early. We are leaving DC tomorrow (sob!) and heading to Dayton, OH for a night of chilling with Alina before heading back to J-town. Can't wait to fill you in on the rest of our adventures. A preview: museums, the best bar in Philly that no one has heard of, brunch with Aunt Mary Ann, the Capitol, spies, and Obama condoms.

Day 10: Breakfast with Lizzie, Sleepy Hollow, and Philly: Night 1Wew We

We woke up Friday morning with no axe wounds, thankfully, and headed downstairs for breakfast. The breakfast was wonderful: eggs, fruit, potatoes, and johnny cakes, these little pancakes made of cornmeal. We also made friends with the cook, Dave, who informed us that he had never seen a ghost in the entire time he had worked there, despite claims from every other employee that they had had ghost encounters. We stopped at the gift shop for some souvenirs (the array of Lizzie gifts was pretty amazing, I was very tempted by the Borden bobblehead), stopped by the nearby cemetery for some pictures and more gravestone rubbings, and were on our way to Philly.

We had considered making a side trip along the way to check out the Cottrell Brewing Company in Connecticut (our good friend Eric's last name is Cottrell), but visits were appointment only and Brian hadn't been able to get ahold of anyone at the brewery. On our way he called and Brian asked where we could buy the Cottrell beer. We were directed to a wine shop in New Haven, CT (home of Yale) and made a stop there, purchasing not only Cottrell, but some other regional beers at great prices. We continued on the road (Connecticut was not very exciting, and I am still distraught that Stoneybrook, home of the Babysitters' Club, is not a real town, although Stamford, the city where they went to the mall, is), and stopped again in Sleepy Hollow, New York, home of Washington Irving (and his characters Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman). We drove along the route of the Headless Horseman and Ichabod Crane, and saw an awesome Headless Horseman statue, the bridge from the story, and Washington Irving's grave (though we didn't do any rubbings this time; we saw on a sign that rubbings can damage gravestones. Who knew?). Quick side note: at one of our bathroom stops on the way, we saw a guy with an actual tape player Walkman. Brian was very amused. After the millionth bathroom break of the day (McDonald's sweet tea on road trips=bad idea), we hit the last leg of the trip to Philly, arriving at the Sheraton to see our lovely room and the not-so-lovely lack of free WiFi (though Brian was able to figure out how to use his AT&T account to get it). We went out to dinner at a place recommended to us by my friends Rich and Janice and by my cousin Elizabeth's uncle (I don't remember his name, but I appreciate his good ideas), Monk's Cafe. Monk's is a Belgian restaurant known for its extremely extensive beer list. We had wonderful beer there, including a house sour ale that may be my new best beer ever, along with mussels, Belgian fries, and burgers. Though lobster rolls are still my favorite food from this trip, Monk's was by far our best meal. After Monk's, we checked out another nearby bar called the Nodding Head Brewery for more local beer (good, not as good as Monk's, but the collection of bobblehead dolls was amazing), then called it a night.

Day 9: End of Boston, Newport, Rhode Island and. . .LIZZIE BORDEN!

We got up early in Boston before checkout to see a couple more things on the Freedom Trail. We started the morning with a traditional Bostonian breakfast: Boston Kreme ( why must they spell it with a K?) donuts from Dunkin' Donuts. I'm sure our forefathers enjoyed many a chocolate frosted, creme filled pastry while dumping tea in the harbor and whatnot. We headed back down the Freedom Trail (or I should say the Freedom T, we took the train for most of the route this time since we didn't have much time) and went to see the U.S.S. Constitution ship. Apparently it's Tall Ships Week in Boston, and there were a lot of people (and ships in the harbor). It was very cool to see the Constitution (the oldest U.S. ship still in service), and we were actually able to board a battle ship that I think was called the Cassin (insert umpteenth "I'm on a boat" joke here) and got to see the sleeping quarters, artillery, etc. We also got to see the freedom schooner Amistad.

Soon we were on the road to Fall River, MA, to the Lizzie Borden House, with a couple Rhode Island stops on the way. We first stopped off at Swan Point Cemetery near Providence to see H.P. Lovecraft's grave. Lovecraft is a sci-fi/horror author, so of course Brian wanted to pay homage (and do a grave rubbing using the crayons we picked up at a local CVS). Then it was time to figure out what else to do in Rhode Island. After determining that Quahog, the city from Family Guy, was fictional, and seeing that a bar called the Drunken Clam was a little far out of the way for us, we decided to head to Newport, home of many beautiful mansions. We went to see one in particular: the Rosecliff Manor. Rosecliff is a gorgeous estate where "The Great Gatsby", "True Lies" (the ballroom scene), and. . ."27 Dresses," a movie that wasn't even that good when I had a high fever, were filmed. We went on the tour of the mansion and took lots of pictures. Brian was amused by a fellow tourist with a popped collar.

Then we headed to Fall River. We stopped first at a small Italian sub shop I had found online. The subs were great, but the highlight of the visit was when Brian asked the girl working there for a pop. Her response? "What isss. . . .pops?" We had forgotten we were in the land of "soda."

Soon we arrived at the Lizzie Borden home and were introduced to our guide, a woman named Eleanor (she pronounced it "Ell-nuh"). We had a couple hours before our tour would start, so we headed up to our room first. As many of you know, we were staying in the John Morse Room, the home's guest room where the murder of Abby Durfee Borden, Lizzie's stepmother took place. Her body was found lying between the dresser and the bed, and being the freaks that we are, Brian and I took turns posing for pictures lying in the same spot. Don't worry, the carpet had been changed since the incident. Our room also featured Elizabeth Montgomery's costume from the TV movie in which she starred as Lizzie Borden (with Katherine "Mona from Who's the Boss" Helmond as Emma, Lizzie's sister!). We were informed that there were two other groups staying at the home that night: a Canadian couple (who we had met in the parking lot) would be staying in Andrew and Abby's room, and a family of three from New York would be staying in Lizzie and Emma's rooms, which shared a bathroom with us. I was a little frightened of the "sharing the bathroom" concept, especially since the bathroom door was very hard to lock, so Brian stood guard for me when nature called. Since we still had some extra time, we went downstairs to watch some Lizzie Borden DVDs (oddly enough, there were also a variety of Family Guy DVDs available, though we did not partake in Stewie's adventures). We watched a DVD that featured stories about the bed and breakfast and Lizzie herself that had appeared on travel shows, news shows, and Unsolved Mysteries. While watching, the other guests arrived: the couple from New York and their adult son. We have many stories about this family, but please just ask us in person, I don't want this to be found online. Soon we all gathered for our 2 hour tour of the homestead. The tour was great and our tour guide was very knowledgeable, telling us about various theories of "whodunnit," history of the home and the family, and about people's encounters with ghosts in the home. After some cherry danish, Diet Pepsi, and coffee (surely what was imbibed late night by Lizzie herself), a "medium" arrived at the house to perform a seance. We each forked over $10 for a chance to communicate with Andrew, Abby, and maybe even Lizzie herself! The medium divided us into small groups for this experience, and we were with the Canadian couple. We were told by the medium that Abby Borden was present in the room, and was very depressed. Abby supposedly was communicating with the medium through taps on her chair and creaks of the table (one creak for no, two creaks for yes). The medium also did some table tilting. It seemed like it could be vaguely legit, but soon I looked over at Brian and saw him trying not to laugh. He later informed me that he was the one making the table creak. The medium (and the woman from the Canadian couple) claimed that various smells were coming into the room, such as "lemon verbena" and "old barber shop," that signified Abby and Andrew coming into the room, but the strongest smell we could find was Eau de BS. After the seance, things in the home seemed a little less creepy, so we brought up the DVD of the Lizzie Borden TV movie up to our room to watch on Brian's computer and quickly fell asleep. I slept fairly well except for one point in the night, where I am convinced I heard a knocking at the door. Was it a ghost? Probably not, but it would be cooler if it was.

Day 8: More Boston

PICTURES TO COME LATER, I AM TOO LAZY TO GET THEM RIGHT NOW.

Today was tourist day in Boston! We stopped by Dunkin' Donuts (they are EVERYWHERE in Boston, which may or may not be related to the large amount of police officers we've seen on the street) then went for a walk through Boston Common, a beautiful park area that I particularly enjoyed because of the many cute dogs that were going for walks with their owners. We also walked through Boston Public Garden, which has a Make Way for Ducklings monument. Also in the garden: swan boats! The swan boats are these big paddle-controlled boats shaped like swans that you can ride in for practically nothing. Our cruise was very enjoyable, despite the rain that had recently started and continued for much of the day. After that, it was time to take the T to visit Harvard (or Hah-vahd, as we liked to call it) and MIT. Harvard had a beautiful campus (and a really cute Curious George children's book store), and we were amused by all the people carrying Harvard umbrellas. Apparently plain umbrellas aren't enough for Harvard students. It was amazing to see where so many famous people have gone to school. Dubya attended business school there, and both Obama and Elle Woods from "Legally Blonde" attended law school at Harvard! Never before have Obama and Elle Woods been mentioned in the same sentence, I'm sure. MIT's campus wasn't as exciting, but their museum was one of the coolest science museums we've been to. The museum featured holographs, robots, kinetic sculptures, and the world's coolest World of Warcraft gaming pod. Brian took video of this; it has to be seen to be believed. Post-MIT it was time for lunch at the Flour Bakery, a place Brian had heard about on the Food Network that was famous for their sticky buns (hee hee). Unfortunately, the Flour Bakery was more difficult to find than we anticipated. We went to one location, but it was under renovation, then finally found the other one, which luckily was located near the site of the Boston Tea Party, so we got to check that out as well. The sticky buns and sandwiches were good at Flour, but perhaps not worth the journey.

We headed back to our hotel to get refreshed, then started our journey on the Freedom Trail. First (and not technically part of the Freedom Trail, but they do offer their own Freedom Trail maps), we headed to the Cheers bar, or the bar that Cheers was based on plus a gift shop. This was not very exciting, but it had to be done just to take our pictures by the sign. We then began our Freedom Trail journey, which took us by many historic sites from the time of the Revolution, including the graveyard where Paul Revere, Sam Adams, and John Hancock were buried (along with Mother Goose!), the Old State House where the Declaration of Independence was first read to Boston (and now includes a train station inside it), and Faneuil Hall, a famous assembly hall that now has a Ye Olde Abercrombie and Fitch located near by. Also, the former city hall now houses a Ruth's Chris Steak House. You can enjoy your filet next to a statue of Ben Franklin. You may sense some sarcasm, but I just found it so bizarre that these incredible historic sites now have giant chain stores and restaurants built around them.

While on the Freedom Trail, we decided to check out a bar nearby called the Littlest Bar, famous for its leprechaun door and the fact that it only holds about 38 people. Unfortunately, we were informed that the Littlest Bar had been moved to a new nearby location, and once we got to the new version, we realized that the bar was no longer so little, and just looked like any old Irish bar (with no leprechaun door!) We didn't even bother staying for a beer.

As we continued on the tour, we stopped for dinner at Ye Olde Union Oyster House, the longest continually running restaurant in the United States. Ye Olde was ye delicious: we enjoyed oysters, lobster rolls (tied with Testa's for the best), Boston baked beans, and Indian pudding, this molasses like concoction that didn't look too appetizing but tasted wonderful. The Oyster House was a favorite restaurant of JFK's (his favorite meal was the lobster roll with baked beans), and we got to see his preferred booth too. After dinner we walked down the Freedom Trail to see Paul Revere's house, which took us through the North End, which was filled with Italian restaurants and old Italian men. I half expected to see Don Corleone popping out of a restaurant. On our way back, we stopped at the Bell in Hand Tavern, the nation's longest continually running pub (this seems to be a theme). In our part of the bar, a guy sang alternative songs and played guitar (very well), and there were people doing karaoke in the back, including songs by Journey and Chicago. I was glad we were located in a place where we could hear both kinds of music. We followed the Freedom Trail back and headed home. Side note: we saw a smart car on which the emblem was changed to read "Smaat," and we saw a port-a-potty called "Throne Depot." Tomorrow: Lizzie Borden!! Hide your axes!!

Day 7: Salem, Part 2, and Boston

Monday started with some fun in Salem (note: the name "Salem" always makes me think not only of Days of Our Lives (we didn't see Bo, Hope, or Marlena), but also that creepy cat on "Sabrina the Teenage Witch." Cheapest looking puppet ever!). The weather was gorgeous and perfect for walking around. We started our morning with a visit to the Salem Witch museum, which gave historical information about the witch hunts (so fascinating), coupled with these recreations of scenes that used creepy, creepy mannequins. Not so creepy: the tour guide who was dressed in period clothing. The fact that I saw her drinking an Iced Coolatta a few minutes prior to her presentation lessened the historical authenticity. After the museum (and a photo op of the giant statue of Samantha from Bewitched), we headed over to see the House of the Seven Gables, the house upon which Nathaniel Hawthorne based his book of the same name. Hawthorne's birth home was conveniently located next door, as it had been purchased and moved to the same site. Couldn't the owners have made more money and charged for two tours if they had kept the house in the same place? I don't know. The night before, we had parked near the House of the Seven Gables and wanted to check it out, but we heard the strains of Celine Dion's "Because You Loved Me" coming from the visitors' center and figured out there was a wedding going on. The House of the Seven Gables was beautiful, and the fact that it had a secret stairway in the chimney made it that much cooler. We stopped for lunch at a cafe called In a Pig's Eye (giant, giant nachos and quesadillas), then headed to Count Orlok's Nightmare Gallery. Count Orlok's was a museum of giant statues of famous horror movie characters, ranging from Lon Chaney's Phantom of the Opera to Freddy Krueger and Jason. It was really great, and provided a lot of history about the movies. Thankfully there was not a Chuckie exhibit. The owner of the museum was a really great guy who played a zombie trivia game with us at the end of the tour. As Brian so eloquently just put it, the owner was "well versed in all things that are horror."

We were soon introduced to a different kind of horror: driving in Boston. After recalculating our route in Google Maps for the billionth time, we finally found our hotel (located on Tremont and Boylston right by Boston Common) and had our car parked in valet, where we thankfully would not see it for a couple days. I can only imagine how horrific it would be to drive from place to place in Boston as the city is not on a grid system. In fact, we learned from an elderly gent in Boston Common that back in the day, George Washington insisted that any street in Boston that crossed Washington Avenue had to have a different name on either side of the street (ie Summer Street turns into Winter Street after it crosses Washington). The man could have been pulling our leg, but it sounds like a good story. After getting situated, we headed to Fenway (taking the T for the first time, which is like their version of the L and surprisingly not at all confusing) to see a Red Sox game. We loved Fenway; the fans were fun, they had a 50/50 raffle (which made Brian feel at home), and the park was beautiful. We also got discounted hot dogs because we were there during "Family Hour." Lobster rolls were available at Fenway too, but that just seemed wrong to me. Plus, they weren't on sale. Unlike going to a Cubs game (or a Jackhammers game, for that matter), the fans actually stay for the whole game and for the most part, pay attention to the game. I say "for the most part" because of the Chatty Cathies behind us that droned on for the entire game about their children, camping, teaching, and anything else not having to do with the Red Sox. Even though they lost, the game was neat because they played the Oakland A's and it was Nomar's first game at Fenway playing for that team. The Red Sox fans seemed as excited about Nomar as if he were still playing for Boston.

After the game, we did some bar hopping, stopping first for some food at Boston Beer Works, yet another brewery. This place had wonderful beer (shocking, I know), including a really great watermelon beer. We also had fantastic sweet potato fries. After that we took the T back to our hotel area and tried another bar called The Tam's, where we had some cheap regional beer that was apparently the Boston version of PBR and engaged in a favorite movie discussion with our bartender (he liked "Big Trouble in Little China"). We headed back to the hotel piano bar (whose clientele reminded me of somewhere the Golden Girls might hang out) for the world's most expensive Captain and Coke, before retiring for the night. More Boston next!

Update soon!!

We have been extremely busy, but I should be updating later tonight. A preview: Red Sox, witch trials, Hah-vahd, and swan boats.

Day 6: New Hampshire and Salem, Massachusetts

Today was by far our longest day in the car. Note: Wendy's new Asian Chicken boneless wings are just their same old chicken nuggets in a new sauce and are way too messy to eat on a road trip. I should have stuck with the Spicy Chicken Go Wrap. We made a side trip today to go to "The Fun Spot," an arcade in Laconia, New Hampshire. Why would we go to an arcade when we have Haunted Trails at home? Well, this arcade is the biggest in North America, has a huge collection of classic video games, and is featured in one of our favorite documentaries, "The King of Kong." If you haven't seen this movie, run, don't walk, to your computer (wait, you're already there!) and put in your Netflix queue. It's a documentary about two men who are battling to have the world record in "Donkey Kong." Yes, I played "Donkey Kong" on the machine from the movie, and we also played a variety of classic games like "Hogan's Alley," "Burger Time," an awesome beer-themed game called "Tapper," and all varieties of "Pac-Man." Also amusing in Laconia: We stopped at a gas station, where Brian encountered a guy attempting to enter the gas station sans shirt. The guy was kind of pale and exclaimed to Brian, "Hey, somebody call the Ghostbustahs!" Upon entering, he was told to get out and put on a shirt, leading the guy to exclaim, "But I've been workin' out." No shirt, no shoes, no service: put into action in New Hampshire. Their motto may be, "Live free or die," but that doesn't mean without a shirt.

We got to Salem in time for a late dinner, and ate at a restaurant called the Witches' Brew, which was good but not as exciting as its name. More exciting was the ice cream we tried at Captain Dusty's Ice Cream: frozen pudding ice cream, which had rum raisins and maraschino cherries in it. Tomorrow: witchy women in Salem, then off to Boston for the Red Sox game.